During the year, RSIS staff continued to research into their respective areas of expertise, and shared their findings and insights through RSIS publications and external publications. In particular, RSIS faculty and researchers studied and analysed how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted food security, cybersecurity, terrorism, and human security. RSIS started a special series “Global Health Security: COVID-19 and its Impacts” under the RSIS Commentary. RSIS scholars also published peer-reviewed books on their areas of research and op-eds in other publications. In the May 2020 paper published by the US Council on Foreign Relations (titled “Challenges of Global Governance Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic”), RSIS contributed a chapter on “COVID-19 and Global Governance: Waking Up to a Safe New World”. Two relevant Policy Reports: “Building Critical Supply Chain Resilience in the Wake of COVID-19” and “Living with Uncertainty: A Whole-of- Society Approach to Pandemics”, were also published.

COVID-19 and its impacts have also been covered in RSIS webinars, which were available even to those overseas as well as enabling overseas speakers to participate from their home countries. Due to the imposition of travel restrictions, safe distancing, and other measures, a number of flagship programmes were deferred. The 14th edition of the Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO) and the 22nd edition of the flagship Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO) were deferred to 2021. They are usually held in April and July/August respectively. The 13th run of the Terrorism Analyst Training Course, and the 6th SRP Distinguished Lecture and Symposium, earlier scheduled for March and April respectively, were also deferred to 2021.

RSIS continues to serve key roles in security dialogues and exchanges within the region, acting as Secretariat for both the Singapore National Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP Singapore) and the Track II Network of ASEAN Defence and Security Institutions (NADI), as well as for the Non- Traditional Security (NTS) Asia Consortium. Through these roles, RSIS contributes actively to discussions on regional security, supports the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) with relevant inputs and timely ahead-of-the-curve policy recommendations, and helps to build the confidence of ASEAN think tanks and research institutions.

For the new academic year (AY), RSIS MSc programmes have continued to attract a cosmopolitan student body with a wide range of educational, professional, and cultural backgrounds. More than 200 students from 25 countries (including students from Ghana and Mongolia for the first time) enrolled in RSIS MSc programmes in AY2020/2021. Twenty students received scholarships and study awards, including the RSIS Scholarship, the Lee Foundation Scholarship, and Student Research Assistantships.

Partnering with the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University, two RSIS master’s students attended their US Foreign Policy Summer Programme 2020 online.

The PhD programme offered by RSIS also has a diverse and cosmopolitan student body comprising 15 doctoral candidates, including four new PhD students who joined RSIS in July 2020. The students are of nine different nationalities hailing from countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. Some of these students are integrated into both RSIS institutional and individual faculty research programmes for an enriched learning experience whilst a broad-based collegial research effort continues to be supported.

Two of our PhD students met their graduation requirements by July 2020, raising the number of RSIS PhD graduates to 28. Their final thesis topics were “The State, Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Jokowi’s First Term” and “Periods of Peace between Major Powers in World History”.

RSIS researchers wrote about how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted 2020 globally, and what it means after the results of the US Presidential Election. How should we advance from there? Click here to read the essays.