The Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) is a research unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Established on 1 April 2006, CENS raison d’être is to raise the intellectual capital invested in strategising national security. To do so, CENS is devoted to rigorous policy-relevant analysis across a range of national security issues.
CENS is multinational in composition, comprising both Singaporeans and foreign analysts who are specialists in various aspects of national and homeland security affairs. Besides fulltime analysts, CENS further boosts its research capacity and keeps abreast of cutting edge global trends in national security research by maintaining and encouraging a steady stream of Visiting Fellows.
The Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) has three component programmes: the Cyber and Homeland Defence Programme (CHDP), the Social Resilience Programme (SRP), and the Radicalisation Studies Programme (RSP).
The CHDP actively participated in United Nations cyber discussions, including giving in-person oral and written representations at the multi-stakeholder meeting of the “Open-ended working group (UN OEWG) on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021–2025, Third substantive session” in New York. Furthermore, CHDP was appointed by the UN-Singapore Cyber Programme to lead the workshop on (Cyber) Norms Implementation Checklist on the sidelines of the UN OEWG, and also presented at the UN-Singapore Cyber Fellowship at the ASEAN-Singapore Cyber Centre of Excellence, as well as at the Cyber Security Agency's Keystone Programme.
Hybrid threats, disinformation, foreign interference, and online hate speech were addressed in CHDP's publications and speaking engagements. These included lectures at the Command and Staff Colleges of both the SAF and the Home Team, commentaries on “Influence for Hire”, and a chapter on “Deep Fake: Algorithms and Society” in the Routledge edited volume of “Deep Fakes and Disinformation in Asia”. The team also expanded its work on security issues in emerging, strategic and sensitive digital technologies, with commentaries on AI governance, blockchain protection, digital surveillance, and the risks of technology decoupling and fragmentation.
The SRP continued to focus on a broad spectrum of subjects pertaining to inter-group relations, social cohesion, and resilience at large. The Programme has contributed to thought leadership through various mediums on the topics of societal polarisation, citizenship, and diaspora politics. Commentaries on Hindu nationalism in India and among the diaspora were published in outlets like RSIS Commentaries, International Policy digest, New Mandala etc. Other published commentaries in The Diplomat and The Straits Times explored evolving harms in cyberspace along the pluralisation of identity lines. A forthcoming commentary on identity, access, and recognition will be published as a reflection on the International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) 2022.
SRP has also given presentations on race relations in Singapore and was involved in the IPS-RSIS Conference on Identity on 23 November 2021, a follow-up to the previous iteration that highlighted key conversations surrounding race and religion in Singapore.
Together, CHDP and SRP jointly published a policy report building on their successful webinar series of the same name. This will be followed by a forthcoming edited volume on “Gender, Security and Digital Space”.
After a two-year hiatus, CENS organised a workshop on radicalisation and extremism titled “Extremism: Old Frontiers, New Paradigms” from 4-5 Oct 2022. The event was attended by approximately 100 individuals from the academic, government, and private sectors. Speakers came from near and far, ranging from our regional neighbours to as far afield as the United States and Europe, to shed light on regional developments. The workshop successfully highlighted diverse strands such as i) existing forms of extremist activity, ii) pathways to radicalisation, iii) concerns over specific theatres, and iv) new forms of extremism (such as right-wing extremism), which needed to be studied as they appeared, given the insights shared by speakers, to be slowly encroaching into the region.
About This Site
The Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) Publications Portal is a website dedicated to provide ease of access to the most recent publications by CENS, from 2018 to the present. To view the full archive of publications from 2000 to the present, please visit the RSIS website at the links below:
Centre Publications: https://www.rsis.edu.sg/research/cens/centre-resourcescens/cens-rsis-publications/
Centre Staff Publications: https://www.rsis.edu.sg/research/cens/centre-resourcescens/cens-centre-staff-publications/