Professor KWOK Kian-Woon (PhD University of California at Berkeley) is Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts Singapore (UAS), which is founded on an alliance between two leading arts institutions in Singapore, the LaSalle College of the Arts and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He is also Emeritus Professor at Nanyang Technological University, where he had served as Professor of Sociology and in several pioneering roles between 2004 and 2022, including as a founding member of the former School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Head of Sociology, Senate Chair, Associate Provost of Student Life, and Associate Vice President (Wellbeing). His intellectual agenda is guided by a vision of social science in lively dialogue with the humanities and the arts (especially history, philosophy, and literature) and the natural sciences. His teaching and research areas include the study of social memory, mental health, the Chinese overseas, and Asian modernity. His publications and public engagements have covered central themes such as ethics and politics; history and memory; the nation state and civil society; and culture, heritage, and the arts. His interests in the arts include the theatre, art history, aesthetics, and the visual arts, especially Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art. His recent writings and speeches have focused on cultural policy and arts education.