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Graduate College - Community Engagement Project
-banner.jpg?sfvrsn=a68ec95d_0 "VVS-NTU-GC-0776(Final)-Banner")
Interested students can submit a project proposal and application form to [email protected]. The project proposal should be in line with the Graduate College’s community engagement themes (continuous learning, community service, and sustainability) and is not limited to physical volunteering, but also includes organizing virtual events and talks, exhibitions, visitations, development of digital products or other activities that are beneficial to the community or society. Reasonable budget can be proposed to support the execution of the project.
GRADUATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECT: UNHEARD MELODIES
The “Unheard Melodies” Community Engagement Project (CEP), led by ADM PhD Student Li Su and her member Li Runhao (EEE), aims to bridge cultural divides, foster lifelong learning and embedding sustainability into the core of community engagement.
Through her past collaborations with the Sing Lit Station and Migrant Writers of Singapore, Li Su has gathered a wide collection of artworks (including poems accompanied by paintings and embroidery), along with a documentary film of migrant workers sharing the stories behind their creations through a series of art workshops.
To facilitate meaningful dialogue, enable cultural exchange and inspire continuous engagement with the arts and society at large, Li Su organised physical exhibitions at NTU and Tzu Chi Humanistic Centre as well as set up a digital museum webpage for this CEP. She also recruited a total of 20-25 postgraduates for the project, as well as the exhibition in NTU.
The first physical exhibition was set up at NTU North Spine Plaza, Skydeck, from 22 April 2024 to 27 April 2024. Over 40 art pieces by more than 25 migrant artists were displayed. The exhibition aims to foster cultural exchange and sustainability awareness in NTU. The team invited the Dean of Graduate College, Prof Wen Yonggang, and some migrant artists to engage with the NTU community at the opening. During the opening on 22 April 2024, a large number of audience (both staff and students) participated in the craft workshop with volunteer migrant artists. Meaningful engagement with migrant artists was observed.
Together with the Migrant Writers of Singapore (MWS) and Sing Lit Station, the team set up the second exhibition, the “Migrant Arts Festival 2024” at Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre from 5 May 2024 to 26 May 2024 to further enhance cultural and social awareness through the CEP, and brought the CEP project to a much broader participation which engaged with more public audience. The festival was a vibrant showcase of creativity and cultural richness within Singapore's migrant community. The event began with a scrapbooking workshop and a representative from the Indonesian embassy graced the opening ceremony on 5 May 2024.
In order to reach out to a wider community and create a greater impact, Li Su led her team to bring the exhibition online. The digital museum (https://www.migrantworkersmuseum.com/) allows viewing of migrant artworks, as well as digital engagement, where visitors could interact with the content remotely. Collation of all the stories behind the artworks were created into a video and showcased on the digital museum (https://www.migrantworkersmuseum.com/public/documentary-cep.mp4 ) as well.
The art creations culminated in an exhibition and the digital museum, have fostered meaningful dialogues and bridge cultural divides. The engagement did not end with the events; it encouraged the formation of ongoing relationships between the students, the communities and digital platforms. Unheard Melodies CEP has made this possible.
Media Coverage:
NTU Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/share/UbpNTkHWT2QpSUxc/?mibextid=WC7FNe
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6JVDzqSVfC/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Migrant Writers of Singapore Public Social Media Social:
MWS FB on CEP
MWS FB
Lianhe Zaobo:
LHZB Newspaper
GRADUATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECT: SEAS OF SILK
How can you engage (young) people on sustainability using the lens of time and space? This was the main motivation for the NTU Graduate College Community Engagement Project Seas of Silk: Sojourns of Today and Future, which was headed by two NIE students, Indira Subramanian and Shobhana Mani.
The two sought to add an artistic touch and employ a "ground up" strategy to a sustainability problem that is frequently discussed by professionals in research, policy, and academia. So, from September to November 2022, they invited parents, educators, and students from Singapore to go for a walk anywhere in the island nation. Walkers were asked to take at least two photographs and write a short reflection of what that space meant to them, how they thought it would change over a century and how they would want to see it evolve.
The response was overwhelming with over 150 entries and reflections comprising nearly 350 photos. One young writer in describing the iconic Merlion described how it has been meticulously maintained over the years as a testimony to its sustained presence in “the hearts of Singaporeans”. He goes on to say that “for our great-great grandchildren in circa 2100, I hope that the Merlion will look far more majestic than it does now, and its size would have been increased so that more people can view it”.
Once the entries were received, Indira and Shobhana collaborated with UK based community outdoor artists, Kinetika, to reinterpret the photos into hand painted silk flags and scrolls.
These along with the reflections were showcased at an exhibition during NTU Service Week between February 25 to March 4, 2023 at B1 Foyer @ The Arc, which was open to the public.
On February 27, students and teachers from the two participating schools, GIG International School and Yuvabharathi International School, joined the Dean of Graduate College who was the guest of honour, NIE’s office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning who included A/P Cheung Yin Leng and Dr Cheng Lu Pien, CEP project advisor Dr Farhan Ali, UAO, the organizers of Service Week and staff of Graduate College, to celebrate the launch of the exhibition.
A quiz was posted on GC’s social media platforms. Ten students walked away with prizes sponsored by WWF. They hoped that the week-long exhibition gave visitors an understanding of the thought process behind the project and have inspired young people to incorporate more concepts of sustainability, community involvement, and continuous learning into their daily lives.
GRADUATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECT: COFFEE CLUB
Project Coffee Club was created to meet like-minded people over a good cup of coffee to have informal discussions on issues relevant to society. Spearheaded by Patrick Li (PhD, MSE), Nupur Gupta (PhD, IGP) and Anagh Pal (ex-Master, WKWSCI), Coffee Club meetings were organised to discuss a pertinent issue that is affecting the world, plastic waste. It was observed during the covid pandemic when social distancing was implemented and no dine-ins were allowed, use of single-use plastic was on the rise.
The first Coffee Club Meeting was organized on 24th January 2022, in collaboration with Earthlink NTU Club. Dr. Lim Song Kiat Jacob, a research scientist from Temasek Lab @ NTU was invited as a speaker to give a virtual talk on ‘Challenges with plastic recycling in Singapore.’ Dr. Lim Song Kiat Jacob equipped graduate students with more knowledge of plastic recycling from a Singapore perspective and the ongoing schemes to tackle this issue.
On March 23, 2022, a second physical meeting was convened at The ARC to discuss the current difficulties with plastic recycling on campus. There were encouraging discussions on how to tackle the issue. Several ideas were shared. Some of them were educating others through a dedicated course module and using posters showing where and how segregated waste will be treated; setting up counters on campus that provide reusable mugs, cutleries, and boxes for carrying food items and understanding the challenges that come with it, such as hygiene issues and who will be responsible for the washing of the reusable items, etc. Another challenge faced was that bubble tea shops discouraged bringing their own containers for hygiene reasons. Discussions were enriching. The team hopes for these discussions to continue to brainstorm more ideas to help curb plastic waste on campus.
GRADUATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECT: DIGITAL ART, TOUGHING HEARTS, ENGAGING MINDS (D.A.T.E)
Project D.A.T.E is a collaboration between NTU’s Graduate college and Yong-en Active Hub, to raise awareness, promote mindfulness, and self-care through digital art therapy engagement sessions between 30 student volunteers from the NTU Graduate College and 30 elderly beneficiaries. Spearheaded by Lee Ke Ying Sheryl (PhD, ADM) and Donovan Tan (MA, ADM), they named the theme for the project as “Hope” to encourage participants to reflect upon their experiences during this COVID-19 pandemic and empower them to express their thoughts through creative experimentation.
Seniors would interact with our students individually via Zoom in breakout rooms for them to interact, forge bonds, and collaboratively create a work of art together. Altogether, the works that have been created were culminated in an exhibition held on 22 Jan 2022 as part of NTU Service Week.
Social media/newsletter coverage:
1. NTU Giving Website: https://www.ntu.edu.sg/giving/news-and-stories/detail/a-date-with-the-seniors
2. NTU Weixin/WeChat: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0sJk4AScQ5XwGD2rKaRPgg
3. NTU LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ntusg_ntusg-ntusgserviceweek-ntusgwebelong-activity-6890677321892790272-giey
4. NTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZB7kW9vX9-/?utm_medium=copy_link;
5. NTU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/188991601140026/posts/5030224577016680/?sfnsn=mo
GRADUATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECT: COMMUNITY TELEHEALTH SERVICE
Graduate College’s first Community Engagement Project was launched at Punggol 21 Community Centre on 9 January 2021.
770b227a-fddc-4ce1-88c3-430ebc623f30.png?sfvrsn=5d154973_3 "The team of NTU students that is running the CTS pilot (2)")
-explaining-to-a-volunteer-the-procedure-for-the-screeningd0a791fb-d442-48a4-b6ac-91569dc5fdbc.png?sfvrsn=918efaa8_3 "2. Dr Michelle Law (left) explaining to a volunteer the procedure for the screening")
The Community Telehealth Service (CTS) was an initiative by nine graduate students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme. It aims to provide free health monitoring to Singaporeans above 50 years of age, as well as those who have had their regular health check-ups deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The check-ups took place in specially constructed telemedicine booths that leverage the latest health technologies to test for eye and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, as well as obesity. The computerised health screening system was provided by South Korean healthcare start-up, Medi-Whale. It uses an automated camera to take several images of a person's eye and its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system then processes the retinal images to determine an individual's health conditions.
(Above Photos by: Caroline Chia/ WhatAreYouDoing.sg)
When asked about her experience with the telehealth screening, Ms Jasmine said, “It was very easy and non-frightening. The volunteers who have helped me through the various checks were very approachable.”
Professor Lee Pooi See, Dean of Graduate College said: "The University takes pride in our graduate students for fostering the spirit of community engagement. We fully support our students in their remarkable volunteerism in embarking on this meaningful experiential learning journey which is an excellent example of an interdisciplinary collaboration."
The pilot for the Community Telehealth Service was held from 9 January 2021 to 28 February 2021 at Punggol 21 Community Club. A total of 55 trained student and community volunteers helped 627 residents undergo the health monitoring service, with 26% of users referred to SingHealth eventually.
Continuing from the inaugural pilot run at Punggol 21 Community Club, the new team run their first booth at Blk377A Bukit Batok St 31 (since September 2021) and second booth at BLK 24 Chai Chee Road (since 22 January 2022). The team has planned to deploy more booths at multiple locations in Singapore.
Award
Nanyang Award - Humanitarian Work
Media Coverage:
- Students provide free telehealth monitoring service for the community-Media Coverage, NTU News.
- Free health screening services for 1,000 residents at Punggol 21 Community Club- The Straits Times, page B5, and online, 10 Jan
- Article reproduced in The New Paper, page 6, and online, as well as in Times of News (Singapore), 11 Jan.
- NTU students take telehealth service to Punggol residents in seven-week trial- Singapore Tonight, CNA, 10 pm, 10 Dec
- NTU Singapore graduate students to provide free telehealth monitoring service for the community- News Tonight, Channel 5, 9 pm, 10 Dec
- NTU students set up remote medical examination stations to allow residents to do physical examinations in the community- Singapore Today, Channel 8, 6.30 pm, and online, 10 Jan
- Nine NTU graduate students use AI to provide free remote medical examinations for the community- Lianhe Zaobao, page 6, and online, 10 Jan
- 1,000 Punggol residents have access to telecommunication check-ups at community centres- BERITA Mediacorp, 10 Jan
- Free health screenings at Punggol- Berita Harian, page 2
- Free health screening services for 1,000 residents at Punggol- Tamil Murasu, page 3
- Pandemic-proof Health Screening Services for the Community- WAYD.sg
- Community Telehealth Services, ThisisScope
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