In an invited documentary interview on the Covid-19 impact and resilience, SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan, who is also author of "Combating a crisis", explained two psychological factors underlying the panic buying of food supplies in early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first is about self-preservation in the context of basic needs and resource scarcity when we are concerned for ourselves and our loved ones.

At the Singapore Parliamentary session on 2 February 2021, Member of Parliament Yip Hon Weng referenced SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan’s book “Combating a Crisis” when emphasising the importance of public trust in Government relating to the collection, storage and use of the TraceTogether data. Mr Yip noted that Prof Chan has highlighted that this public trust is affected by previous related events, how agencies work together and public communication.

In a Stanford University study of researcher impact among all scientists across all disciplines, Professor Lily Kong and Professor David Chan from SMU School of Social Sciences have emerged in the top 1% of scientists worldwide.

A study by Stanford University on research impact across all disciplines has named SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan among the top 1% of all scientists in the world.