Developments
There are numerous research projects
conducted by the Department's academic staff, individually
and collectively. One of the first team projects was
the study of social class in Singapore, published in
1991. Among the ongoing projects are: the multidisciplinary
project " Traditional Healing Systems: Negotiating
Science and Technology Challenges" that examines
the impact of modernization on traditional healing in
several countries, with the first two publications in
2003; a multidisciplinary analysis of " Ethnic
and cultural aspects of cancer and heart disease"
from which one paper on ethnicity and diet was published
in 2002 and others are in progress; the Social Indicators
Research Project set up to produce quality time-series
data on Singapore. It is envisafed that this project
will, in the long-term, develop a comprehensive database
capable of meeting the research needs of staff members
and graduate students in the Department. Another team
project is on Science, Technology and Society focusing
on the study the scientific and technological community
in Singapore, university-industry-state linkages, and
the impact of Information Technology on social relations.
Book chapters and one journal article have been published
from this project in 2002 and 2003. the initial phase
of this project focused on the trajectory of Singapore's
youth in science and engineering careers, and the factors
affecting research productivity. The second phase examines
the process and outcome of attempts to build university-industry
linkages in scientific and technological research. The
final phase explores the influence of Internet on the
scientific community.
Future Plans
The Department will strive to continue to strengthen
its teaching and research Programmes. The Department
is currently engaged in a wide variety of research activities.
These include studies in medical sociology, more specifically,
research on traditional healing systems, elderly health
transition, socio-epidemiological studies as well as
a project on the socio-cultural dimensions of colorectal
cancer, which is an interdisciplinary collaboration
with the medical faculty in NUS. The Department is also
actively involved in socio-economic studies of development
and modernization in East Asia. Specific research projects
include comparative cultural studies of entrepreneurship
in Asia. Another area of the Department’s research activities
covers social demographic issues such as divorce, marriage
and fertility. Research projects on political-identity
(such as food and Islam in Asia and ethnicity and the
nation-state) as well as socio-political processes such
as regional conflict and power relations also figure
prominently on our research agenda. Besides nurturing
the Social Indicators Research Project, the Science
and Technology Project, and the Heritage of Singapore
Project, the Department will also continue to forge
new ties and strengthen its international networks.
Having co-organised the highly successful
First ASEAN Inter-University Seminar on Social Development
with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Sabah Campus),
the Department organized the Second ASEAN Inter-University
Seminar with the Philippines Social Sciences Council
and the University of San Carlos in Cebu, as well as
the Third ASEAN Inter-University Seminar with Universitas
Riau, Pekanbaru, Indonesia, in 1997. The Department
had also organized the fourth seminar in the series
with Prince of Songkla University in Pattani, southern
Thailand, in mid-1999. The Fifth ASEAN Inter-University
Seminar was held in partnership with Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia in Singapore in 2001. The Sixth ASEAN Inter-University
Seminar was held in partnership with Universiti Sains
Malaysia in Penang in May 2004 , the Seven ASEAN Inter-University Seminar was held in Vietnam National University, Hanoi in July 2006 and the Eighth ASEAN Inter-University Seminar (Joint hosts: College of Mass Communication and the School of Labor & Industrial Relations) will be held at Manila in Philippines on 28-31 May 2008.
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