Bakrie Chair For Southeast Asian Studies

Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU Singapore:

Amb. Barry Desker – Distinguished Fellow of RSIS

–  Amb Desker is currently also the Non-Resident Ambassador of Singapore to the Holy See and Spain, and Chairman of Singapore Technologies Marine.

–  Headed RSIS and the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies from October 2000 to November 2014.

–  Continued to hold inaugural Bakrie Professorship in Southeast Asia Policy, which was established in November 2010.

–  Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, Singapore, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship.

– Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Trade Development Board from 1994 to 2000 and

– Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993

– A President’s Scholar, he was educated at the University of Singapore, University of London and Cornell University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Warwick University in 2012 and by the University of Exeter in 2013.

The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) was established in January 2007 as an autonomous school within the Nanyang Technological University. Known earlier as the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies when it was established in July 1996, RSIS’ mission is to be a leading research and graduate teaching institution in strategic and international affairs in the Asia Pacific.

RSIS Mission

¤  Provide a rigorous professional graduate education with a strong practical emphasis

¤  Conduct policy-relevant research in defence, national security, international relations, and strategic studies

¤  Foster a global network of like-minded professional schools

RSIS has five endowed professorships that bring distinguished scholars and practitioners to teach and to conduct research at the School : The S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Professorship in International Relations, The NTUC Professorship in International Economic Relations, The Bakrie Professorship in Southeast Asia Policy, The Peter Lim Professorship in Peace Studies

Collaboration with other professional schools of international affairs to form a global network of excellence is a RSIS priority. RSIS maintains links with other like-minded schools so as to enrich its research and teaching activities as well as learn from the best practices of successful schools.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC:

Vikram Nehru – a senior associate in the Asia Program CEIP.

–  Most recently, he was chief economist and director for poverty reduction, economic management, and private and financial sector development for East Asia and the Pacific.

–  An expert of: development economics, growth, poverty reduction, debt sustainability, governance, and the performance and prospects of East Asia.

–  Research fields: economic, political, and strategic issues confronting Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.

–  Served in World Bank from 1981–2011, in a number of senior management positions.

¨  The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a unique global network of policy research centers in Russia, China, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Our mission, dating back more than a century, is to advance the cause of peace through analysis and development of fresh policy ideas and direct engagement and collaboration with decision makers in government, business, and civil society. Working together, our centers bring the inestimable benefit of multiple national viewpoints to bilateral, regional, and global issues.

¨  Founded in 1910, Carnegie is the oldest international affairs think tank in the United States. It is known for excellence in scholarship, responsiveness to changing global circumstances, and a commitment to concrete improvements in public policy.

¨  It is supervised by an international board of trustees and its research activities are overseen by a global management group. More than two-thirds of its current scholars were born outside the United States, nearly all speak languages other than their native tongues, and most have had experience in government. The global think tank has websites in Arabic, Chinese, English, and Russian.

¨  Carnegie does not take institutional positions, does not engage in lobbying, and is not involved in ideological advocacy. Instead, it relies on its independence and the quality of its scholarship to make notable contributions to national policymaking. It welcomes scholars with diverse political views and is acknowledged to be a centrist institution within the American political spectrum.