Events Schedule
Official Launch
6th May 2008 at the Traders Hotel, Singapore
The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University will officially launch its Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies on 6th May 2008 at the Traders Hotel, Singapore.
Since 1999, the RSIS has successfully conducted and managed a programme on Non-Traditional Security (NTS). The programme aims at increasing awareness of a range of non-traditional security challenges that threaten the well-being and security of states and societies in Asia, and the need to develop regional institutional capabilities to respond to these challenges. Its key projects have combined conceptual innovation, empirical research, and policy-relevant analysis and findings.
With the growing interest on NTS issues in the region, the RSIS established the Consortium on Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia) in January 2007, which brings together 14 research institutes and think-tanks from Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. The Consortium, which is led by RSIS, aims to further develop the process of networking and consolidate existing research on NTS-related issues, as well as to mainstream and push ahead the field of Non-Traditional Security in Asia.
The upgrading of the RSIS-NTS programme to a Centre, therefore, marks yet another milestone for the study of NTS in RSIS. The Centre for NTS Studies will launch three major programmes of critical concern to the region: Pandemics, Climate Change, and Energy and Security. These research programmes will involve developing research findings into actionable policy recommendations and proposing policy initiatives to address the range of NTS problems facing the Asia-Pacific region.
Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary General of ASEAN, will deliver the keynote address at the Centre’s launch. Also invited to grace the occasion is Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, who will deliver the opening remarks and officially launch the Centre. The official launch will be followed by an Inaugural Lecture to be delivered by Prof Alan Dupont, Director of the Centre for International Strategic Studies, University of Sydney.
Welcome Address by Amb. Barry Desker, Dean, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Keynote Address by Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary - General, ASEAN