Newly-named NUS Law Laureate Fellowship signals push for greater heights of excellence in legal research

In a significant move, the new iteration of the formerly-known NUS Law Post-Doctoral Programme will be renamed as the NUS Law Laureate Fellowship from 1 April 2025.

Professor Lynette Chua, Vice Dean of Research, said, “Postdoctoral fellows play a vital role in enriching the research culture and community of a world-class law school. In the last five years, NUS Law Faculty’s postdoctoral programme has received more and more competitive applications. The quality of our applicants and selected candidates has increased tremendously.

“By giving a more distinctive name to the programme, we want to highlight the achievements and calibre of our selected candidates. We also want the new name to signal our hope for these promising scholars to learn, grow and excel in the programme, and go on to even better and brighter careers.”

The highly selective postdoctoral programme was started in 2006, with one to two appointments per Academic Year; since 2017, the number of appointments has grown to three. It has drawn early-stage legal scholars of exceptional merit who are interested in pursuing an academic career.

What continues to be the draw is that the NUS Law Laureate Fellowship offers early-stage legal scholars a unique opportunity to engage in advanced research within a dynamic academic environment. Prospective postdoctoral fellows will be able to focus on any legal field of research and use any research methodology or approach. The principal criteria will be their potential to excel in their area of research.

Fellows of this programme will enjoy a competitive salary and annual funding for conference and research travel. Besides that, they will benefit from NUS Law’s active research culture—permanent faculty who are leading experts in their fields, eminent visitors from around the world, regular faculty research and professional development workshops, and seminars and other events organised by specialised research centres. The Faculty’s global reputation is underscored by its ranking as the 12th best law school globally by Times Higher Education and 10th by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in 2025.

Our former postgraduate fellow, Dr Li-Kung Chen, currently an Assistant Research Professor (tenure track) at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica, is well placed to testify to the academic environment at NUS Law. He said, “One of the best parts of my postdoctoral experience at NUS was how approachable everyone in the NUS Law research community was. Colleagues were happy to meet up to discuss their thoughts on my work. These discussions were thoughtful, rigorous, and helped me to see familiar questions and materials in my research area in new, clearer, and more sophisticated ways.”

Among the reasons that convinced him to enrol in the programme, the main one was the combination of the strong faculty in his area of research (legal philosophy) and the opportunity to teach an LLB course. He added that the programme provides strong intellectual and institutional support, including mentorship by senior faculty members and funding for travel. “The programme is a great fit for those who are keen to workshop their paper intensively,” he added.

Our current postdoctoral fellows, Dr Marcus Gao and Dr Sabarish Suresh share the same sentiments. Dr Gao, whose research interest is in political legal moralism, elaborated on his choice to apply for the NUS Law postdoctoral programme. He said, “NUS Law offers fantastic research facilities, great training and personal development opportunities and excellent administrative support, which make it uniquely suited to host my project. The exceptionally generous scholarly environment at NUS Law is ideal for early career researchers to transition from students to independent academics.

“Additionally, Singapore is a vibrant and lively city where Western and Eastern cultures cross over. Its unwavering commitment to excellence in education, strong connectivity, and global outlook create a fertile ground for academic mobility.”

As for Dr Suresh, who’s working on two projects on legal history, the collaborative spirit, too, stands out.

“NUS Law is renowned for its emphasis on a rigorous and supportive research culture, faculty development, mentoring of early career scholars, and innovative scholarship. I felt that my project will greatly benefit from NUS Law’s eclectic environment, given that it is an institution that supports pathbreaking research in a range of fields, including legal history, law and society, and legal theory. The opportunity to collaborate with other exceptional scholars, to work in a dynamic environment, and to be a part of a hospitable culture that is very conducive to research and writing is what drew me to NUS,” he said.

As part of his postdoctoral work, Dr Suresh has taught seminars in criminal law, and presented research at the NUS Law Faculty Research Workshop, a Centre for Legal Theory seminar, and a Singapore Symposium in Legal Theory seminar. A book based on his doctoral thesis, titled The Trauma of the Indian Constitution: Partition and Repetition, is forthcoming with the Edinburgh University Press. It’s clear the chance to participate in several international conferences, and to publish work in leading and highly reputed journals, is something he is deeply appreciative of.

As postdoctoral fellows in the newly-named NUS Law Laureate Fellowship, they know how selective and rigorous the NUS Law Laureate Fellowship criteria is, especially in terms of crafting their research topic. Based on their personal experiences, Dr Gao shared that the project should be theoretically ambitious but also practically feasible. Dr Suresh’s advice runs along the same lines. “It would be good to conceptualise an innovative research agenda that is clear in its scope and potential. The faculty appreciates close attention to detail, potential for scholarly impact, and high quality of research.”