Lily KONG
Professor Kong is the fifth President of the Singapore Management University (estb 2020), and the first Singaporean to lead the university. She is also the first Singaporean woman to head a university in Singapore. She was previously Provost of SMU – the first woman university Provost in Singapore. She had also held the posts of Vice Provost and Vice President at the National University of Singapore (in various portfolios).
Professor Kong is internationally known for her research on urban transformations, and social and cultural change in Asia. She has written extensively about communal relations, particularly, the intersection of religion and secularity in cities, creative industries/cities, urban heritage conservation, and smart cities. She is an award-winning researcher and teacher locally and internationally. In a global study by Stanford University (2020), Prof Kong was identified as among the world’s top 1% of scientists in her discipline. She is frequently featured as a keynote speaker or a moderator at conferences. She has co/authored or co/edited over 20 books, published over 100 refereed journal articles, and contributed over 60 book chapters.
Apart from her research accomplishments, Prof Kong has led transformational change at SMU. As Provost and then President, Prof Kong has led the university through significant growth, in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education programme enrolment, in research income, industry and international engagement, and in serving as a hub for entrepreneurial activity.