Reuben Wong

Fellow

I hope to inspire students to learn beyond the confines of traditional classrooms and syllabi, and to help students to research and engage in real-word debates beyond the university.

Biodata

Assoc Prof Reuben Wong is Academic Director at the Global Relations Office and Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. The founding Director of Studies (2012-2019) at the College of Alice and Peter Tan (CAPT), he is now a Resident Fellow in the College. A former diplomat, he was First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Paris (1995 -1998). He earned an M.Phil in European Politics at Oxford, and a PhD in International Relations at the LSE in 2003. A Fulbright scholar (2009), he is an Associate Fellow at the EU Centre Singapore, Senior Research Affiliate (EU-China programme) at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium; and was Council member in the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) until 2016. He has held visiting positions at Cambridge University (2005), the LSE (European Institute, 2008), the Stimson Center (Washington, DC, 2009), the East Asian Institute (Singapore, 2011), and Humboldt University (Berlin, 2014). He held the first Jean Monnet Chair in Singapore (2013-2016).

 Reuben’s current research interests include identity in foreign policy, the EU’s relations with ASEAN & China, and the politics of disability and palm oil. He enjoys integrating research with mentoring students as research assistants and collaborators.  He has written widely on the EU’s foreign policy and relations with ASEAN and China, including “The Europeanization of French Foreign Policy” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), “National and European Foreign Policies” (co-edited with Christopher Hill, Routledge, 2011), and journal articles in the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Politique Européenne, Asia Europe Journal, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and EU External Affairs Review.  Many of his research assistants have done ISMs, UROPs and Capstone projects with him in CAPT; others were students writing theses in the Departments of Political Science or History (European Studies Programme). He does consulting and media interviews on EU foreign policy, international relations, and Singapore/SE Asian politics. Reuben speaks French, Chinese and some Spanish. He raises four children to help stem Singapore’s falling birth rate.

About being a part of the Academy…

I am excited about learning from the best teachers in NUS, and working with the Academy and GRO to help expand the number of NUS modules with an overseas component.

Teaching Awards

• Jean Monnet Grant for NUS modules in European integration and foreign policy (2013-16)
• Residential Colleges Teaching Excellence Award (AY2015-16, AY2016-17, AY2017-18)
• Residential Colleges Teaching Excellence Award Honour Roll 2020