The Catalyst: IEx Project Collection

The process of engaging in real-world issues provides a foundation for students to further explore through the Creative Practice component. Here, they refine and expand upon their IEx project insights, employing practice-based play and innovative distillation of ideas. Students integrate their diverse skills and interests to create works that bridge artistic vision with the insights gained from their work with the community, fostering a seamless extension of their impact-driven initiatives into creative expressions.

The Creative Practice component is guided and supported by a collective of Creative Practice (CP) Advisors. Find out more about them below!

(Note for current students: CP Advisors are assigned to your group based on your intended creative works.)

Creative Practice Advisors

Dr Carissa Foo

Dr Carissa Foo is a literary critic and fiction writer. She received her Ph.D. in English studies from Durham University; her research interests include twentieth-century and contemporary women’s writing, spatial theories, queer studies, phenomenological approaches to literature.

She has published on modernist women’s writing, and is the author of two novels, and the recent short story collection, No Wonder, Women (Penguin SEA, 2023).

Dr Foo is a senior lecturer at NUS College, a co-coordinator of Global Narratives, and the coordinator of the Creative Practice Collective.

carissa.foo@nus.edu.sg

Dr Roweena Yip

Dr Roweena Yip is a lecturer whose teaching and research focus on the intersections of gender and theatre, particularly in intercultural performances of Shakespeare in Asia. She completed her undergraduate and Master’s degrees at the University of Edinburgh, and her PhD in Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore.

As part of the Creative Practice Collective, she works with students to uncover the ways in which the creative process of devising, staging and/or performing theatre is also a process of critical reflection, as students work collaboratively while remaining self-reflexive in their exploration and engagement with their respective projects.

She has written performance reviews for ArtsEquator; her academic work has been published in Asia Theatre Journal, Research in Drama Education and Gender Forum, with a forthcoming monograph on the horizon.

Dr Yip is a part of the teaching team for Global Narratives.

roweena.yip@nus.edu.sg

Bernice Wong

Bernice Wong is a documentary photographer based in Singapore. An avid traveller with a keen interest in social issues, she uses her work as visual stories to cast light on under-reported segments of society.

In the last few years, she has been dedicating time to documenting the marginalised and underbelly of Singapore society. In 2014, she was awarded top prize for “Themed Body of Work” as part of the CDL Singapore Young Photographer Award.

Her works have also been exhibited in Singapore, Korea, and Istanbul. Of late, she has been dabbling in sports photography, as an extension to her own fitness endeavours, where she dedicates hours to running and climbing.

bernwsf@nus.edu.sg

Jessica Lee

Jessica Lee is Head of Development at Beach House Pictures, one of Asia’s largest media production companies.

She oversees the development of premium factual, unscripted, and scripted programming for international streamers such as The Raincoat Killer (Netflix), Emmy-nominated Mind Your Manners (Netflix), Wild City with David Attenborough (BBC America, Sky), Otter Dynasty (Animal Planet). She recently produced The Raincoat Killer, Netflix’s first Korean true crime series, and directed history series Secret Lives of Trees for CNA.

She was awarded the FreedomFilmFest for directing The Shades of Love, a documentary on sex workers in Singapore, and is currently producing a feature documentary for Netflix.

Her past credits include working at VICE China and producing award-winning shows for National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, CCTV etc.

jesslee@nus.edu.sg

Dr Samar Faruqi

Dr Samar Faruqi received her PhD in History of Art from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining NUS College, she was a part-time lecturer at Yale-NUS College and Director of Research at Meem Gallery, Dubai. During her time at the gallery, she worked on over twenty exhibitions displaying the work of modern and contemporary West Asian and North African artists. She has also edited and authored the gallery’s exhibition catalogues, including monographs on Dia Azzawi and Parviz Tanavoli, and Art in Iraq Today.

Her current research focuses on nineteenth-century British Orientalist painting, Britain’s colonial wars, and the Victorian art world and art market. Dr Faruqi is a part of the teaching team for Global Narratives.

sfaruqi@nus.edu.sg

Dr Chew Suyin

Dr Chew Suyin is a dancer who has performed with Tammy Wong Dance Company, Arts Fission, EcNad, Sylvia McCully Dancers, Cecilia Hon Dance Theatre, Fresno Ballet, Purchase Dance Corps, and worked with Theatre Director - Jeffrey Tan. As an arts manager, she was Head of the People’s Association Culture Department overseeing Arts courses conducted at 100 community centres.

As an Esplanade Theatres scholar, she was part of their pioneering management team. From 2015-2019, she was Board (Chair) of Raw Moves Contemporary Dance Company. As an educator in the field of Arts Management since 1997, she was instrumental in creating and teaching in the BA (Hons) and MA in Arts and Cultural Management degree programmes for LASALLE College of the Arts.

Her experience at Yale-NUS in residential life and student care has led to an interest in dance and mental well-being. Dr Chew teaches Dance Narratives at NUS College.

suyin.chew@yale-nus.edu.sg

Dr Sadaf Ansari

Dr Sadaf Ansari is an architect and educator whose professional endeavors lie at the confluence of architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture, with a particular focus on placemaking and sustainability. She advocates for the transformative potential of design in enriching human experiences, fostering interactions, and strengthening connections to places.

Sadaf is passionate about teaching beyond the confines of the classroom, where she inspires students to integrate conceptual knowledge with lived experience. In her free time, she reflects nostalgically on the time preceding the advent of social media.

sadaf@nus.edu.sg

Dr Tan Teck Heng

Dr Tan Teck Heng is a teacher and researcher specialising in literature and the arts. He is interested in how narratives across media can communicate information creatively and build social bonds.

As an advisor, he draws on his experience as a lifestyle journalist at The Business Times, Singapore, where he wrote for the food, heritage, and arts pages. He holds a joint PhD in English Literature from NUS and King’s College London.

teck.tan@nus.edu.sg

Dr. Hannah Smith-Drelich

Dr. Hannah Smith-Drelich is a specialist in Renaissance literature and food studies. Before receiving her Ph.D. from Stanford, she was a food writer in NYC, working additionally in the “front and back of house” in restaurants to gain experience in the food industry. Her research and teaching interests include poetry, prose, and forms of creative non-fiction such as personal writing and journalism.

hsd@nus.edu.sg

Dr. Raahi Adhya

Dr. Raahi Adhya holds a PhD in Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies from SOAS, University of London and previous degrees in Women's Studies and English Literature. She is fascinated by the interconnections between fictional and magical children's stories and the very real and material worlds they emerge in and speak about. She has conducted research on children's fairytales and their connections to anti-colonial movements in British India and conducted workshops with children on children's media and their connections to gender roles.

As part of her teaching at NUS College, she has also guided students on creative projects that integrated a range of literary and visual media.

raahi.a@nus.edu.sg

Dr Lee Chee Keng

Dr Lee Chee Keng is a lecturer and practitioner. He brings with him rich experience in conceptualising, writing, and teaching TV and stage drama writing and has worked alongside numerous renowned writers in China. Since graduating from the National University of Singapore and the renowned Central Academy of Drama (Beijing), Chee Keng dedicates his time and energy to writing and teaching.

He has taught at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, Yale-NUS College, the National University of Singapore, and the Nanyang Technological University.

ckenglee@nus.edu.sg

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