SINGAPORE (TIP): The prestigious National University of Singapore on Wednesday, August 23,  appointed UK-based Indian-origin academician Jasjit Singh as a visiting faculty to conduct lectures on Sikh beliefs and raise appreciation of the Sikh way of life internationally. Singh, 51, currently an associate professor at the UK’s University of Leeds, is considered a leading authority in Sikh studies.

“With his expertise on British Sikhism, Prof Singh will sharpen our scholarly lens on Sikh beliefs and practices and deepen our students’ knowledge and appreciation of the Sikh way of life not only in Singapore but internationally,” Professor Lionel Wee, Dean at National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), said. He announced Singh’s appointment as the inaugural Central Sikh Gurdwara Board (CSGB) Visiting Professor (Chair) in Sikh Studies on Wednesday. “Singh is a leading authority in Sikh studies, he is also well-regarded as an innovator in his impact-related work as demonstrated by his meaningful engagements with minority ethnic communities and organizations in the UK,” Wee said.

CSGB led the Sikh community here in raising the 1.06 million Singaporean dollars endowment fund, with the Singapore government matching dollar-for-dollar, for setting up with NUS FASS the first visiting professorship (Chair) in Asia, outside the Indian subcontinent.

Singh began his one semester at FASS on August 7, in the new academic year 2023-2024.

Singh is currently teaching an undergraduate course titled ‘Introduction to Sikhism’, where students will be introduced to the foundational tenets of Sikhism and its historical development in pre-colonial and colonial India.

He will also deliver guest lectures on the Sikhs for undergraduate courses, ‘South Asia in Singapore’ and ‘World Religions’. At the NUS FASS South Asian Studies Program, he will also lead research on digital Sikhism – the study of the impact of the digital online environment on the religious lives of Sikhs and specifically how Sikhs in Singapore engage online.

Additionally, Singh will deliver a series of workshops to the Sikh community and a public lecture open to all organized by the CSGB and NUS which are scheduled to take place in November 2023.

Commenting on his appointment, Singh said, “This position provides me with the opportunity to teach students from a different social and cultural context to my own and to learn about how they perceive Sikhs and how these perceptions have been developed. It allows me to research a relatively underexamined but very significant part of the Sikh diaspora.”