SMU College of Graduate Studies

What does a week as a Rising Scholar in SMU look like? 🌟

For our Rising Scholars Fellowship Programme 2026 participants, it meant stepping first-hand into SMU’s research environment, meeting the faculty and staff shaping postgraduate research journeys, exchanging stories with PhD student buddies, exploring our city campus, experiencing Singapore beyond labs and the classroom. 🏙

Catch a glimpse of thoughtful questions, warm introductions, plenty of smiles, and many small moments where future research journeys in SMU began to feel more realistic. 🚀

Our warmest appreciation goes to to every Rising Scholar, faculty member, student buddy and team member who made the week such a lively, welcoming and insightful one. 💚

👀 Spotted yourself or a new friend in our throwback? Tag them in the comments!

👉 Interested in exploring a PhD in SMU? Start here: https://graduatestudies.smu.edu.sg/phd

What made SRSC 2026 special was not only the rigorous research shared, but the rising scholars who gathered to sharpen it. 🌟

From 14–15 May 2026, the Singapore Rising Scholars Conference brought together a vibrant community of presenters, participants, faculty, and PhD students at SMU for two days of warm exchange, reflection and connection. 🤝

Across the keynote address, , panel discussions, breakout sessions and poster presentations, we were grateful to see this community in action 💥 — through lively Q&As, thoughtful feedback, and moments of celebrating research with meaningful impact.

👉 Swipe through some of our favourite highlights — and here’s to the ideas, friendships and collaborations that continue from here! 🤝

We’ll see you in 2027!

🌟 Posters, papers, breakout sessions and the brilliant minds behind them — the 4th Singapore Rising Scholars Conference 2026 is bringing it all together.

Next week, participants will share research spanning corporate governance, sustainability, AI, public policy, urban life, finance, innovation and more — each contributing a different lens 🔍 on the questions shaping our changing world. 🌏

☺️ We are especially excited to introduce 6 poster presentations for the very first time in an exchange-friendly format!

This year’s conference is an exceptionally valuable opportunity to meet young academics from diverse backgrounds in a warm, thoughtful academic community. 🤝

📅 14–15 May 2026
📍 Li Ka Shing Library, Singapore Management University

🤔 Curious about some of our breakout sessions?

🔥 The countdown is on — register now to be a part of SRSC 2026: https://eventregistration.smu.edu.sg/event/2026/register

The countdown to RSFP 2026 has begun! ⏳

From 12–16 May, we will welcome a bright community of Rising Scholars to SMU for a week filled with research engagements 🧠, faculty and PhD student conversations 🗣, the Singapore Rising Scholars Conference 🚀, and glimpses of life on our city campus. 🎓

🤝 What we are looking forward to most? The conversations, the first hellos from participants in that may become lasting academic connections.

To all RSFP participants joining us next week from Singapore, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Germany, India, the Philippines: we are truly excited to welcome you into our CGRS community! 🌟

👉 More programme details: https://graduatestudies.smu.edu.sg/rising-scholars-fellowship-programme

👏 Warmest congratulations to our alumnus, Dr Tan Choon Ngee, on his publication by the National Academy of Sciences!

His research began with practice-born curiosity from the tech field: How does varying cultural contexts affect human AI-collaboration? 🤔

Through SMU’s Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), he pursued rigorous academic inquiry while juggling the demands of executive leadership as a Group CEO. 💼

That balance was not sustained alone. What makes this achievement especially close to our hearts is our amazing CGRS community behind this milestone! 🤝✨

In his reflections, Choon Ngee also credits the guidance of Prof Roy CHUA and Assoc. Prof CHENG Chi-Ying, his co-author MENG Han, and a supportive ecosystem that helped sharpen his research through each demanding stage. 🙌

What an achievement, Choon Ngee — and what a journey to honour! 🌟

👉 For leaders ready to deepen their impact through research, explore Professional Doctorate pathways now at SMU CGRS: https://graduatestudies.smu.edu.sg/professional-doctorate

Behind every strong field experiment is a community of researchers willing to ask careful questions. ❓

At last Wednesday’s Field Experiments Workshop (part of GRPD at SMU CGRS), the room shifted between seminar-style discussion and small-group problem-solving as PhD students, DBA/PhD GM students, faculty, and CGRS staff examined what it takes to design research for the real world. 🌎

Guided by Prof Reddi KOTHA and Prof Seonghoon KIM, participants worked through the foundations and practice of field experimentation: from causal pathways 🛣, mechanisms ⚙️, and ethical considerations ⚖️ to randomisation, spillovers, statistical power, online experiments, and AI-supported workflows. 🤖

But the heart of the workshop was the exchange itself. 🗣 Assumptions were tested aloud and ideas took shape through vibrant dialogue!

A warm throwback to the kind of academic exchange that makes research sharper — and researchers more ready for the field. 🌱

⚠️ If you’re ready to continue the conversation, a new Graduate Research Interdisciplinary Topics (GRIT) Field Experiments course launches in AY26/27 Semester 2!

🔎 Explore GRIT at CGRS here: https://graduatestudies.smu.edu.sg/phd/grit

More than just a room 🛏, our Prinsep Street Residences (PSR) open doors to a community where you truly belong. 🙌

It can be where you feel steadied, welcomed, and understood as you immerse yourself in the demands of your research journey. 📚

Today, we shine the spotlight on XU Shuai’s reflection on life at PSR! As a Year 3 PhD in Accounting student, he shares that the right living environment can shape far more than convenience alone. It can influence how supported you feel as part of a wider intellectual community. 🌟

That is part of what gives PSR its character, and why so many students come to value life here so dearly.

🔎 Looking for a residential experience built around comfort, connection, and community?

✅ PSR applications are now open. Apply today: https://housing.intranet.smu.edu.sg/apply/Login

❓ What helps a PhD student stay the course when research becomes difficult?

Sometimes, it begins with mentorship that sees more than output alone — one that notices strengths early, opens the work up to meaningful collaboration, and helps students keep their intellectual footing through ambiguity. 🧠

That is very much the spirit of Prof Robert H. Deng’s reflection in THE Campus with Times Higher Education, on guiding doctoral students through research struggles. 💪

He offers a practical perspective on the realities of academic research 📚: the ambiguity, rejection, and false starts that so often shape a PhD journey, and a 4-step framework of supervision that can help students advance with greater resilience and confidence. 🌟

At CGRS, this resonates deeply with us. We believe rigorous research should be accompanied by thoughtful guidance, genuine encouragement 🙌, and a strong sense of academic community. Because while the doctoral path can be demanding, it should never feel like something scholars have to carry entirely on their own. 🤝

👉 Looking for thoughtful guidance in your research journey? Read more of Prof Deng’s insights here: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/guiding-doctoral-students-through-research-struggles