Harnessing the diversity of research in NTU, the Social Science and Humanities Research 2025 (SSHR2025) Strategic Plan aims to position NTU at the forefront of research in the fields of arts, social sciences, humanities, education, and business. The main objectives of the SSHR2025 Strategic Plan are:

(1)   To highlight focused areas of research in the fields of arts, social sciences, humanities, education, and business that have intrinsic intellectual and community values that NTU aspire to develop in the next five years, and which may not have been captured in the RIE2025 and NTU2025 plans;

 (2)   To identify and strengthen expertise across schools and colleges, ensuring greater success in research grants related to social science and humanities;

(3)   To engage non-STEM faculty in our overall strategic research direction by pursuing sources of external funding, such as the Social Science Research Council, and various charitable foundations; and

(4)   To help with resource allocation to build capabilities in identified areas of research focus.

With the aforementioned objectives in mind, a consultative and bottoms-up approach gathered faculty input from the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CoHASS), Nanyang Business School (NBS), National Institute of Education (NIE), and The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) to identify interdisciplinary Cluster and Domain areas of academic and research strategic significance to the University from 2021-2025.

A Working Group, inclusive of junior and senior faculty members from across the four colleges collaboratively identified six non-STEM interdisciplinary Clusters to match the expertise of NTU’s researchers, to provide grounds for cross-field engagement and strategic dialogue across the University:

• Sustainability and Resilience
• Culture and Creativity
• Education and Transformation
• Leadership and Disruptive Innovation
• Human Behaviour and Technology
• Language and Heritage