Each year, FASS recognises alumni who exemplify this spirit of impact through the FASS Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Awards, honouring graduates whose work reflects the enduring value of the humanities and social sciences.

The awards, held on 1 April, honoured three distinguished alumni whose careers have shaped the arts, diplomacy and communities: Ms Lim Hai Yen (English Language and Chinese Studies ’92), Mr Ashok Mirpuri (Political Science Hons ’84), and Ms Ang Bee Lian (Social Work ’77), all of whom share a common thread: a commitment to serving society and shaping the world around them.

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For Dr Sapphire Lin, a research fellow at the Institute for Digital Medicine under the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and Associate Professor Bina Rai from the Department of Biomedical Engineering under the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, the true starting point is people.

Leading with a profound commitment to community engagement, their work at the Health District @ Queenstown (HD@QT), a multi-stakeholder initiative developing lasting health and social solutions, redefines how technology serves Singapore’s ageing population, rooting innovation in empathy and real-world needs.

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In Singapore and many other parts of the world, the national Parliament is where policies that impact everyday life, such as housing, transport, healthcare and welfare, take form.

A new course at NUS College is giving students an inside look at how parliaments shape policy and laws — and how citizens can engage meaningfully in the process to advance causes they care about.

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How does one even begin to process traumatic events in history, rife with human pain and suffering? Where does one’s ethical responsibility lie as a witness?

In the third iteration of NUS News’ Innovative Educators series, we cast a spotlight on Dr Roweena Yip from NUS College and her course, NHS2070: Tragedy, Culture, and Society, which examines the intersection of art and history through the lens of the tragic genre. Through setting the stage for discussions on the ethics of tragic representation and the subjectivity of the human experience, the course nurtures in students a respect and sensitivity for difficult subject matter, not just intellectually but empathetically.

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As students explore complex questions across disciplines and reframe contemporary challenges, undergraduate research at NUS continues to flourish and evolve.

The REx Conference, held on 21 January 2026, unites curious minds across faculties, providing a platform for students to present their research and engage with peers, mentors and industry partners. This year’s conference, attended by over 200 participants, emphasised collaboration and innovation, highlighting how interdisciplinary partnerships can spark new ideas and societal impact.

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Good morning! Keep up to date with the latest headlines from NUS News this week (6 – 10 Apr 2026):

🌟 2026 Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Awards: Honouring graduates who have dedicated their lives to the arts, diplomacy and social services
https://nus.edu/4siC3UP

❤️ From conversations to code: NUS researchers craft age-friendly tech with the community at heart
https://nus.edu/4sVpVKq

👩🏻‍⚖️ Progress through policy: NUS College course highlights role of legislation in changemaking
https://nus.edu/4tE2G7U

🧠 Making sense of loss: Studying crises through the lens of the tragic
https://nus.edu/3Ot09hE

💡 Unbridled curiosity and outsized impact: Interdisciplinary research ignites discovery at NUS
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From repairing electrical items to rescuing unsold food for redistribution and gathering feedback on revitalising public spaces, students at Ridge View Residential College and Tembusu College are turning small actions into meaningful impact.

Through courses under the Communities & Engagement Pillar, students work with community partners to tackle resource consumption and waste, and engage residents and stakeholders to evaluate public space installations — empowering them to serve their local communities and play a role in building a more caring and resilient society.

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Learning a new language using an app? If you're wondering what makes some language-learning apps more effective than others, part of the answer may lie in a simple idea: making learners guess a word based on a picture before they’re shown the correct answer.

More than being a fun design choice, this strategy draws on decades of cognitive psychology, suggesting that attempting an answer first and then seeing the correct one strengthens memory. Now, a new NUS study provides formal experimental evidence confirming why this works.

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The need for adaptability and resilience is one lesson we can take from the COVID-19 pandemic when preparing for future crises. But with climate-related crises, there’s a key difference: many long-term shifts caused by climate change are irreversible, and there is no “return to normal.”

Climate resilience therefore entails not just weathering immediate shocks but dealing with an altered reality, experts at the third annual SGFIN Sustainability Summit, organised by the NUS Sustainable and Green Finance Institute, emphasised. The event was attended by about 220 representatives from the global sustainable finance community.

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Across dermatology clinics, doctors continue to see patients arriving with reddened skin, swelling or persistent rashes – reactions often traced back to something as routine as colouring their hair. Behind these cases lies para-phenylenediamine (PPD), a widely used ingredient that is one of the most common cosmetic allergens.

To address this issue, scientists at NUS’ Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have developed next-generation dye compounds aimed at reducing allergic reactions without sacrificing colour performance.

➡️ Read about their safer solution for hair colouring: https://nus.edu/4cPQjjf

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For language learners, guessing the answers to word-picture exercises before being shown the correct response strengthens their memory and supports lasting learning, an NUS study by the Department of Psychology has confirmed.

Here’s how guessing can help improve adults’ ability to recall new vocabulary in a second language.

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Good afternoon! Keep up to date with the latest headlines from NUS News this week (13 – 17 Apr 2026):

💇‍♀️ Reinventing hair colour: Toward allergy-free dye
https://nus.edu/4cPQjjf

🌎 Climate resilience needed to cope with immediate shocks, long-term changes
https://nus.edu/4coPbSh

🧠 NUS study confirms that guessing before learning improves memory in language learning
https://nus.edu/4sEnpYb

❤️ Bridging communities through service learning
https://nus.edu/3QcPlEX

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Researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at NUS have developed a new AI model that can more accurately predict how proteins interact with one another — an advance that could accelerate drug discovery and deepen insights into diseases such as cancer.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study's paired protein language model learns from two interacting proteins simultaneously, rather than analysing them in isolation. This marks a significant shift in how AI is applied to biology, enabling more accurate prediction of protein–protein interactions that underpin nearly all cellular processes.

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From AI in gaming to discussions on creativity, ethics, professional disruption and the responsibilities that come with building new technologies, the inaugural TECHTALK@TRAIL dialogue saw Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan join Professor Tan Cheng Han, President of the Law Society of Singapore and Chief Strategy Officer at NUS Law, for a wide-ranging exchange on how AI is reshaping society.

Moderated by Professor David Tan, the session drew a diverse audience of academics, students and tech enthusiasts. TECHTALK@TRAIL is a new bi-annual series by the Centre of Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL) at NUS Law, which promotes interdisciplinary research into the interactions between technology and the law.

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Policy challenges today rarely stop at national borders, and are becoming harder to solve as polarisation, geopolitical tensions and declining institutional trust loom.

Against this backdrop, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy hosted the Global Public Policy Network Conference 2026 on 27 and 28 March, bringing together representatives from eight leading public policy schools to propose innovative solutions to contemporary global challenges while strengthening institutional and personal connections.

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The rise of AI has often been framed as a challenge to the humanities and social sciences. But speakers at the “Future Horizons: Envisioning the Humanities and Social Sciences” event organised by the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as part of Ideas Festival Singapore 2026, argued the opposite: that a world transformed by AI will need these disciplines more than ever.

Amid rapid tech advances, intensifying climate crises and growing social fragmentation, the humanities and social sciences will remain essential for grappling with AI’s ethical, social and cultural consequences. Speakers across academia, philanthropy and the arts stressed that these perspectives will be critical for interpreting fast-changing realities, interrogating ethics and power, and preserving human agency.

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NUS has been ranked third in Asia and first in Singapore in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2026, according to results announced on 23 April 2026. This marks the seventh consecutive year that NUS has been placed in the top three of the THE Asia University Rankings.

NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost Professor Aaron Thean said the University's consistent performance reflects the sustained efforts of its faculty, researchers, staff, students and alumni, and NUS’ commitment to delivering impact in Singapore and globally.

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