Dr Jayakumar was educated at Oxford University where he studied History (BA 1997, D.Phil, 2001). He has published in various peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes on topics relating to medieval history (the focus of his doctorate). He was a member of the Singapore Administrative Service from 2002-2017. During this time, he was posted to various Ministries, including the Ministries of Defence, Manpower, Information and the Arts, and Community Development, Youth and Sports. He was from August 2011-July 2014 a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. His research interests include extremism, cyber, social resilience, and political history.

• Radicalisation and Countering Violent Extremism
• Singapore’s National Security
• Singapore History post-1965

• Member, Content & Collections Committee, National Library Board (2021-3)
• Member, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism International Advisory Committee (2020-)
• Singapore Representative to ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), 2019-2021, 2022-2024
• Member, National Library Board, 2015-2021
• Chair, National Archives Advisory Committee (NAAC), 2015-2019
• Member, Board of Governors, Republic Polytechnic, 2011-2017
• Chair, School of Management and Communication Advisory Committee, Republic Polytechnic, 2011-2017
• Member, International Advisory Board, Violence: An International Journal, 2018-present
• Member, Advisory Board, National Museum of Singapore (2022-2024)

Policy Reports

• Fake News: National Security in the Post-Truth Era

  19 January, 2018

Commentaries

• “Offensive Cyber” and Espionage: Dirty Secrets No One Talks About

  04 January, 2021

• Between Byte and Bark: Singapore, US & Chinese Tech

  16 October, 2020

• 5G and Techno-Nationalism: Choosing Sides?

  17 July, 2020

• Global Health Security: COVID-19 and Its Impacts - Limits to Strategic Foresight: Try Wisdom of the Crowds

  19 May, 2020

• Global Health Security - COVID-19: What Changes – and What Doesn’t

  17 April, 2020

• Return of Great Power Rivalry

  19 August, 2019

• International Conference on Cohesive Societies - Tolerance and its Enemies: Three Observations

  26 June, 2019

• Cyber Security: Will There Be One ASEAN Voice?

  28 May, 2019

• SingHealth Cyber Attack: Learning from COI Findings

  13 February, 2019

• Elections Integrity in Fake News Era: Who Protects, and How?

  29 November, 2018

• Violent Extremism and its Continuum

  17 October, 2018

• CO18041 | Germany’s NetzDG: Template for Dealing with Fake News?

  13 March, 2018

• CO18021 | “Regardless of Religion”: Building a Stronger Singaporean Society

  12 February, 2018

• CO18013 | Cyber Threats: 2018 and Beyond

  26 January, 2018

• CO17203 | The Future of Work: New Underclass, Dystopian Reality?

  30 October, 2017

• CO17151 | Disinformation: Slow Burn Menace

  14 August, 2017

• CO16299 | The Jemaah Islamiyah and its Afterlives

  12 December, 2016

• CO16249 | China-Singapore Ties: The Four Rs Behind the Unhappiness

  06 October, 2016

• CO16137 | Our Skynet Moment: Debating Morality of AI

  07 June, 2016

• CO16074 | The Curious Case of Wang Yuandongyi: Why Do Some Want to Fight With Anti-ISIS Groups?

  06 April, 2016

• CO15209 | IS ‘Trojan Horse’: Seeing Wood for the Trees?

  07 October, 2015

• CO15146 | The Year of the Caliphate: What Lies Ahead?

  29 June, 2015

• CO14215 | Biker Gang Chic and ‘Reverse Jihad’: The “Other” Foreign Fighters

  03 November, 2014

Authored Books

• A History of the People’s Action Party, 1985-2021. Singapore: National University of Singapore/ NUS Press Singapore, 2021
• Singapore Chronicles: PAP (with Albert Lau). Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies & Straits Times Press, 2019

Journal Articles

• “Singapore’s “Deradicalisation” Model: Revolution – or Evolution?” in Journal for Deradicalization, Spring 2021, 26, 2021, 227-246
• “Southeast Asian Fighters from Islamic State Leaks: A Historical Snapshot” (with Cameron Sumpter) in Perspectives on Terrorism, 13, 6, 2019. 58-72
• “Looking Back, Looking Forward” in BiblioAsia, Vol. 15, Issue 1, 2019, pp. 2-5
• “Rethinking ASEAN’s Approach to Counter-terrorism” in East Asia Forum, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2018, pp. 28-29
• “The Islamic State Looks East: The Growing Threat in Southeast Asia” in CTC Sentinel, Vol. 10, Issue 2, 2017,

Edited Books / Special Issues

• Disinformation and Fake News (with Benjamin Ang, and Nur Diyanah Binte Anwar), Eds. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020
• Terrorism, Radicalisation & Countering Violent Extremism: Practical Considerations & Concerns. Singapore: Palgrave Pivot, 2019
• DRUMS: Distortions, Rumours, Untruths, Misinformation, and Smears (with Norman Vasu, and Benjamin Ang), Eds. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2019
• State, Society and National Security: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co, 2016
• The Big Ideas of Lee Kuan Yew (with Rahul Sagar), Eds. Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2014

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Cyber Attacks by Terrorists and Other Malevolent Actors: Prevention and Preparedness. With Three Case Studies on Estonia, Singapore and the United States.” in Alex P. Schmid, Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness. The Hague: ICCT Press, 2021, Chapter 29
• “Fake News and Disinformation: Singapore Perspectives” (with Benjamin Ang, and Nur Diyanah Binte Anwar) in Shashi Jayakumar, Benjamin Ang, Nur Diyanah Anwar (Eds.), Disinformation and Fake News. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 137-158
• “Human Rights in the ASEAN-EU Relationship: Finding Common Ground” in Tommy Koh and Lay Hwee Yeo (Eds.), ASEAN-EU Partnership The Untold Story. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing , 2020, 49-55
• “Deradicalisation” (with Bartolomeo Conti, Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, Phil Gurski, and Rahma Dauleh) in Eds., International Panel on Exiting Violence: Draft Report 2017-2019. France: Foundation Maison Des Sciences de L’Homme, 2019,
• “The PAP’s Crucible” in Tommy Koh and Scott Wightman (Eds.), 200 Years of Singapore and the United Kingdom. Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2019, pp. 144-153
• “Threats Seen and Unseen, Terrorism and Cyber Attacks in Singapore” in Jan Wouter Vasbinder (Ed.), Disrupted Balance : Society at Risk. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co, 2018, pp. 49-55
• “Singapore in 2017: Testing Times, Within and Without” in Malcolm Cook and Daljit Singh (Eds.), Southeast Asian Affairs 2018. Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2018, pp. 299-320

Working Papers

• Deradicalisation in Singapore: Past, Present and Future, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) Report, King's College London, United Kingdom, 20 August 2020
• Transnational Volunteers Against ISIS, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), King's College London, United KIngdom, 23 August 2019

Op-Eds

• “Shape-shifting terrorism: The new challenge” (with Raffaello Pantucci), The Straits Times, 9 September 2021
• “Southeast Asia: The Evolving Nature of the Security Threat”, Stratagem Insights, 22 March 2021
• “Trust, Tracking, Transparency – Road Bumps in Spore’s Smart Nation Journey”, The Straits Times, 5 February 2021
• “Singapore: The Lure of the Far-Right”, Insights-GNET, 2 February 2021
• “Between Byte and Bark — Singapore, US and Chinese Tech” (with Manoj Harjani), TODAY, 22 October 2020
• “Commentary: Why Did George Floyd Protests Gain Traction Worldwide – Including Asia?”, Channel NewsAsia, 17 July 2020
• “Singapore’s Radicalised”, The Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), 9 July 2020
• “Choosing sides? 5G and techno-nationalism” (with Manoj Harjani), The Straits Times, 8 July 2020
• “The Way Forward for Singapore’s Digital Defence”, GOVINSIDER, 5 June 2020
• “Time for Singapore’s strategic planners to better tap the wisdom of the crowds” (with Adrian W J Kuah), TODAY, 21 May 2020
• “The Singapore Model: A New Deradicalisation Approach for the UK?” (with Raffaello Pantucci), RUSI Newsbrief, 13 March 2020
• “The 2010s – when tolerance and pluralism came under attack”, Channel News Asia, 6 January 2020
• “America’s Anti-Islamic State Volunteers”, LAWFARE, 1 December 2019
• “Will There be One ASEAN Voice on Cyber?”, The Strategist (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), 22 May 2019
• “Violent Extremism and Its Continuum” (with Rohan Gunaratna), The Straits Times, 11 October 2018
• “The Truly Great Who Flew Above Us”, The Straits Times, 19 August 2018
• “Cyber Threats: 2018 and Beyond” (with Foo Siang-tse), The Straits Times, 26 January 2018
• “The Future of Work – New Underclass, Dystopian Reality?” (with Eugene Goh), Channel NewsAsia, 15 October 2017
• “Singapore and the Terror Threat Landscape”, IAPS Dialogue: The online magazine of the Institute of Asia & Pacific Studies, University of Nottingham, 25 September 2017
• “Memories of War and its Legacies”, National Archives of Singapore, Off the Record, 2 September 2017
• “Disinformation: An Old Security Threat Made New”, The Straits Times, 8 August 2017
• “Remembering the Legacy of Pramoedya Ananta Toer”, The Jakarta Post, 30 April 2017
• “Creating an Ecosystem to Win a Non-conventional War” (with Ho Shu Huang), TODAY, 22 March 2017
• “Beware the Slow-burn Threats to Singapore”, Channel NewsAsia, 31 December 2016
• “JI Arrests: 15 Years Later”, The Straits Times, 9 December 2016
• “Smart Nation, but Will We Be Secure?” (with Benjamin Ang), The Straits Times, 14 October 2016
• “The Four Rs Behind the Unhappiness”, The Straits Times, 6 October 2016
• “Morality and the Future of Robots”, The Straits Times, 6 June 2016
• “Islamic State “Sleeper Cells” Not the Real Fear Around Refugee Exodus”, TODAY, 6 October 2015
• “The Year of the Caliphate and What is to Come”, The Straits Times, 27 June 2015
• “The Curious Case of Wang Yuandongyi”, The Straits Times, 2 April 2015
• “What Singaporeans Should Do as Security Threats Evolve”, TODAY, 15 February 2015
• ““Reverse Jihad”: The Other Foreign Fighters”, The Straits Times, 5 November 2014

• Speaker, Olive TREE Forum 2021 on ‘Disinformation’ for Humanity Matters , 26 November 2021.
• Panelist, “Security, Competition & Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific” for the Global Security Forum 2021 by The Soufan Group, 8 October 2021.
• Speaker, Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) Southeast Asia Regional Meeting’s Opening Panel on Cyber Capacity Building Landscape in Southeast Asia for Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW), 7 October 2021.
• Speaker, Stratcom Direction- International Perspective in the Information Independence Conference by the War Studies University, Warsaw, Poland, 17 September 2021.
• Speaker, Moot Parliament Programme (MPP) Symposium 2021 by the Gifted Education Branch, Ministry of Education Singapore, 1 September 2021.
• Speaker, ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop on Preventing Terrorist Use of the Internet for Christchurch Call, International Security & Disarmament Division by New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, New Zealand, 7 July 2021.
• Panellist, APAC in Focus: Regional Responses to Terrorist and Violent Extremist Activity Online, by Tech Against Terrorism & GIFCT, United Kingdom, 24 June 2021
• Speaker, Book Launch,  Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness by Alex P. Schmid (Ed.), Part IV, Cyber Attacks by Terrorists and Other Malevolent Actors: Prevention and Preparedness, With Three Case Studies on Estonia, Singapore and the United States, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism  (ICCT), The Hague, 18 May 2021.
• Guest Speaker, Violent extremism and (de) radicalization in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) for the The Conflict Analysis and Prevention Center (CAPC), Moscow,  Russian Federation,  26 February 2021.
• Guest Speaker, Religious Radicalism: Christian and Muslim Understanding and Responses on “Exploring Beliefs, Narratives, and Ideologies of Islamic Radicalism” by the Pontifical Council on Interreligious Dialogue, 26 January 2021.
• Guest Speaker, US-Singapore Cyber & Tech Security Virtual Series on “Cybersecurity and Big Data” by the Pacific Forum, 21 January 2021.
• Guest Speaker, Human Rights Seminar on “Human Rights in Cyberspace: Emerging Issues” by the European Union Delegation to Singapore, 20 January 2021.
• Guest Speaker, International Maritime Seminar 2020 on “Disinformation and Cyber” by the Indonesian Navy Headquarters, Naval Command and Staff College, 5 November 2020.
• Guest Speaker, UNSW ASEAN Conference 2020 on “Cyberthreats: Non-Traditional Security Issues in ASEAN” by the University of New South Wales, 24 October 2020.
• Guest Speaker, “Radicalization into Violent Extremism: An Understanding of the phenomenon in a Globalized Context” by the National Defence College (NDC), Bangladesh, 14 September 2020.
• Guest Speaker, GovInsider Live Festival of Innovation on “Security by Design” by the GovInsider, 7 September 2020.
• Expert Speaker, “Global Cyber Policy Dialogues: Southeast Asia” by the East West Institute and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, 6 August 2020.
• Guest Speaker, “Disinformation: Policy Options and Operational Methods Used to Counter Disinformation” by the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS), 1 July 2020.
• Guest Speaker, EWI Virtual Roundtable on “Trust but Verify – Getting to Secure Global ICT Supply Chains” by the East West Institute (EWI), 25 June 2020.
• Guest Speaker, “Misinformation and COVID” in Episode 4: Tom Pressley, Dr Shashi Jayakumar and Dr Carol Soon by Infotagion Podcast, 30 April 2020.
• Guest Speaker, “Geopolitical Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic” by the Instituto de Relações Internacionais da Universidade de Brasília (Institute of International Relations of the University of Brasília), 16 April 2020.
• Panellist, IPS-Facebook Live Forum: Singapore’s Response to the Outbreak of Covid-2019 by IPS and Facebook, 25 February 2020.
• Keynote Speaker, EU Annual Human Rights Day Seminar: Towards a More Cohesive Society in the Context of Counter-Terrorism and Countering of Violent Extremism for the European Union Delegation to Singapore, 12 December 2019.
• Guest Speaker, “Deliberate Online Falsehoods” for the 4th ASEAN Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Roundtable Meeting (ACPRM) by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (Singapore), 2 October 2019.
• Guest Speaker, 8th International Risk Assessment & Horizon Scanning Symposium (IRAHSS 2019) on “Security Reimagined”, 23 July 2019.
• Guest Speaker, “Tackling Cybersecurity Threats in Southeast Asia: Lessons from Singapore” for The Asia Foundation, United States of America, 15 July 2019.
• Guest Speaker, INTERPOL World 2019 on “Future Capabilities and Cultures – How do police build future capabilities and cultures within their organisations?” by INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation, 3 July 2019.
• Guest Speaker, 33rd Asia-Pacific Roundtable (APR) on “State Sponsored Influence Operations in The Digital Age” by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, 24-26 June 2019.
• Guest Speaker, 7th Senior Commanders Programme on “ISIS and Social Media: Singapore Perspectives” by the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College, 14 May 2019.
• Speaker, “Tackling Disinformation and Online Falsehoods in Singapore” for the visit to RSIS by the Science and Technology Committee (STC) of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, 7 May 2019.
• Guest Speaker, Harvard College in Asia Programme on “Future Security Challenges: What does Education have to do with it?” by the Singapore Management University, 19 March 2019.
• Guest Speaker, Conference on AI, Politics and Security in the Asia-Pacific on “Singapore and AI” by the Coral Bell School, ANU, Canberra, 13 March 2019.
• Guest Speaker, Roundtable China’s Evolving Power in the Indo-Pacific: The Impact of the Digital Silk Road on “Singapore, ASEAN and Cyber” by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, 27 February 2019.
• Guest Speaker, Workshop on Enhancing Member State capacities to exploit social media in relation to the Foreign Terrorist Fighters phenomenon on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters: A Singapore Perspective” by UNOCT-INTERPOL, 25 February 2019.
• Guest Speaker, EU-Singapore Think Tank Dialogue on “Cyber and Disinformation” by the European Institute of Security Studies & RSIS, 30 January 2019.
• Guest Speaker, “Deradicalisation” by the IPEV (International Panel on Exiting Violence) and Dabran Foundation Conference (Sulimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan), 18 January 2019.
• Guest Speaker, SRP Executive Programme on “A Clash of Civilisations? A Conflict Amongst Religions?” by RSIS, 13 November 2018.
• Guest Speaker, Forum on “Fake News and Disinformation: Singapore Perspectives” for the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College, 8 October 2018.
• Guest Speaker, “Cyber and Disinformation” for the RSIS/ASPI Dialogue (Singapore), 25 September 2018.
• Guest Speaker, Risk and Artificial Intelligence, “Risk” and “AI” by the PMO-Strategy Group/Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), 5 September 2018.
• Guest Speaker, Digitalisation in Asia Programme, “Cybersecurity and Disinformation” by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung at the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore, 10 July 2018.
• Guest Speaker, “Singapore, Fake News and Disinformation” at the Sri Lanka Institute of National Security Studies (INSSSL), 5 July 2018.
• Guest Speaker, “Deradicalisation” at the IPEV (International Panel on Exiting Violence) Conference, Beirut, Lebanon, 21 June 2018.
• Guest Speaker, in-house lecture, “Disinformation and Fake News” at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore, 30 May 2018.
• Guest Speaker, “Disinformation across East and West” at the Kiev Security Forum (Kiev), 11 April 2018.
• Guest Speaker, Cybersecurity in ASEAN on “Cybersecurity in ASEAN” for the Asia Foundation Practitioners’ workshop, 19 April 2018.
• Guest Speaker, Singapore-France Middle East Dialogue (Paris) on “Terrorism and Radicalisation: Perspectives from Asia” for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore)/Ministry of Foreign Affairs (France), 21 February 2018.
• Guest Speaker, ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand (AANZ) Dialogue on “The Convergence of Technology, Foreign Policy, and Security” for the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, 21 November 2017.
• Guest Speaker, Panel on the Specific Transnational Terrorist Threats for the Conference on the Prevention of Violent Extremism in Southeast Asia by the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID), 22 September 2017.
• Guest Speaker, Future of Asia Conference  on “Lee Kuan Yew” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, 15 September 2017 [USA].
• Guest Speaker, Future of Asia Conference  on “Securing Asia” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, 14 September 2017 [USA].
• Guest Speaker, ASEAN at 50: The Way Forward on “Challenges to Peace, Security and Stability in ASEAN” by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation, the Center for Strategic
  International Studies in Indonesia, and the Stratbase-ADR Institute, 3 August 2017 [Manila].
• Guest Speaker, International Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning Symposium 2017 on “Counter-Terrorism Strategies and Technology” for the National Security Coordination Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, 19 July 2017.
• Guest Speaker, Smart Nation, Secure Systems: Building Cybersecurity in Singapore on  “Challenges for a Smart Nation: Security, Artificial Intelligence Risks”  for the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), 4 May 2017.
• Guest Speaker, Disrupted Balance-Society at Risk Conference on “Terrorism and Cyber: Singapore’s Security Futures” for the Nanyang Technology University Singapore and Para Limes Global Dialogue, 6 December 2016.