Three members of the USP community have contributed to the creation of The Birthday Book: 20/20 Seeing Clearly. They are:

USP Adjunct Senior Fellow Dr Lai Ah Eng,
USP alum Jean Chia (Psychology + USP, Class of 2020), and
USP alum Vieshaalan Naidu (Economics + USP, Class of 2018), who also co-edited the 2019 edition of Birthday Book.

(Dr Lai teaches “USE2317 Singapore Studies: Multiculturalism in Singapore and Its contested Meanings” in USP.)

This Birthday Book edition is a collection of 55 essays presented as a gift to the nation on its 55th birthday. An annual publication now, this year’s edition was launched on 22 August. It features innovative and diverse ideas, viewpoints, opinions, lessons and responses to conversations about Singapore – the past, present, people and future. The contributors come from vastly differing fields, from entrepreneurs to academics, civil servants to comedians, scientists to artists.

This book series is the brainchild of USP adjunct lecturer Aaron Maniam and Malminderjit Singh. Many USP students, alums and faculty members have contributed to this series in the past years, and are active members of The Birthday Collective. More recently, the team launched a podcast series called “Collectively Speaking”, where each episode features a panel of experts who discuss a specific theme through multiple perspectives, in an attempt to develop ideas about Singapore's future. Check out their first episode hosted by Aaron Maniam and USP alum Eddie Choo (Sociology + USP, Class of 2012) here!

If you are interested to learn more about The Birthday Collective and read some of the published essays, click here. Alternatively, you may purchase the book online here.