The Ngee Ann Kongsi Professorship in International Relations was established on 27 November 2007 through a donation of $3 million from Ngee Ann Kongsi and a matching grant from the Government. Income from the endowment will be used to engage renowned scholars in international relations to teach and to research at RSIS.

Ngee Ann Kongsi has a long history of promoting education in Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University has benefited from its many generous donations. The University's association with Ngee Ann Kongsi began in the 1990s when the Kongsi donated $1 million to the Chinese Heritage Centre located in the University. In 2005, Ngee Ann Kongsi also donated $1.5 million to set up the Ngee Ann Kongsi Professorship in Traditional Chinese Medicine to help build up the University's expertise in traditional Chinese medicine. Besides these, it has also awarded many scholarships and bursaries to students at NTU over the years.

The first scholar to hold this Chair will be Professor Zhang Yunling, Director of the Division for International Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Zhang will be at RSIS from 26 October to 8 November 2008.