About the Lecture Series
Speakers invited to the Singapore Management University for the Presidential Distinguished Lecturer Series are internationally eminent and outstanding academics, scholars or business leaders who have achieved distinction in their respective fields. The purpose of the lecture series is to stimulate discussions among students, faculty and staff about matters of interest and importance in order to develop more fully the intellectual community of SMU.
About the Chairperson
Professor Lily Kong
President
Singapore Management University
Professor Lily Kong is the fifth President of Singapore Management University (SMU) and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences. She was formerly Provost at SMU.
Before joining SMU, she was a faculty member at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Geography for nearly 25 years. She also held various senior management roles at the National University of Singapore, including Vice Provost (Education), Vice Provost (Academic Personnel), Vice President (University and Global Relations), Dean (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), Dean, University Scholars Programme, and Director, Asia Research Institute.
An award-winning researcher and teacher, Professor Kong has received five international fellowship awards including the Commonwealth Fellowship Award and the Fulbright Fellowship Award. She has also won the Robert Stoddard Award from the Association of American Geographers for her contributions to the study of religion. In 2006, Professor Kong was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver).
Professor Kong is widely known for her research on urban transformations, and social and cultural change in Asia. In particular, she has published a large body of work on religion, cultural policy and creative economy, urban heritage and conservation, and national identity. She is on a dozen editorial boards of international journals in her field and is frequently invited as keynote speaker to conferences in her domain.
She has authored or co-authored 10 books, edited or co-edited nine books, published nearly 100 refereed journal articles, and contributed over 60 book chapters.
About the Organiser
Singapore Management University
A premier university in Asia, the Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world-class research and distinguished teaching. Established in 2000, SMU’s mission is to generate leading-edge research with global impact and produce broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy.
Home to around 10,000 undergraduates and postgraduates, SMU comprises six schools: School of Accountancy, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, School of Economics, School of Information Systems, School of Law and School of Social Sciences. SMU offers a wide range of bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programmes in the disciplinary areas associated with the six schools, as well as in interdisciplinary combinations of these areas.
SMU has an emphasis on generating rigorous, high-impact, and relevant multi-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance, SMU faculty collaborate with leading international researchers and universities from USA, Europe, China and India as well as with partners in the business community and public sector, through its research institutes, centres and labs. SMU’s city campus is a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of downtown Singapore, fostering strategic linkages with business, government and the wider community.
