Ambassador Barry Desker
Dean, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)

Welcome to our Website. Whether you looked us up or found us by chance, I hope you will find these few pages useful and informative.

The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) was inaugurated on 1 January 2007. It was officially launched by President S R Nathan on 11 December 2006.

RSIS originally started as the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) which was established on 30 July 1996 by Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. It is an autonomous graduate school in the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Besides doing research in subjects pertaining to security, defence, international affairs and diplomacy, it also teaches postgraduate programmes in Strategic Studies, International Relations, and International Political Economy. RSIS also organises lectures, conferences and seminars that are aimed at helping policy makers to develop comprehensive approaches to strategic thinking.

Living in a globalised and interconnected world, we believe that the internet can help us reach out to more people, disseminate information and to foster dialogue faster and more effectively. To remain current and relevant, this website will provide timely updates as well as introduce new capabilities from time to time. More details about RSIS and what we do are available in the following pages. If you are interested in knowing more about us, or any subject or issues related to our work, please feel free to contact any of us. We would be delighted to hear from you.