BUILDING A

WORLD CLASS UNIVERSITY

Elsevier Forum on Accelerating Research Excellence

New Delhi, India

23 September 2011

Professor Barry HalliwellTan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor

Deputy President (Research & Technology)

National University of Singapore

NUS Research is good and has

improved fast in recent years

Evidence for Impact

• Bibliometic indices and league tables

• Success in grant competition (e.g. 3.5/5 Research Centres of Excellence)

• Growing new industries for Singapore and developing existing ones.

Extensive EDB investment in NUS and visits by foreign companies.

• Consultancies and other advisory positions to industry and government

bodies

• The investment by government, charities, industry etc into NUS to create

“think tanks”, such as Risk Management Institute, Centre for International

Law, VISA, Real Estate Studies, Centre for Maritime Studies, LKY School of

Public Policy etc

• Location of selected high-level industries at NUS, e.g. Siemens, GE, SDWA

THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

DO RANKINGS MATTER?

THEY ARE FLAWED BUT PEOPLE DO NOTICE THEM

(including prospective staff and students)

Field Cites per Paper Rank (% above / below world average)

(This measures the % by which the research impact is above the world average)

Field

NUS

2000-20102006-

2010

Materials Science +101 +132

Agricultural Sciences +69 +104

Mathematics +48 +42

Engineering +35 +50

Pharmacology & Toxicology +33 +44

Chemistry +26 +34

Computer Science +8 +27

Environment/Ecology +6 +32

Biology & Biochemistry +5 +22

Clinical Medicine -7 +12

Circles represent where impact

has grown significantly over the

past 5 years as opposed to 10

years.

Source: Thomson

Reuters/Essential Science

Indicators

Times Higher Education

(THE) World University

Ranking 2010

NUS QS World University

Ranking

NUS

2010 2011

World Rank 34 World Rank 31 28

Ranking in Asia Region 4 Ranking in Asia Region 3 3

Overall Score 72.9 Ranking by Discipline

Teaching 65.5 Engineering and IT 9 NA

International Mix 97.8 Life Sciences and

Biomedicine

13 NA

Industry Income 40.5 Social Sciences 16 NA

Research 72.6 Arts and Humanities 23 NA

Citations 78.7 Natural Sciences 25 NA

Source :

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/asian-university-rankings

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/

World University Ranking 2010

THE vs QS

• Bibliometric indices and league tables

• Success in grant competition (e.g. 3.5/5 Research Centres of Excellence)

• Growing new industries for Singapore and developing existing ones. Extensive EDB investment in

NUS and visits by foreign companies.

• Consultancies and other advisory positions to industry and government bodies

• The investment by government, charities, industry etc into NUS to create “think tanks”, such as

Risk Management Institute, Centre for International Law, VISA, Real Estate Studies, Centre for

Maritime Studies, LKY School of Public Policy etc

• Location of selected high-level industries at NUS, e.g. Siemens, SDWA, Agilent, Zeiss

Comments from the External Review Panel for the Quality Assurance Framework

for Universities 2010

• The ERP commends NUS for the progress made in research since 2004 in terms of obtaining a

head start in developing peaks of excellence, getting more funding and producing more and

higher impact publications.

• They HELP to tell us that NUS Research is good and has

improved fast in recent years

(but we don’t judge this only by ranks and citations)

• They HELP us to identify up and coming researchers and successful research

fields (“peaks of excellence”), as well as under-performing areas

• They can help identify productive collaborations with other Institutions.

WHY DO WE STUDY RANKINGS?

China

South Korea

TaiwanHong Kong

Thailand

BangladeshIndia

Indonesia

Europe

Vietnam

Middle East

Japan

Sri Lanka

Australia

Brunei

Philippines

New Zealand

Malaysia

USA

Singapore

Singapore: Transportation Hub and Entry to Asia

(Planes and Ships)

• No energy (except some solar)

• Little food

• Little space

• No oil or mineral resources

• Water-constrained

• Climate change

• Very small, minute domestic market

• Rapidly ageing population

Advantages

• Location

• Political / social stability

• Good government

• People

• Lord Krebs in his evidence to the House of Commons Innovation, Universities,

Science and Skills Committee (2008-9) pointed to a study in which ten key

advances in cardiovascular medicine were traced back to about 600 papers

from 400 different disciplines which provided the basis for the advances. Over

40% of them had nothing to do with cardiovascular medicine at all and many of

them were not carried out in medical departments but in departments of

chemistry, engineering, physics, botany, agriculture, zoology etc.

A vision for UK Research, Council for Science and Technology (2010)

NUS: Singapore’s National and Only

Comprehensive UniversityA KEY FUNCTION OF NUS IN SINGAPORE IS TO PROVIDE A

STRONG AND BROAD (YET RELEVANT) RESEARCH BASE

• Several Agency for Science, Technology and

Research (A*STAR) RICs had their origins in NUS.

Faculties and Schools

(Undergraduate and Graduate education)

1. Arts and Social Sciences 7. Law

2. Business 8. Medicine

3. Computing 9. Music

4. Dentistry 10. Science

5. Design and Environment 11. University Scholars Programme

(for Undergraduate only)

6. Engineering

Graduate Schools

1. Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

2. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

3. NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences

and Engineering

Research is conducted in All Major Disciplines

Engineering

National University

Hospital

Temasek Life

Sciences

Laboratory

Science

Medicine

Dentistry

DMERI

Centre for Life

Sciences

Nursing

Computing

Comprehensive Infrastructure & Proximity

Humanities /

Social

Sciences

Singapore-

Delft Water

Alliance

SIEMENS

LILLY

GE Water

KENT RIDGE CAMPUS

New MRT

Zeiss

Agilent

ADVANTAGES OF NUS

11

one-north

Biopolis

Fusionopolis

Singapore

Science Parks

National

University

Hospital

Map courtesy of

JTC Corporation

SMART /

CREATE

/ NRF*

*Occupants

MIT

ETH Zurich

TUM Munich

Imperial College

Hebrew University

Technion Israel

Berkeley

Peking University

NUS

NTU

Others

NEW

MRT!

SICS

SICS – Singapore Institute for Clinical

Science (A*STAR)

SINGAPORE’S NATIONAL AND ONLY

COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITY

Synergy in Proximity

ADVANTAGES OF NUS

Graduate Students

10,548 (<50% local)Undergraduate

Students

26,418

(80% local)

Students Enrolled – Type (AY 2010-11)

Total

36,966

Research in honours year

Research in junior years

(UROP)

28.5%

71.5%

Type of Graduate

Programmes

Total

Coursework -

Masters

4721

Coursework –

Grad. Diploma

281

Coursework –

Doctoral

196

Research –

Masters

1052

Research – PhD 4298

Total 10548

Number of PhD Students is increasing fast

No Large Rise in Numbers Planned

A Problem NUS has

Type of research Typical quantum

1. Investigator-led project based 50k – 1 million*

2. Programme 5-25 million

3. University-level institute / centre Variable, often

3-50 million

4. Research Centre of Excellence 150 million

*The backbone and enabler that allows a PI to build research

programmes and prepares them to eventually participate in bigger

programmes

BUT RESEARCH NEEDS MONEY!

92% OF NUS RESEARCH IS

EXTERNALLY-FUNDED

NUS STRATEGY

1. High-level (yet relevant) research over a

reasonably broad base from which “peaks of

excellence” grow (BUT HOW DO WE IDENTIFY

THEM?)

2. Synergy across boundaries to achieve research

impact and bid for strategic funding

3. Work with agencies in Singapore to utilise NUS

research to address real-world questions

4. Partner strategically with overseas institutions

for the same reason

5. Work closely with industry for mutual benefit

RESEARCH AT NUSInterdisciplinarity is strongly encouraged

- Department / Faculty based

- Faculty Research Centres

- Cross-Faculty Clusters

- Research Centres of Excellence

- Cross Institution Clusters

HOW DO WE ENCOURAGE THIS?

1. Dialogue

2. Space

3. Resources (a little money, some space,

allocation of scholarships for graduate students)

University Level RICs24½ University-level Research Institutes or Centres

• Asia Research Institute

• Centre for International Law

• Centre for Maritime Studies

• Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing &

Processing

• East Asian Institute

• Energy Studies Institute

• NUS Global Asia Institute

• Institute for Mathematical Sciences

• Institute of Real Estate Studies

• Institute of South Asian Studies

• Interactive & Digital Media Institute

• Life Sciences Institute

• Middle East Institute

• NUS Environmental Research Institute

• NUS Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

Initiative

• Risk Management Institute

• Singapore Synchrotron Light Source

• Solar Energy Research Institute of

Singapore

• Temasek Laboratories

• The Logistics Institute-Asia Pacific

• Tropical Marine Science Institute

ADVANTAGES OF NUS

Advantages

Status, access to resources (seed funding), SPACE, ability to bid for

large external grants

Centre for Quantum Technologies

• Singapore’s first RCE established in 2007

• Conducts interdisciplinary theoretical and experimental research into the fundamental limits of

information processing

• $158 million over 10 years from National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Ministry of

Education (MOE)

Singapore Centre on Environmental and Life Sciences Engineering

• NTU-led RCE with substantial NUS input; to be operational by January 2011

• Conducts cutting edge research on microbial biofilm communities for water and

environmental sustainability

Cancer Science Institute of Singapore

• Set up in March 2008 to become one of the world’s leading centres for cancer research

• $172 million over 7 years from NRF and MOE

Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore

• Established in September 2009

• Work on new ways of studying diseases through the mechanisms of cell & tissue mechanics

• Funding of $150 million over 10 years from NRF and MOE

BUT HOW TO SUPPORT THEM WHEN THE MONEY RUNS OUT

AFTER 7-10 YEARS?

Research Centres of Excellence (RCEs)

3.5 / 5 (70% success rate)

L4 Control / Computational /

Cognitive Science Labs

L9 Director’s & Admin Office

L8 Seminar Rooms, Library etc.

L7 EM Materials Lab

L6 Office Space

L3 Antenna & EM Material Lab

L5 Office Space

L2 Aeroscience Lab

NORTH WING

TEMASEK LABORATORIES@NUS

L6 NUS-GE S’pore

Water Tech Centre

L11 NUSNNI-NanoCore

L9 & 10

Mechanobiology

Institute, Singapore

L7 & 8 Div of Env Sci

& Engineering

L5 Seminar Rooms,

Office Space

L2 NUS Environmental

Research Institute

SOUTH WING

T-Lab Building

L4 Data Centre

NUS STRATEGY

Synergise across boundaries / Encourage mixing

CONTROL SPACE CAREFULLY!

CLOSE LINKS WITH AGENCIES IN SINGAPORE

TO APPROACH REAL-WORLD QUESTIONS

School of Design and Environment

• More than S$12 million worth of research projects funded primarily from the Ministry of

National Development Research Fund.

• Research projects conceptualized and implemented in collaboration with agencies such as the

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Housing and Development Board (HDB), National

Parks Board (NParks), Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Land Transport

Authority.

• Projects include subjects such as BCA’s zero energy building, evaluation of Greenmark

buildings, benchmarking city sustainability, density-environment relationships, urban climate

mapping, urban greenery and urban space designs, and transport modeling.

• Research outcomes have high impact on public sector policies on land use, urban planning,

urban redevelopment, transportation, biodiversity and housing.

• Will work closely with ETH and other overseas partners

• Will link closely with VISA

STRENGTHS OF NUS

NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI) / Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI)

• Close links with PUB, other public bodies, and Industry

BUT BE CAREFUL THAT YOU DO NOT BECOME TOO NARROWLY-

APPLIED

NUS ALSO STRONGLY SUPPORTS

RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES / SOCIAL

SCIENCES / LAW / BUSINESS

• Important in its own right, e.g. to develop

understanding and explanations of human

conditions and behaviour.

• Contributes to cross-disciplinary initiatives

(environment, sustainability, digital media,

ethics, risk management, ageing etc)

• Holistic education of students

The Biology of Decision Making

under Risk

• Research project headed by Prof Richard Ebstein (Psychology, NUS) and

Prof Chew Soo Hong (Economics, NUS)

• Awarded €507,000 by the AXA Research Fund.

• AXA Research Fund first grant to an Asian University

• Conventional wisdom (‘nothing ventured nothing gained’) is clear on the

importance of taking risks but the source of the individual differences

observed in risk taking remains obscure.

• The proposal aims to understand these individual differences employing

cutting edge methods from the neurosciences, psychology, experimental

economics and human genetics.

• Hypothesis : Decision making under risk, albeit a complex behavioral

phenotype, can be understood as a basic biological mechanism with

roots embedded in evolution and genetics.

ONE EXAMPLE

Centre for International Law (CIL)

History: Officially launched on 30 October 2009 by Senior Minister Prof S. Jayakumar.

Founding Director: Assoc Prof Robert C Beckman

Vision: To become a regional intellectual hub and thought leader for research on and teaching of international law

Focus areas: ASEAN Law and Policy; Ocean Law and Policy; Economic Law and Policy; Aviation Law and Policy; and International Dispute Resolution.

Promoting thought leadership through policy-relevant conferences, workshops and speaker series. Examples:

• Regional Workshop on Submarine Telecommunications Cables and Law of the Sea

• Global Conference on International Investment Arbitration

• International Conference on Air Transport, Air Law and Regulation

• The CIL ASEAN Charter Series

• Regional Workshop on International Maritime Crime (upcoming)

Research that promotes Singapore’s and Asia’s influence on International Law developments. Examples:

• ASEAN Integration Through Law (ITL) Research Project

• The CIL Documents Database (currently over 450 ASEAN and International Law documents available for easy, free download)

• Submarine Telecommunications Cables and the Law of the Sea Research Project

Capacity-building and training for government officials. Examples:

• CIL Executive Programme on the conduct of international economic disputes

• CIL Executive Programme on anti-dumping legislation for economic officials

• CIL Executive Programme on investment law for trade officials (upcoming)

• International Law training course for diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Academy

http://www.cil.nus.edu.sg

NUS CAN NURTURE NICHE AREAS OF HIGH

QUALITY THAT ARE NOT YET THE “FLAVOUR OF

THE MONTH”[e.g. non-medical biology, plant science, humanities and social science (e.g. Asia

Research Institute), mathematics]

One example

• Molecular basis of crop yields

(MOU signed with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on 16

Feb 2009)

• Crop resistance to environmental change

• Nutrition, diet and health maintenance in Asians

• Biodiversity

• New competitive grants from NRF and SMF (3 grants totalling $21.2 million

were obtained in the food security area)

ONE CONSEQUENCE

HOW DOES NUS WORK?

President

Deputy President

(Academic Affairs)

& Provost

Deputy President

(Administration)

Deputy President

(Research &

Technology)

CEO

NUS Enterprise

• The Provost, also a Deputy President, is responsible for all academic

matters in the University.

• The Deputy President (Research & Technology) (DPRT) oversees the

University’s research programmes and its University-level Research

Institutes and Centres, including RCEs.

• The Deputy President (Administration) is in charge of the central

administrative departments of the University.

• NUS Enterprise was established to promote enterprise at NUS. The CEO

of NUS Enterprise works closely with DP(R&T) and oversees all

entrepreneurial and commercial activities of the University.

THE GANG OF FIVE

Duties of DP(R&T) Office- Administration and Compliance

- Facilitation

Recognition &

Reward of Research

Excellence

Establish International

Research NetworksResearch

Spin Off

Facilitate Commercialisation

of Research Outcomes

High Impact

Research

Identify Areas of

Strategic

Importance

Grant Seed

Funding

Promote Multidisciplinary

Research Programmes

Growing

the Pie

Promote NUS-Industry

Exchange

Build solid base of high-quality research

across a reasonably-broad range of

disciplines

Establish Research Centres of Excellence

& other Peaks of International Research

Excellence in selected areas

Strong Global

Profile

Research

Benchmarking

Attract & Retain

Talent

Matching Grant

Scheme

Publicise Achievements

Prestigious Research Awards

IP Protection

Review within NUS

and relative to peer

universities

(research

benchmarking)

Grant

Administration Dialogue with

Funders

Protection of Research

Integrity Animal Welfare

Institutional Review Board (IACUC)

How to Grow Research Quality?

• Quality staff (its all about people)

• Give them the conditions they need to excel

• Accurate and fair (real and perceived) assessment of

performance

• NUS operates performance based pay (salary rises,

performance bonuses)

• Criteria for promotion and tenure require performance in

teaching and research (excellent in one, good in the other)

• Quality graduate students allocated to the best people

• Taking advantage of funding opportunities

• Selective allocation of NUS resources to support excellence

Money

Students

Space

Supporting NEW Ideas and

NEW People

• Light teaching loads for new staff

• Young Investigator award (substantial

additional start-up package)

• Cross-Faculty rapid grant award

• Research fund for Arts and Social Sciences

• Assistance with grant-writing

NUS Young Investigator Award

(NUS YIA)

Grant: ≤ S$500k in addition to usual start-up packages

Duration: ≤ 3 years

Aim:

Support early career development of young faculty members likely to

make significant contributions to the development of research at NUS

Encourages projects that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries or

break new ground

Criteria:

PI must be a full-time academic staff at an NUS Faculty/School

PI must have joined NUS within the past 3 years

PI must be less than 40 years old

SMF-NUS Research Horizons Award

• Co-funded by NUS and the Singapore Millennium

Foundation (SMF)

• Seeks to accelerate the development of paradigm-

changing research ideas from conception to

implementation.

• Winners will have one year and funding of up to

S$100,000 each to carry out their investigations.

• At the end of the term, they will compete for the Phase

II funding of up to S$1 million over two years if their

ideas show promise.

(based on Bill and Melinda Gates award scheme)

Expanding Cross-Disciplinary Research

• To seed the “programmes of the future” and

encourage interactions

• Investigators from two different

Faculties/Schools (junior staff preferred as PIs)

• One year funding of up to S$35,000

• Not restricted to strategic areas (quality of

project, quality of staff, innovation are key

parameters)

• Rapid decision process

• Special allocation for research in ageing

A POTENTIAL PROBLEMClose to 92% of NUS Research Funds come from External Competitive Grant

Funds, often for 2-3 year projects (Data for Y2009)

Note:

(i) MOE also provides a research scholarship block but graduate students require research support in order to be trained. If this is included as

external grant income the % rises to 93.5%.

(ii) NUS-funded Research Programmes refer to NUS Young Investigator Award, Cross Faculty Grant, Humanities & Social Sciences-funded

projects, Start-up Fund and other programmes funded from ODPRT.

NUS-funded Research

Programmes

4%

RCEs (Cancer, CQT,

Mechanobiology)

18%A*STAR

15%MOH

15%

Others (Other Min/Stat

Boards/Industry/

Foundations/ Individuals)

28%

MOE Competitive Grants

(Tier 2)

7%

NRF (Projects)

9%

MOE Block Grant for

Research (Tier 1)

4%

Others (Other Min/Stat

Boards/Industry/

Foundations/

Individuals)RCEs (Cancer, CQT,

Mechanobiology)

MOH

A*STAR

MOE Competitive Grants

(Tier 2)

NRF (other than RCE

funding)

MOE Block Grant for

Research (Tier 1)

NUS-funded Research

Programmes

TOTAL

$402m

THIS MAKES US VERY VULNERABLE TO CHANGES IN THE

FUNDING LANDSCAPE.

SOME COMING THREATS

• Inappropriate metrics (e.g. immediate

application, number of patents, licensing

income)

• Insufficient funds for investigator-led

research

• Insufficient indirect cost support (or

equivalent)

International Alliance of Research

Universities (IARU)

IARU members are leading research universities that share a global

vision, similar values and a commitment to educating future world

leaders.

The 10 members are:

• Australian National University

• ETH Zurich

• National University of Singapore

• Peking University

• University of California, Berkeley

• University of Cambridge

• University of Copenhagen

• University of Oxford

• The University of Tokyo

• Yale University

Research at NUS addresses

Singapore Problems

Challenges Facing Singapore

Energy (more efficient usage, securing supply)

Environmental management / global warming

Risk of infectious diseases

Securing the food supply / human nutrition

Ageing and age-related disease

World insecurity / financial risks in Asia

Sustainable cities

LOOKING FORWARD - be ahead of the pack

NUS AND SINGAPORE AS TEST-BEDS FOR

SUSTAINABLE URBAN SOLUTIONS

REUTERS/CORBIS

Centenarians now constitute the

fastest-growing age group owing to

advances in health care.

Source – Nature 467 (2010), 274-

275

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

CH

JP

SG

AUST

DK

UK

2030

2005

1980

Proportion of population aged 65+ in

selected IARU countries

Slide by courtesy of Dr Kenneth Howse, Oxford

University

Source: UN Population databaseThe International Alliance of Research Universities

(IARU) is a collaboration between ten of the world’s

leading research-intensive universities who share

similar visions for higher education, in particular the

education of future leaders. IARU comprises ANU,

ETH Zurich, NUS, Peking, Berkeley, Cambridge,

University of Copenhagen, Oxford, University of Tokyo

and Yale University.

A COMING PROBLEM FOR SINGAPORE

(Virtual) Institute for the Study of Ageing (VISA) Anti-aging medicine (ethical)

Health care delivery / outcomes

Social aspects (e.g. community support)

Public policy (e.g. pensions)

Dementia centre

Gerontology group

Basic aging / Neurobiology research

Ageing & Lifestyle (nutrition, exercise etc)

Housing for the aged

Products for the aged

City design (e.g. public transport)

VISA

Lifestyle and disease

prevention

Optimal environment

(ageing in place)

Thought leadership

for Government and

charities

Singapore Institute

for Clinical

Sciences

Human studies

Industry liaison

Translational medicine/

nutritional products

Social sciences

Humanities

Public policy

Tsao Foundation

Duke-GMS

LKY SPP

Financial / risk

management

Global Asia

Institute

Exploring the identity

of the 21st century

Asia city

Healthcare policies

Financing the elderly

Basic Science

Disease-related

research

Cognitive assessment

(NUHS)

Dementia Centre

Human studies

Subject cohorts

Mild cognitive impairment

(NUHS)

NUS Schools

and Faculties /

Research

Institutes/

Centres

What does VISA aim to do?

• Biological determinants of ageing well

• Environments that best support ageing well

• Fiscal, medical & other policy issues that can be optimised

to better support Singaporean ageing population

Interdisciplinary Research,

the Sustainability Cluster

Major Research Directions

(1) Water, Air & Land;

(2) Human & Environmental Health.

(3) Energy Systems

NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI)

Formed to harnass our multiple ongoing research programmes in

several Schools/Faculties to address major issues.

Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities

(School of Design and Environment)

To maintain Singapore as an excellent and functional liveable city

NUS Global Asia Institute

Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities

Energy Studies Institute

Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore

Energy @ NUS Initiative

Centre for Total Building Performance

Energy Sustainability Unit

Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law

Institute of Water Policy / Other aspects of public policy (LKYSPP)

NUS Environmental Research Institute

Tropical Marine Science Institute

Centre for Offshore Research and Engineering

Minerals, Metals & Materials Technology Centre

Sustainable Energy Materials and Systems

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research

Biodiversity programme

Centre for Hazards Research

NUS Schools and Faculties

40

Sustainability Cluster (Profs Tan Thiam Soon, Ong Choon Nam, Peter Ng)

Powerful cluster : good dialogue with funding agencies

41

Exploratory

Science

Future

Technology

Energy Office @ NUS

NUS Global Asia Institute (GAI)

Energy Studies Institute (ESI)

NUSNNI / FOE / FOS

Sustainable Energy Materials & Systems

Centre for Total Building Performance (CTBP)

A BCA-NUS Centre for Tropical Building

Research

Energy Sustainability Unit (ESU)

NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI)

Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES)

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

(LKYSPP)

Singapore Institute of Nuclear Science &

Engineering Research (SINSER)

Policy

Implementation

Energy

Sustainability

One-stop office on Energy Research, Energy

Directions, and Energy Education in NUS

NUS President’s initiative on Research and

Scholarship directed at topics pivotal to Asia’s future

Singapore’s national institute for Applied Energy

ResearchSolar Energy Research Institute of Singapore

(SERIS)

A national policy-research institute in Energy

policies (economics, security and the environment)

Research in areas of Solar Energy, Li-ion Batteries,

Hydrogen Production & Storage and Fuel Cells

Research in Tropical Building Design, Construction,

Maintenance and Management

Centre for Behavioural Economics

To develop course structure and training syllabus for

the Singapore Certified Energy Manager (SCEM)

training programme

Interdisciplinary research, education and expertise

in the environment affecting Singapore and Asia

To effect a total shift to Environmental Sustainability

in all aspects of campus life

Areas of focus include Asian Energy Security and

Energy Governance

An initiative on Nuclear Science and Engineering

programme

To understand and improve Energy Usage

Behaviours

Energy and Environment Cluster Powerful cluster : Energy Office now

(Prof Tan Thiam Soon)

NUS and SINGAPORE EXCEL IN MATERIALS

SCIENCE

NUS NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE

(NUSNNII) / NANOCORE / SYNCHROTON LIGHT SOURCE /

GRAPHENE RESEARCH CENTRE

Research themes

• Oxide Electronics

• Spintronic materials

• Graphenes

• High density memories

• Nm scale imaging and patterning

• Charge transport in mesoscopic systems

• Materials for sustainable energy

• Nano drug delivery and diagnostics

• Active plasmonics

• Nanowire based device architectures

• New imaging technologies

NUS Centre for Life Sciences (CeLS)

How to make a gobal impact in a fiercely-competitive area?NUS Life Sciences Institute (LSI)

LIFE AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES CLUSTER

Competitive Space for Integrated Life Science Programmes

STRENGTHS OF NUS

What is our Translational

Medicine niche?• Preferred site in Asia for validation & testing of new

diagnostics, drugs & devices in man for Asian diseases*

• Deep expertise in disease biology and world-class Proof –of-

Concept & early phase clinical trial capability with

international accreditation

• Close link of basic biomedical research, engineering, and

computing with clinical medicine

*Diseases more common in Asia, or

diseases where symptoms, outcome,

and pathology are different, as

compared to the rest of the world.

Research Programmes in

Life Sciences

Cancer

Neurodegenerative disease

Vascular Diseases

Infectious Diseases

Underpinning Science & Technology

Molecular Epidemiology / Genetics

Bioinformatics / Tissue Respository

Bioengineering/ Neuroengineering /

Tissue Engineering

Medicinal Chemistry / Toxicology /

Clinical Trials

Structural Biology

Immunology

Psychology / human cognition

ALL CROSS-FACULTY, CROSS-DISCIPLINARY

Human nutrition / disease

revention

Healthy ageing

Environmental microbiology

Lipidomics

Neuroscience, neuroengineering

and cognition

Disease-related themes

Links to National University Hospital

Tissue Repositories

Experimental Surgery

Medical Imaging

Molecular Pathology

Investigational Medical Unit

Bioengineering / Tissue Engineering / Neuroengineering

Duke-GMS partnership

Medical Ethics

NUS Translational

Research

National

University

Health

System

BIOPOLIS

Translational

Medical Centre

NUS

Faculties of Engineering and Science,

School of Computing

A*STAR Physical & Computing

Sciences

Life Sciences

Institute / CeLS

Schools / Faculties

Research goals

• Generate multi-disciplinary, theme-based research

• Establish proof-of-concept and efficacy in humans

• Investigate the Asian phenotype

• Implement health services research

National University Health System

(NUHS)• NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

• Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies

• NUS Faculty of Dentistry

• National University Hospital

Examples

• Early diagnosis of gastric cancer

• Translational research in eye surgery

• Metabolic medicine and diabetes in Asians

• Stroke types more common in Asia

Centre for Translational

Medicine (MD6)

Translational Research at the

Centre for Translational Medicine (MD6)

• 41,000 sqm

• 15 floors: 9 floors for Research, 6

floors for Education

• Clinical Imaging Research Centre

• A BSL3 lab for complex work in

Infectious Diseases

• Investigational Medicine Unit

• Cancer Science Institute, Singapore

• Other major programmes, including

cardiovascular medicine, neuro-

cognition, immunology, and metabolic

medicine (diabetes and obesity)

Isolation (Illinois)

Cubicle and Large

Animal Housing

Sterile Storage: 9000L

Bulk Autoclave

Dedicated Necropsy

Room with

Ergonomic

Equipment

Large Holding Room for

Small Animals

Dirty Side Cage

Wash: Rack and

Tunnel Washers

Large Animal Operating

Room

Opening of the MD2 Vivarium, a “state of the art”

Green building

MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS, INFRASTRUCTURE

AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of

Laboratory Animal Care – International)

• A private, nonprofit organization promoting the humane treatment of animals in science

through a voluntary accreditation program, a program status evaluation service, and

educational programs.

• Comprised of professional life science societies and is not a governmental agency.

• AAALAC is a voluntary peer-review process and certifies whether standards of

excellence in institutional animal care programs are attained and maintained.

• While 90% of the top 100 institutions receiving NIH funding are AAALAC accredited, only

45% of the institutions in Times Higher Education (THE) top 30 are AAALAC accredited.

Seventy-five percent of the top 15 THE institutions are AAALAC accredited.

MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS, INFRASTRUCTURE

BREAST CANCER RESEARCH PROGRAMME

Centre for Molecular Epidemiology

Profound changes in breast cancer incidence may reflect changes into a

Westernized lifestyle: a comparative population-based study in Singapore

and Sweden. Int J Cancer. 2005 Jan 10;113(2):302-6.

Variation in the seasonal diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia:

Evidence from Singapore, the United States, and Sweden. Am J Epi. 2005;

162(8): 753-763

Do Asian breast cancer patients have poorer survival than their western

counterparts? A comparison between Singapore and Stockholm. Breast

Cancer Res. 2009;11(1):R4.

JOINT INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH (THE KI EXAMPLE)

Singapore Peking Oxford Research Enterprise(SPORE)

SPORE-D

Disciplinary

Development

• Master’s andPh.Dprogrammes• Executivetrainingprogramme

SPORE is a S$63 million

initiative supported by the

National Research Foundation

through the Environment and

Water Industry programme

office, NUS, Peking University,

the University of Oxford,

competitive research grants

and industry partnerships.

SPORE-T

Technology

Transfer

• Reduce,Reuse andrecycle (3R)• Highlyconcentratedorganicwastewater(HCOW)• Riverecologicalrehabilitation

SPORE-M

Market-

oriented

technology

exploitation

• Green technologies• Ecocityplanning (Sinomentechnologies Ltd)

Slide by courtesy of Prof Ong Choon Nam

WHY IS ACCURATE ASSESSMENT

NEEDED?

• NUS OPERATES PERFORMANCE BASED PAY

(salary rises, performance bonuses)

• CRITERIA FOR PROMOTION AND TENURE REQUIRE PERFORMANCE IN

TEACHING AND RESEARCH (Excellent in one, good in the other)

• MINISTRY OF EDUCATION FUNDING INCREASINGLY HAS A “QUALITY

FACTOR”

• DECIDING WHERE TO INVEST CENTRAL RESOURCES TO CONVERT GOOD

TO EXCELLENT TO ALLOW US TO BID FOR SUBSTANTIAL COMPETITIVE

FUNDING

ASSESSING RESEARCH

WHICH PEAKS OF

EXCELLENCE TO GROW?

RESEARCH ASSESSMENT

• Grant Income

• Count Papers

• Citations

• Journal Tiering (Tier 1 and 2 papers)

• Counting Patents / Licensing Income

Previously a 6-page form had to be completed.

Assessing

Research Impact

What research are you doing

and

why is it important?

NUS SEEKS TO CONDUCT IMPACTFUL

RESEARCH

• Outstanding fundamental research of high intellectual impact that attracts

attention to Singapore as a country capable of performing such research and

grows NUS’ global reputation

• Research which helps to grow new industries for Singapore and to develop

existing ones, e.g. by spin-offs and licensing of Intellectual Property (IP)

• Research that helps to attract high-level foreign industry to locate in Singapore

• Research that makes Singapore a better place to live and improves the health

and welfare of the population

• Research that expands intellectual breadth and develops ideas and discourses

about human experiences which will prepare us more effectively for an

increasingly global and cosmopolitan world

• Research that influences and informs government policy

• Research that enhances the security of Singapore (e.g. defence, food, energy

supply)

Note that the best research programmes often contribute in several of these areas.

WHAT IS IMPACT OF RESEARCH?

Journal Tiering• Introduced in 2001 by Provost Office

• Benchmarking tool for institutional performance

• Benchmarking tool to evaluate Dept/faculty performance against

external institutions.

• Reference list for academics seeking advice about quality journals

to publish in.

• Four categories

Premium (Tier 1) – 10%

Leading (Tier 2) – 20%

Reputable (Tier 3) – 25%

Others (Tier 4) – 45%

• The default is to list by subject-related impact factor plus “special

factors”.*

HERE LIES THE DEVIL!

Background of Journal Tiering

Past Exercises

Phase I (2001 - 2002) Fac/Sch tiered journals according to percentages

External review conducted

A total of 10,152 journals were assigned tiers

2 separate lists maintained – Faculty list and University Consolidated List – to deal with journals assigned different tiers by different Fac/Sch

Phase II (2003 – 2005) Fac/Sch updated journals tiered

Additions not to exceed 5% of the total number of journals tiered in Phase I

No external review but replaced by a suitable report that included reasonable statistical calibration data

A total of 10,439 journals were assigned tiers

Phase III (2007 – 2008) Proposed new model consisting Super Tier, Tier 1 and Tier 2

Science and Medicine adopted

Not adopted generally

Do we continue with Journal

Tiering?

No,

not at the University level

• Tiering still of value in some Schools/Faculties (e.g.

super-tier)

• Tier 1 numbers of journals should be decreased

• Less reliance on tier 1 for evaluation

• How should we deal with interdisciplinary research?

BUT THEN SEE WHAT HAPPENED!

End of an ERA: journal rankings dropped

Jill Rowbotham , From: The Australian , May 30, 2011 5:51PM

JOURNALS will no longer be assigned rankings in a radical shake up of

the Excellence in Research for Australia initiative, announced by

Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Minister Kim Carr today.

JOURNALS will no longer be assigned rankings in a radical shake up of

the Excellence in Research for Australia initiative, announced by

Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Minister Kim Carr today.

The ranking of journals as A*, A, B and C was the most contentious

aspect of the ERA exercise devised and administered by the Australian

Research Council, with the first results published in January.

“I wished to explore ways in which we could improve ERA so the aspects

of the exercise causing sector disquiet, especially issues around the

ranked journals list, could be minimised or even overcome,” Senator Carr

said in a ministerial statement.

EVALUATING RESEARCH, The NATIONAL

RESEARCH FOUNDATION VIEW

• High impact research (innovative, cutting edge, top-class local

researchers, outstanding new recruits, and collaborators)

• Building up manpower in Singapore (evaluation criterion for

Deans and Heads at NUS)

• Excellent execution (strong management team, good governance)

• Potential economic benefits (including good procedures to

“exploit” IP)

Other measures

• Quality of PhDs and post-docs trained

• Integration of research, teaching and industrial development?

THE MILLION DOLLAR QUE$TION

How to evaluate interdisciplinary research

(IR) and correct misconceptions about

- what is IR

- the different types of IR

- who should do IR

SINGAPORE IS A SMALL PLACE

• International peer review of all major

grants/programmes is pre-eminent but NOT

SUFFICIENT

• Benchmark against:

Other Universities with similar constraints, e.g. UC

Berkeley & UCSD (large teaching commitment)

Other smaller countries that do very well in

research e.g. Sweden, Switzerland, Israel

But also develop the (unique?) NUS view

Study failures as well as successes

Collaborations with Industry, NUS Enterprise

1. Education of NUS graduates as entrepreneurial leaders

experiential education programs in entrepreneurship in Singapore

and globally

supporting NUS student and alumni initiatives & networks related

to learning entrepreneurship

2. Facilitating the commercialization of NUS research

Through a professionally-run industry liaison office services

3. Nurturing the creation of successful NUS spin-offs

Through a professionally-run Incubator, seed-funding and

mentoring system

Through leveraging NUS alumni network in business and

enterprise

4. Cooperation in graduate education

NUS Overseas Colleges

Experiential entrepreneurship education

immersing NUS students in leading entrepreneurial hubs

around the world

• ONE year

• Full-time interns in high-tech

startup/innovative companies

• Learn from the founders and

entrepreneurs

• Take courses at partner

universities

NUS Overseas Colleges(2002) NUS College in Silicon Valley, USA

Study at Stanford & work in the innovation “habitat”

≈

(2003) NUS College in Bio Valley, USA

Study at UPenn & work in the US’ pharma hotbed

≈

(2004) NUS College in Shanghai, China

Study at Fudan & work in China’s commercial hub

≈

(2005) NUS College in Stockholm, Europe

Study at KTH/SSE & work in Europe’s No.1 IT hub

≈

(2008) NUS College in India – Experience India!

Attend Entrepreneurship workshops and work in India’s high-

tech hub

≈

(2008) iLEAD, Singapore

Study in NUS & work in Singapore’s knowledge- intensive

enterprises

≈

(2009) NUS College in Beijing, China

Study at Tsinghua & work in China’s high-tech hub

≈

(2011) NUS College in Israel

6 months internship in Tel Aviv/Haifa

NUS AND INDUSTRY

• Spawn new IP

• Support and help grow exciting

industry (Both “hard” and “soft”)

• Consultancy

• Attract high-level overseas industry

to Singapore

Interdisciplinary Research,

the Finance Cluster• Risk Management Institute

• Institute of Real Estate Studies

• School of Business

• Asian Studies (e.g. demographics)

• LKY School of Public Policy

• Financial Mathematics

• Applied Economics

• Saw Centre for Quantitative FinanceProf HO Teck Hua

Vice-President

(Research Strategy)

Professor Ho Teck Hua is in charge of overseeing and building the University's Finance and Risk Management integrative research cluster. He

concurrently holds the Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professorship. Prof Ho has been a consulting professor to the NUS Overseas College in Silicon

Valley since 2002.

He received a B.S. with first-class honours in Electrical Engineering (1985) as well as an M.S. in Computer and Information Sciences (1989) from the

National University of Singapore. Additionally, from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, he received an M.A. (1991) and a Ph.D. (1993)

in Decision Sciences.

Prof Ho is currently the William Halford Jr. Family Professor of Marketing, and the Chair of the Marketing Department at the Haas School of Business

at the University of California, Berkeley. Ho has been a chaired professor at U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business from 2002, and is also the

Director of the Asia Business Center at the Haas School of Business from October 2007. Ho earned his tenure at The Wharton School, University of

Pennsylvania in 1999. He was Assistant Professor of Operations and Technology Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management from

1994-1997.

WHY INDUSTRIAL LABORATORIES /

FACILITIES ON CAMPUS?

• High level, innovative, cutting edge, high

global reputation

• Access to facilities

• Joint participation in education

(undergraduate/graduate)

• Mutual benefit

• Spin-offs from NUS graduates / alumni

NUS works closely with Industry for

mutual benefit

Clinical Imaging Research Centre (CIRC)

• Partnership between NUS, A*STAR, and Siemens Medical

Solutions

• One of the first research sites in the world to use the Siemens’

MR-PET system

• Application to clinical and cognitive problems

CIRC@CeLS

Siemens Magnetom

Trio 3 Tesla MRI

• Research Cyclotron for Radio-labeling new

and novel compounds

• MRI-PET Soft Tissue Functional Imaging

• PET-CT High Resolution Functional Imaging

• SPECT CT Single Photon Imaging

Phase II: Planned Imaging Assets in 2011

Slides courtesy of NUHS

NUS-GE Singapore Water Technology Centre A unique Industry-University laboratory collaboration

GE-NUS partnership contributes to

Singapore as “global hydrohub”

Key Research Areas

- Water Quality & Sensors

- Sustainable Water Systems

- Membrane Innovation

- Water & Wastewater Reclamation

Projects are carried out in collaboration

with NUS Environmental Research

Institute

Analytical Services Laboratory at T-Lab

provides cost effective and timely

analyses

GE InfrastructureWater & Process

Technologies

NUS works closely with Industry for

mutual benefit

Research and Development with Carl Zeiss SMT

NUS works closely with Industry for

mutual benefit

• A joint R&D Agreement was signed with Carl Zeiss SMT to advance the microscope

facilities and research activities at NUSNNI in September 2009.

• NUS first in Asia to house the Helium Ion Microscope

• Novel advances made using the microscope will benefit the NUSNNI researchers,

while new applications of the technique discovered by the e researchers will, in turn,

enable Zeiss to further enhance the tool’s capactiy.

NERI-Agilent Environmental Research Alliance

(NAERA)

NUS works closely with Industry for

mutual benefit

• The research alliance involves installing state of the art instrumentation

for environmental research in the NERI laboratory

• The alliance is expected to drive NERI’s environmental research

programmes with access to new Agilent instrumentation

• In collaboration with NERI, Agilent will

showcase its instruments for a wide

range of environmental applications,

as well as develop new

instrumentation and software for

environmental applications

Conclusion

• All research in NUS should be excellent, mediocrity wastes

money and time, scarce resources in a small country.

• We should have several peaks of excellence competitive

for substantial external funding, in addition to quality

research in a range of areas.

• The mission of a global University is fundamental cutting

edge research and excellent education of the next

generation.

• But never forget what the Customer wants!

Thank YOUQuestions & Answers

MISSION

To transform the way people

think and do things through

education, research and

service