NUS professor awarded prestigious ‘Nobel Prize’ for geography
October 14, 2021
‘NUS professor awarded prestigious ‘Nobel Prize’ for geography’ (The Straits Times, 2021)
On October 12, Professor Brenda Yeoh (NUS Department of Geography), who specializes in migration research in Asia, was awarded the international Vautrin Lud Prize 2021.
The award is widely regarded as the Nobel Prize in geography and is awarded to geographers who have displayed outstanding achievements in the field. Named after Vautrin Lud, a 16th century French scholar credited with naming the New World “America”, the award has been presented annually to a single recipient since 1991.
Prof Yeoh was presented with the award by a five-member international jury at the 32nd edition of the International Geography Festival in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, France. Held from October 1st to 3rd, Prof Yeoh also gave a presentation during the festival about the exacerbating effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the precarious nature of transient migrant workers’ work.
While the pandemic has exposed the unsustainable nature of temporary migration for nation-states like Singapore, Prof Yeoh also noted that the pandemic has at the same time offered an important opportunity to reconfigure temporary migration such that it may become more sustainable and equitable for transient migrant workers. Actions which could achieve this include offering visas and contracts of longer duration and incorporating migrant workers into national healthcare and safety nets.
According to Prof Yeoh, migration research helps us think through intercultural encounters and the difficulties faced when crossing borders so we can learn to do things differently and make the world a better place.
Prof Yeoh said that the award came as “a total surprise” to her, and that it was a great honour to have been found worthy of the illustrious prize. She noted that the award was a mark of NUS Geography’s international reach and served as an important recognition that “significant insights in geographical scholarship in the context of Asia can be influential on the global stage”. Prof Yeoh also thanked the university for the support, encouragement, and opportunity to work on the issues related to transnational migration affecting society and added that she looked forward to advancing research in the field.
Prof Yeoh is currently the Raffles Professor of Social Sciences and Director for Humanities and Social Science Research at the NUS Office of the Deputy President (Research & Technology). She is also the leader of the Asian Migration Cluster at the Asia Research Institute in NUS and has published in 35 books and written more than 230 journal articles. She currently chairs the Heritage Advisory Panel of the National Heritage Board and is the only scholar from Singapore to have been elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy.
Read the article here.