Singapore academics studying ‘politically sensitive’ topics feel constrained: survey
- Most Singapore academics feel unencumbered in their research but there is ‘indirect and invisible’ pressure and a culture of self-censorship, said scholars collective Academia.sg
- Its report suggests authorities provide detailed criteria on hiring and tenure decisions, given the ‘open secret’ that these involve political vetting
While a broad spectrum of Singapore-based academics feel unencumbered in conducting research, a minority of scholars who study “politically sensitive” topics say they feel constrained from exploring certain topics or having public discussions about their work, according to a new survey.
The survey of 198 scholars in the city state found that compared to peers who work in non-sensitive areas, faculty members working on sensitive topics are 1.5 to 3.5 times more likely to feel constrained.
A report on the survey, conducted in April and May, was launched on Wednesday alongside a panel discussion by scholars, including University of Michigan professor emerita Linda Lim, the Singapore University of Social Sciences associate professor Walter Theseira and Kristopher Olds, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The session was moderated by Pang Eng Fong, professor emeritus at Singapore Management University.
More than 2,000 academics affiliated with the humanities, social science, business and law schools from five local universities were invited to participate in the survey through their publicly available email addresses. No personal identifiers were collected from those who took part.
