The Asia Research Institute is pleased to offer Ph.D. researchscholarships from August 2007 in the following interdisciplinary areas:

• CHANGING FAMILY IN ASIA
• ASIAN MIGRATION
• RELIGION & GLOBALISATION IN ASIAN CONTEXTS
• CULTURAL STUDIES IN ASIA
• SOUTHEAST ASIA-CHINA INTERACTIONS

The PhD scholarship is to be taken up jointly with the appropriatediscipline-based department. This would normally be with a department ofthe Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, but where appropriate couldalso be with the Faculty of Law, School of Business or School of Design& Environment at the National University of Singapore.

Interested applicants are required to submit their application to ARI atthe address stated below by 15 NOVEMBER 2006, indicating clearly bothwhich ARI interdisciplinary area they wish to join and which departmentthey would be attached to. Application procedures and forms can beobtained from the NUS website via this URL:http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/prospective/graduate/application.html

Applicants must use the application forms in the respective Facultywebsites depending on the Faculty to which they wish to seek admission.

Research at ARI currently focuses on the following areas or “clusters”:
1) The Changing Family cluster (Research Leader: Professor Gavin Jones)focuses on changing family forms, roles and structures in Asiansocieties, as other institutions take over some family functions, lowfertility, delayed marriage and longevity transform family composition,and labour market realities and changing gender relations affectinternal family dynamics.

2) The Migration cluster (Research Leader: Professor Brenda Yeoh)explores the issues arising from increased levels of human mobility inthe region, both within and across national borders. Mobility ofhigh-level professional and managerial personnel, labour migration, bothdocumented and undocumented, and human trafficking all raise theoreticaland methodological questions and major policy issues, as does the roleof migration in urban change.

3) The Religion and Globalisation cluster (Research Leader: ProfessorBryan Turner) explores the changing patterns of religious practice,belief and identity in recent times, particularly in Southeast Asia,China and South Asia. The title implies a particular interest intransnational and diasporic interactions, the engagement with moderntechnologies and values, and new global or ‘glocal’ forms of identity.

4) The Cultural Studies cluster (Research Leader: Professor Chua BengHuat) consciously challenges disciplinary boundaries to address newtopics, issues and concerns thrown up by the rapid globalization ofcontemporary cultures. ARI is interested in new understandings of theeveryday life cultural practices of contemporary Asia, as in adaptationsof older patterns in literature, and the performing and graphic arts, inrapidly changing contemporary conditions.

5) The Southeast Asia-China interactions cluster (Research Leader:Professor Anthony Reid) explores both historical and contemporary themesthat are bringing East and Southeast Asia closer together, and isinterested in any mix of the political, economic, cultural or social.Southeast Asian Archaeology (Research Leader: Associate Professor JohnMiksic) also comes under this cluster. The archaeology research groupfocuses on problems connected with early historic sites of SoutheastAsia and major topics such as early trade; urbanization; maritimearchaeology; intercommunication between sites; and ceramics asindicators of spheres of cultural and economic interaction.

ARI is a university-level institute formed in July 2001 as one of thestrategic initiatives of the NUS. The mission of the Institute is toproduce and promote world-class research on Asia. ARI engages the socialsciences and humanities broadly defined, and encourages especiallymultidisciplinary studies. Now home to six research clusters with astrong team of resident and visiting scholars, ARI works closely withthe Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Business, Faculty ofLaw, and School of Design and Environment in NUS.

Human Resources
c/o Ms Verene Koh
Asia Research Institute
National University of Singapore
AS7, Level 4, 5 Arts Link, Singapore 117570
Fax: (65) 6779 1428