President's Message

Message from SNAS President

When I took over the role of SNAS President at the 2019 AGM, I said during my acceptance speech that if during my term of office, we could not make SNAS become a key player in the local science and technology scene, relevant to the academic and R&D ecosystem in Singapore, then I would propose to declare SNAS dormant. I said that because it is a well-known fact that in terms of science and technology, both in academia and R&D arena, Singapore has evolved tremendously over the 4 decades after SNAS was formed more than 45 years ago. The formation of A*STAR, NRF, Temasek Foundation, and many other public and private sector drivers within Singapore have been playing obviously impactful roles in promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematic). SNAS has thus been overshadowed, especially when SNAS had not been well endowed and with no fulltime office staff manning SNAS operation.

As I look back at the past 3 years or the first term of my office, notwithstanding plagued by more than 2 years of COVID-19 pandemic, I feel comforted that significant progress was made despite the odds. In 2020, SNAS was awarded an NRF White Space kick starter grant entitled SNAS ASEAN Postdoctoral Fellowship and International Networks. With that 3-year grant, SNAS launched the SNAS ASEAN Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme to attract bright postdoctoral researchers (or would-be faculty members) from ASEAN countries to Singapore universities for a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, only 2 fellows succeeded in entering Singapore.

In 2021, with support and advice from NRF, SNAS united our efforts with two other major academies in Singapore, namely, Singapore Academy of Medicine (SAM) and the Academy of Engineering Singapore (AES) to widen our outreach to scientists and engineers from various scientific fields in the ASEAN region. With the support from SAM and AES, the fellowship was renamed the SG Academies ASEAN Fellowship Programme targeting up to 20 new young ASEAN fellows to come to Singapore each year over 5 annual open calls. The combined effort of the three academies has made this programme even more impactful, as all three academies are linked internationally to academies worldwide. By building on our existing relationships, the SG academies advertised the new programme via internationally linked academies such as the National Academies of Science, Medicine and Engineering of other countries, as well as International Science Council (ISC), Inter-academy Partnership (IAP), World Academy of Medicine, International Academy of Engineering etc.

Thanks also to the RIE2025 grant from NRF, SNAS now has employed 2 fulltime executives to assist in our day-to-day operation, including liaison with NRF, communication with IHLs, correspondences with overseas international academia networks, SNAS Fellows, and various institutes under the SNAS umbrella, and filing of annual returns for the Registry of Societies. They will also enhance SNAS website content management, including assisting constituent institutes website publishing, communication, and publicity. With them on board, SNAS will also organize seminar or events to promote interaction and collaboration among SNAS members and the SG Academies ASEAN Fellows.

Meanwhile, NRF has taken over the organization of the annual President Science and Technology Awards (PSTA) from A*STAR, and SNAS is invited to consider evolving our Young Scientist Award into the status of President Young Scientist Award. But to achieve that we must get the strong support of SNAS Fellows in the evaluation of the nominees, to match the rigor of the PSTA selection process.

I will serve for another 3-year-term, and I look forward to active engagements and stronger support from SNAS Council Members and Fellows, to continue the transformation journey ahead.

Yours faithfully,

A/P TM Lim

11 July 2022