♡ Rachel Sim

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Department of Architecture

[Current Role] Research Assistant under A/P Dr. Lilian Chee, September 2022- 

Research Project involved in: “Foundations of Home-based Work: A Singapore Study”, supported by Social Science Research Thematic Grants, Singapore

Key Tasks: Assisting with administrative duties, including budgetary work, procurement, website design and conference planning. Co-leading a seminar module entitled “Domestic Capital and Workaround”, which involves the revision of module readings, giving student briefings, and commenting on student presentations, reading responses, and essays. Involved also in a visual ethnography of home-based work conducted in neighbourhoods around Singapore. Is expected to be involved in the editing of a special volume, as well as a journal paper on home-based work and the architectural typologies that accommodate it. 

Brief Description of Research Project: Foundations of Home-based Work is an inter-disciplinary project seeking to understand how home-based work is built into homes and neighbourhoods, and what it builds for them. Supported by the Social Science Research Thematic Grant (WBS no.: A-0008463-01-00; IRB no.: NUS-IRB-2021-799), the team comprises of established researchers across the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture, Department of Communications and New Media, and Yale-NUS. The project was launched in September of 2021, with the aim of offering foundational scholarship to meet a gap in scholarly insight into the past and present experience of home-based work in Singapore. 

See: https://www.makingdo.org/about

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Department of Architecture

Research Assistant under Provost's Prof. Heng Chye Kiang, May 2020-August 2021 

Book Publication involved in: Vertical Cities Asia (upcoming)

Key Tasks: Assisted in the compilation of content - including essays and competition submissions - generated across a 5-year program organized by NUS, titled the Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition and Symposium. Involved in the initial reframing of content spanning all 5 symposiums to emphasize the importance of verticality and densification for evolving Asian cities. Heavily involved in translation (Chinese to English) and editing in the later stages of the project.

Brief Description of Research Project: The Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition and Symposium was created to encourage design explorations and research into the prospects of new models for the increasingly vertical, dense, and intense urban environments in Asia. 

See: https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/vertical-cities-asia

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Department of Architecture

Student Researcher under A/P Dr. Simone Chung, May 2019-July 2019

Journal Publication involved in: Deciphering the Spatial Rhetorics of Millennial Nomads (upcoming)

Key Tasks: Conducted semi-structured virtual interviews with millennial nomads (sourced from Facebook and other social media platforms); processed their responses through the generation of ArcGIS mobility mappings and qualitative coding in NVivo.

Brief Description of Research Project: Understanding the formation and management of a multi-mobile millennial nomad’s identity and spatial practices in the private domain, urban environment and the digital realm. Core research methodologies include virtual ethnography, spatial mapping, and systematic qualitative analysis. 

See: https://millennialnomadspace.com/about/

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Department of Architecture

Student Researcher under A/P Dr. Lilian Chee, May 2019-July 2019

Book Publication involved in: Art in Public Space: Singapore (2022)

Key Tasks: Sourced and condensed research material into essays covering a range of topics, e.g. implications of Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore growth triangle on human mobility, impact of colonialism on Singapore’s tropical landscape, and the evolution of public art in Singapore. Indexed and compiled an Appendix for an upcoming book on public art in the Singaporean city core - Art in Public Space: Singapore (2022), commissioned by the Urban Development Authority in 2018.

Brief Description of Research Project: Tracing the history of public art in Singapore and postulating the future trajectory of public art in Singapore.

See: https://www.ura.gov.sg/Corporate/Resources/Publications/Books/Book-Details/Art-In-Public-Space