Singapore Management University is a dynamic city university in the heart of Singapore. We are a specialised university focused on Management, Social Sciences and Technology, and their intersections.
We adopt an integrated research-teaching-learning-practice approach that fosters innovative learning experiences, develops influential change agents and leaders, and creates positive impact on business, government and society in Asia and beyond.
SMU continues to strengthen as a research-intensive university which generates high impact, disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research that addresses issues of regional and global relevance. This is done through our six Schools and our institutes, centres and labs. To maximise societal impact, SMU conducts both fundamental academic and use-inspired translational research, often in collaboration with public agencies and partner companies.
Introduction to Office of Research
The Office of Research (ORe) is the institutional office overseeing and supporting a variety of research-related matters at the University level. ORe works with the various SMU Schools, Institutes, Centres and Labs (ICLs), and other University administration offices such as the Office of Finance (OFIN), and the Office of Legal and General Affairs (OLGA) to provide support to researchers across the research project life cycle in the following areas:
ORe works with faculty, Schools, ICLs and senior management to shape, articulate and implement university-wide research strategies to create research impact. ORe is also responsible for research grants related performance analysis and the reporting to both internal and external stakeholders. ORe thus plays a key role to facilitate and support the delivery of SMU’s research objectives.
ORe disseminates information on available funding opportunities to the SMU research community, facilitates grant application submissions, and provides advice at each stage of the grant life cycle.
During the pre-award stage, ORe provides details of major funding opportunities, and offers advice and support to faculty members and researchers who are interested to apply for research grants. Grant applications should be submitted to ORe for verification and endorsement prior to submission to funding agencies. ORe assists the Schools, ICLs and faculty members to review research proposals so as to ensure the grant applications meet the funding agencies’ requirements.
During the post-award stage, ORe assists the Schools, ICLs and faculty members in the submission of grant variations, progress reports or project closure, where required. This includes advice on justifications for grant variations, and checks for consistency for the reports that need to be submitted to the funding agencies through ORe.
ORe acts as a liaison for research funding agencies and research partners in the government, private and non-profit sectors, and serves as the point of contact with key funding agencies in Singapore such as Ministry of Education (MOE), National Research Foundation (NRF), and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
ORe also administers the SMU Internal Research Grant Call every year. These grant calls tap on the MOE Tier 1 Academic Research Funding (AcRF) to fund projects awarded. ORe provides MOE with an update of the projects awarded through the grants calls, as well as the achievements of these projects annually.
For more details, please see the ORe Research Grants intranet site (SMU users only).
ORe is the liaison between SMU, and research funding agencies and research partners on research funding schemes and other research agreements. Together with OLGA, OFIN, Schools, ICLs and faculty, ORe reviews and negotiates the terms and conditions of these agreements for alignment with SMU’s interests.
ORe aims to raise awareness of research conducted by SMU which could lead to research collaborations both within SMU and with external partners. One key approach is through the Research@SMU e-newsletter published by ORe, which highlights research by Schools and ICLs.