Our Programmes
The key programmes at the Centre for NTS Studies include:
Pandemics and Security Programme
- Health and Human Security
- Health Governance
- Pandemic Preparedness and Global Response Networks
Energy and Security Programme
- Security and Safety of Energy Infrastructure
- Stability of Energy Markets
- Energy Sustainability
- Nuclear Energy and Security
Climate Change and Security Programme
- Mitigation and Adaptation Policy Studies
- The Politics and Diplomacy of Climate Change
Pandemics and Security Programme
The risk of infectious disease pandemics is greater than in the past and the global public health response system faces serious analytic and institutional challenges. Infectious diseases have the potential to spread rapidly across national borders and effective response demands rapid and effective coordination between organizations, governments, and experts. Emergent networks of local, national, and international public health authorities, laboratories, and university research centers must often be cobbled together on a temporary and ad-hoc basis to respond to these emerging threats. Yet the epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases operates in a context of epistemic uncertainty and ambiguity. Information about the number and distribution of cases is rarely complete and little may be known about the disease itself and how it spreads. Confounding signals invariably complicate decision-making. Successful response requires geographically-dispersed networks to develop accurate interpretations of epidemiological information in time-pressured, uncertain and often politicized environments.
Given that information regarding possible disease outbreaks is vital in the monitoring, surveillance and control of infectious diseases, a core objective of this project is to enhance the capacity of the region to address the challenge of building a good mechanism for regional and domestic disease surveillance in order to develop and promote international regimes to avert health disasters. In this regard, the project not only aims to raise regional awareness of the serious threats of infectious diseases but more importantly to build linkages among different state agencies and policy communities in the region in order to develop an integrated approach in responding to health crises.
This project brings together an international, multidisciplinary team with experience in security studies, public health policy, and epidemiology to study how global response networks form and evolve and how these distributed communities interpret and make sense of infectious disease outbreaks.
Energy and Security Programme
The research on energy and security encompasses multi-disciplinary inputs to assess the energy climate around the Asia-Pacific region. It covers the socio-economic nature and the geopolitical characteristics of energy use. The programme therefore bridges NTS and more traditional security issues in focusing on the linkages between energy stability and national security concerns.
This approach is reflected in the three broadly defined areas of research – security, stability and sustainability aspects of ensuring energy supply and containing energy demand. It also examines how efforts to secure energy supply alter the stability of a market and a society and finally, how these efforts help a society go toward a sustainable path in economics, energy and environment security. Further, it explores how these aspects would influence the shaping of international relations in general, and cooperation and competition in energy pursuit in particular. Being a policy oriented programme, it will analyse the energy policies of nations in addition to institutional frameworks for energy cooperation.
The security aspect of the energy research programme deals with issues related to the security of energy supply, including transportation issues. The programme also looks into the protection of the infrastructure from either man-made or natural disasters.
The stability aspect of the Energy research programme looks into the economic factors that influence the energy market. The research areas include identifying and developing effective measures and mechanisms to establish market stability at the domestic, regional and international levels. It also covers areas such as diversification and other strategies that would alleviate the over-dependence on a particular energy source.
The third aspect on energy sustainability deals with the future development of alternative energy sources that could meet future energy demands without jeopardizing economic growth. It also identifies systems that promote energy efficiencies and novel technologies that are capable of running on clean energy. Apart from technological advancement, the programme also studies into the social impacts of these renewable sources versus traditional fossil energy, as well as its effects on the global environment.
Nuclear Safety and Security
An area of particular interest is the transnational risk of nuclear/radiological terrorism emanating from the increasing focus on nuclear energy in Southeast Asia and other regions. This gives rise to concerns about how to secure radioactive sources, safeguard plants and other facilities, tackle trafficking, integrate private organisations with security arrangements, respond to incidents of nuclear/radioactive terrorism, and build inter-state cooperation to tighten these efforts. Both man-made and natural disasters also have important implications for environmental equilibrium as they can affect human and plant life and impinge on economic activity. Aside from plant design and safety mechanisms, issues relating to potential effects on society arising from accidents will have to be studied and appropriate measures for prevention and response arranged. Public education and structures that incorporate local authorities and services (firefighters, police, and medical personnel) are vital. Adequate regulatory mechanisms for the nuclear infrastructure, including supervision by autonomous bodies, have to be designed.
The current ongoing project in the programme is a 6-month joint study with NTU School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in assessing the proliferation of nuclear waste disposal off the Indonesian islands. This joint-supervision project at the Masters level will utilise hydraulics modelling techniques to quantify the possible impacts in the vicinity subjected to the nuclear waste disposal.
Another awarded project is a 2-year joint study with the Earth Observatory Singapore (EOS) to characterise the geological profile of the ASEAN countries for the establishment of nuclear power plants. The project will also identify feasible sites and conditions that will minimise the risks posed to the surrounding.
Other projects in the pipeline includes the research on bioenergys, nuclear safety issues, nuclear terrorism, institutional frameworks for energy cooperation, and also international relationships among energy exporting and importing countries.
Climate Change and Security Programme
The climate change and security programme examines the socio-economic consequences of risks and uncertainties due to climate change. Research projects in this programme are divided into two major areas:
Climate Change Mitigation Studies
The programme on climate change incorporates the security hazards posed by natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding and typhoons. This programme looks into impacts of natural disasters and assesses effective national and international strategies such as risk management and disaster planning. It also incorporates quantitative analyses to support the proposed policy options to be adopted by governing bodies.
Some of the proposed projects would include the characterisation of the haze toxic levels with respect to altitudes in the Sumatra region that has affected Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia in the past decade. This study will provide a better understanding of the possible impacts to occupants in high-rise buildings.
Another project is to provide a better quantification of the rise in sea level of Singapore, to provide a better understanding and more effective methodologies in risk mitigation and disaster management.
The Politics and Diplomacy of Climate Change
Despite the global consensus on the need for concerted international action in mitigating the impact of climate change, serious problems remain on how to get countries to work together on key principles put forward by the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC), particularly on the reduction of carbon emissions. Efforts at the global level have therefore been hampered by the growing rifts between the developed and the developing countries on how to proceed with the Kyoto Protocol and beyond. Against the dynamics of global politics of climate change, it is important that Asia and Europe find common grounds in addressing a wide range of security challenges posed by global warming. The long history of regional cooperation between and within these two regions allows for the sharing of experiences and expertise in dealing with the complexities and problems of climate change.
More importantly, the growing momentum for new global and regional initiatives on climate change post-Kyoto protocol heightens the urgency for more defined strategies and commitments from the global community on dealing with carbon emissions. While recognizing that addressing climate change requires a multi-dimensional, multi-actor and multi-level approach, this research project will focus on the economic, political and diplomatic issues involved in responding to the problems of global warming and explore cooperative frameworks to better enhance institutional capacities at national and international levels. The project will also aim to undertake comparative studies on the kinds of policies and mechanisms at national and regional levels, which are aimed at mitigating the risks and challenges posed by climate change and protecting state and human security, as well as highlight gaps and identify best practices among state and non-state actors in responding to these challenges.
Comparative analysis drawing on past experience is useful for refining current strategies. Hence, a policy analysis is also planned on the dynamics of international collaboration, which remain understudied. The phasing out of chlorofluorocarbons, initially a task on which there was much disagreement, was eventually agreed upon and the problem of ozone depletion tackled with efficacy. Climate change remains a more difficult task and progress has been slow. What accounts for the difference in degrees of inter-state collaboration achieved? How has the problem of relative costs and gains affected the two issues? Have key states altered their approach? A detailed analysis will identify the sources of successful multi-actor collaboration.