SMU Professor of Psychology and Director of the Behavioural Science Institute David Chan, has been conferred the inaugural prestigious award of Scientist-Practitioner Presidential Recognition by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) for his outstanding contributions in the combined science and practice in the field of industrial and organisational psychology. He will be receiving the award at the Annual SIOP conference to be held next month in Washington, DC, United States.

Commenting on the recent announcement that streaming will be replaced by subject-based banding, SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan said that streaming relies too much on general instead of specific academic abilities and misses out the important information on the profile of strengths and weaknesses of the diverse abilities.

Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Mr Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament on Thursday (Feb 28) that the Singapore Public Service will need leaders that have skills beyond just policy-making and he agreed with several MPs who spoke on the need to create a more diverse public service leadership. This issue was raised at the recent SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Conference (Feb 22) where panellists had said that the Singapore Government pays too much attention to academic qualifications in the way it chooses its leaders and assesses the ability of civil servants.

At the SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Conference 2019 discussing the issues of going beyond academic abilities, BSI Director Professor David Chan noted the importance of non-academic attributes such as situational judgment effectiveness, especially for individuals in leadership positions.

At a live studio interview, SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan discussed the multiple educational and career pathways available to students who just obtained their GCE A-level examination results on 22 February. He emphasised the importance of prioritising interest and passion when exploring and deciding among various options.