Ideas Festival – Insights from the Humanities and Social Sciences
April 9, 2024
On 20 March 2024, the inaugural “Ideas Festival – Insights from the Humanities and Social Sciences” was launched. The festival, organised by Singapore’s Autonomous Universities (AUs) and supported by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), will run until 19 April 2024 and feature 13 events. These events will feature over 50 researchers who will share insights across a spectrum of Social Science and Humanities (SSH) topics, including the impact of new technologies, new forms of social interactions, as well as mental health issues.
Against the backdrop of change and transformation, the festival seeks to gather the local Social Science and Humanities research community to delve into the complex challenges confronting Singapore and the region. The launch event featured speeches by the Guest of Honour, Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing and SSRC Advisor Professor Wang Gungwu, who is also NUS University Professor.
In his speech, Professor Wang touched on the timeliness of the Ideas Festival and ruminated on the importance of SSH research to understand Singapore’s multicultural society and the complexities surrounding it. He advocated for researchers to enlist Co-Principal Investigators from a diverse set of academic disciplines in order to generate enriching insights into complex problems.
Similarly, Professor Elaine Ho, who chairs the Ideas Festival Organising Committee and is the Vice Dean of Research at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, noted the significance of SSH research in our everyday lives, and advocated for greater collaboration between STEM and SSH researchers.
At the festival, NUS hosts two events – “Gazing into the Metaverse” on 26th March and “Foundations of Home-based Work” on 12th April. Subsequently, NUS will also co-organise “Singapura Before Raffles: Early Modern Asia in the Global Renaissance” on 17th April 2024.
In all, the Ideas Festival seeks to foreground the importance of SSH, and to bring together a community of SSH researchers in order to generate meaningful conversations about and insights on the challenges facing Singapore.
Find out more about the Ideas Festival here.
