April 15, 2026

On the 19th of March 2026, the Singapore Research Nexus hosted Work, Migration, and Policy Implications, an event that featured three research presentations from NUS FASS academics. Through their presentations, our academics bring social science research in their respective fields into conversation with urgent questions of governance, labour, and family in our interconnected world. The full video recording is now available here.

Programme 

• Opening Remarks and Chair: Assoc Prof Jack Meng-Tat Chia (NUS History & Assistant Dean of Research, FASS)

Presentations

• Dr Allen Xiao (Assistant Professor, NUS Geography)

Planning Africa’s Singapore: Geographical Imagination and Practices

Explores how Singapore can serve as a model for the development of Rwanda, a small, landlocked country in East Africa, with close reference to the Kigali Master Plan 2050, which was authored by a Singaporean urban planning firm. Dr Xiao’s research unearths how the Master Plan imagines Rwanda and its capital city, Kigali, as a national-urban nexus, echoing without duplicating Singapore’s distinctive model.

• A/P Nur Amali Ibrahim (Associate Professor, NUS Sociology and Anthropology) 

Complaint: Migrant Workers, Wage Theft, and the Possibilities of Care

Examines how complaint functions as a method used by migrant workers in Singapore seeking restitution for wage theft. A/P Ibrahim argues that complaint can provide some redress but typically not justice, and therefore is a care that is tangled up with exploitation in complicated ways. He invites viewers to consider other forms of state care that can exist alongside the deeply imperfect system of state care for workers.

• A/P Zheng Mu (Associate Professor, NUS Sociology and Anthropology) 

Opting for the Optionless: Comparing Stay-at-home Motherhood Among College-educated Chinese Women in Shanghai, Singapore, and New York 

Draws on interviews with 90 Chinese college-educated stay-at-home mothers residing in three major global cities to arrive at a comparative, multi-layered analysis of how gender conventions intersect with autonomy and ad-hoc empowerment. A/P Mu’s research explores how migration engages with these women’s decision-making processes, alongside other forces such as gender division of labour and presence of intergenerational support.

We invite researchers, academics, and those who work in policymaking to watch the recording and discover how NUS FASS scholars are uncovering the intersections of work, migration, and policymaking in Singapore.