PhD Programme at IORA

The PhD programme at IORA introduces me to the world of independent research – a kind of intellectual masterpiece, created in close collaboration with my supervisors and co-authors. I am also encouraged to discover more new research opportunities due to the interdisciplinary nature of this programme. Research is often a solitary pursuit, while IORA creates a comfortable environment to support students in many ways, including collaborations with industry, weekly seminars as well as outdoor group activities

My experience in the IORA PhD programme has been fantastic!

Pursuing a PhD is a difficult endeavor, but the programme provides ample resources and support to help me achieve my goal. The faculty members here are welcoming and approachable, always open to discussion about research and life in general. They are friendly and go out of their way to care for the students. This culture makes IORA feels like a big extended family and I feel right at home at the institute

Being at NUS, and particularly IORA, there are great opportunities available for students to pursue their area of interest due to the interdisciplinary nature of the programme. I have been able to take courses in a variety of fields taught by excellent teachers, attend seminars by leading experts at the pinnacle of their area of research, and work with prestigious faculty members from a wide range of research interests. Few institutes in the world can boast of providing such an intensive and comprehensive education. It is a challenging, yet fulfilling experience

As a Singaporean, studying at IORA allows me to still be near my family and loved ones, while having access to a world class research programme and institute. Singapore is known for its diverse food offerings and I get to enjoy my favourite hawker centres and local cuisines. I could not have been happier studying at IORA.

The vibrant research environment in IORA offers the opportunity for students to work and learn from the faculty members of different background!

The faculty members are not only experts of various research areas but also good mentors. In addition to imparting knowledge on Operations Research, the faculty members introduce active research topics which excite me to explore further on these topics. Beyond the classroom, NUS provides students with an enriching campus life and good amenities

What makes a good PhD programme?

The PhD programme in NUS IORA has three important features that makes it uniquely excellent. Firstly, the institute has top-of-the-class teaching staff who are actively doing research work and publishing in top journals as they work alongside with the students. Secondly, there is an collaborative culture within the institute whereby the teaching staff actively engage the PhD students to do research work from the very first day, including (a) one-to-one discussion-cum-consultation, (b) weekly seminars, (c) weekly talks from internal staff, external visitors and senior students, (d) collaborations with industrial players so as to fine-tune the relevance and usefulness of research work and (e) exposures to various international conferences and seminars. Finally, there is a good blend of international diversity on both the staff and the students to expose and explore different ideas across the world.

These three important features make the PhD programme in NUS IORA to be one of the finest in the world.

Pursuing PhD at IORA

Pursuing a PhD has long been my dream. Doing PhD at IORA is one of the most right things that I have done. The changing environment presents a lot of challenges, which are also opportunities for us to explore, in the area of optimization. Currently, I am doing mechanism design and interface of operations research and machine learning. It is amazing to implement the most popular technique—machine learning to solve operations research problem, especially in the big data era. There are still many unknown issues needs our endeavor. Pursuing PhD at IORA is fulfilling. Being here, I get a bunch of friends to chat, to talk about research ideas and to encourage each other. Beyond that, the weekly seminar consistently help refresh my knowledge base. Moreover, the faculty here are fantastic. They are always enthusiastic, approachable and helpful. Everytime when I got stuck, I can get input to help me improve myself

IORA’s nurturing environment has allowed me to closely interact with world leading students and researchers and learn from them to think beyond what our skillsets can do for industries but also their impact on people and society

Beyond descriptive statistics and predictive modelling, industries of the modern economy increasingly require analysts and managers with a deeper understanding of data analytics and optimization. Be it for the purpose of policy design and/or optimizing a system, the underlying assumptions and implications of a machine learning model has to be well understood for it to be effectively deployed. This is where IORA really adds value as it offers students training in a broad range of relevant skillsets in causal analysis, policy design and optimization, and the opportunity to hone our skills by working on industry projects. This not only prepare students to deal with the analytical rigor required in academia but also the critical thinking needed to overcome practical challenges in the real world. Perhaps more importantly, IORA’s nurturing environment has also allowed me to closely interact with world leading students and researchers and learn from them to think beyond what our skillsets can do for industries but also their impact on people and society. Despite having 6 years of relevant working experience before commencing the programme, I certainly feel much more prepared to deal with real world problems now than I did before.