Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme (August 2023)
Registration
Interested applicants can register for the programme via NUS Online Application Portal.
Registration has closed.
Kindly note that in addition to registering through the NUS Online Application Portal, interested applicants must submit a brief research proposal at this link.
About
This 13-week programme is a research mentoring programme that offers social service professionals an opportunity to complete a small-scale research project with guidance from experienced researcher-mentors. Participants in this programme will be supported by workshops, peer group discussions, and regular feedback from mentors. Throughout the programme, social service professionals will be guided from the conceptualisation of the research problem to data collection, data analysis, and presentation of their research findings.
While the workshops and mentors may provide support on specific research methods or skills, these would tailor towards the needs and requirements of the research projects proposed. The programme strives to provide a holistic guidance and support on the different stages of research for each proposed research project.
At the end of the programme, participants are expected to achieve the following objectives:
• Conceptualise and construct sound research questions relevant to their social service practice that would develop into feasible research projects completed within the programme time-frame;
• Apply appropriate research methods to their research projects;
• Understand and appreciate ethical concerns on social service research;
• Conduct data collection or fieldwork necessary for their research projects;
• Conduct appropriate data analyses and provide accurate data interpretations for their research projects; and
• Prepare and present research findings for a mini-conference.
Programme Structure
The research mentoring programme will be conducted over 13 weeks (in-person). There will be 2 full-day workshops, 6 mentoring sessions, and 1 end-of-programme graduation presentation.
• Workshop 1: 2 Aug 2023, 9:00AM – 6:00PM
• Workshop 2: 4 Aug 2023, 9:00AM – 6:00PM
• 6 mentoring sessions: to be arranged with mentors
• Graduation presentation (for participants): 3 Nov 2023
Programme Trainers
Dr Seah Lay Hoon is a Senior Research Fellow at the Social Service Research Centre (SSR), NUS. She received her postgraduate diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education (NIE) and her masters and Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research work entails the use of qualitative methods and analysis such as interviews, ethnographic observations, researcher-practitioner collaborative inquiry, thematic analysis, discourse analysis and applied linguistic analysis.
Dr Xu Jianbin is a Research Fellow at the Social Service Research Centre (SSR), NUS. He holds a PhD in Social Work from NUS. His research interests include exploring the role of spirituality in ageing and examining the application of mindfulness, narrative therapy, and existential therapy in the social work context. He enjoys mining the nuggets of meaning and insight from the bonanzas of qualitative data.
Dr Yeo Geck Hong is a Research Fellow at the Social Service Research Centre (SSR), NUS. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research program centers on the role of social contexts in adolescents’ development of psychological well-being. Informed by a contextually-rooted developmental model, her research emphasizes the role of contextual factors and the mechanism of change in psychological adjustment.
Programme Fee
This programme is SSG-approved. Participants who are Singaporeans or Singaporean Permanent Residents will be eligible for subsidies of 70% of the programme fees, excluding GST. Singaporean participants who are aged 40 years old and above will be eligible for higher subsidies of up to 90% of programme fees. Participants are required to attend at least 75% of the programme and obtain a pass grade for the required assignments.
Programme Fee Breakdown
