Thesis / Research Topic: Hawker Centres, Social Mixing and Belonging in Singapore 

I am a PhD student in Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore. My research examines hawker centres as everyday urban spaces where people from different class, ethnic and generational backgrounds come together. I am particularly interested in how the social mixing found in these spaces, alongside the sensory and cultural meanings of food, shapes people's experiences of identity and belonging in multicultural Singapore. Through qualitative and ethnographic research, I aim to explore both the connections fostered through shared food spaces and the inequalities and exclusions that may persist within them. 

Before joining NUS, I completed a BA (Hons) in Criminology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and an MA in Arts and Cultural Management at King's College London. My previous research examined legacies of colonialism through Western representations of China and Chinese people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and heritage preservation as a tool of nation-building in Singapore. My broader research interests include urban and cultural sociology, food studies, identity and belonging, heritage and memory, postcolonialism, and the intersections of class and race.