Gaurav Kripalani,
Artistic Director of the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) and Tanglin Alumni of the Year 2025, in conversation at The Institute’s arts panel discussion on Singapore’s evolving cultural landscape.
Vision
The Institute is our forum for excellence, thought leadership and discourse to inspire, challenge and prepare the next generation of leaders in our community. It brings together faculty, students, and a network of practitioners, researchers and mentors across current and emerging disciplines, creating space to think rigorously, collaborate, and shape new and improved outcomes within our already dynamic learning community. Tanglin launched The Institute @ Tanglin in 2022 and it is located in our Centenary Building.
Sohini Brandon-King Director of Scholarship, Inquiry and Partnerships
Scholarship
We create opportunities for faculty and students to pursue research with experts from academia and industry—building depth, intellectual confdence and a culture of research through initiatives such as the Faculty Research Forum, the Institute Research Programme, and research-focused speaker engagements and workshops.
Student Research
We celebrate outstanding student-led projects and research through our annual Student Research Forum, which highlights the creativity, intellectual curiosity, and commitment of our Senior School students.
Projects range from:
• A student’s hands-on rehabilitation of a parrot as part of her journey toward veterinary science
• An investigation of fairness in electoral systems
• Finance Conference 2.0, a successful student-organised event exploring sustainable fnance and investment.
These projects represent a selection of some of the outstanding academic essays, service initiatives, and independent research that students undertake each year.
Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov in an inspiring and thoughtprovoking discussion with Tanglin students.
The Institute Fellow and Research Programme
Our inaugural Institute Fellow, Dr Sophie Hidden will lead The Institute Research Programme for a selected group of Year 12 students who will work with academics in the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to complete a one-year research project and write an academic paper which will be published by the school. Dr Hidden will also create and leverage wider opportunities for students to extend and apply their academic knowledge and research in STEM.
Applications for the programme open when students are in Year 11 to do the programme in Year 12.
Faculty Research
Building a culture of research is a long-term priority for The Institute and this includes creating meaningful faculty research opportunities. We work closely with the Director of Learning, who leads Continuous Professional Development (CPD), to support colleagues to pursue and share research interests—through further study and qualifcations, and through partnerships with tertiary institutions.
Our annual Faculty Research Forum is where these research pursuits are shared and celebrated. It brings together keynote speakers from within and beyond education to broaden our thinking on ideas shaping the future of education and learning, alongside breakout presentations that showcase inquiry and research from colleagues across the school.
Past keynotes have included a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, a senior leader in R&D and innovation from Dyson, and the Director of ISF Hong Kong’s Shuyuan Academy. Most recently, Tanglin senior leaders led the keynote sessions: Claire Russell, Deputy Head of Senior School (Academic), explored the “Supergirl” narrative and girls’ perfectionism, and Peter O’Brien, Deputy Head of Junior School (Pastoral), shared UCL-linked research on strengthening belonging for Third Culture Kids.
Each year, the Forum highlights staf action research across wellbeing, learning, literacy and motivation, sparking thoughtful conversation and practical takeaways that strengthen everyday teaching and learning. Looking ahead, we aim to expand opportunities for faculty to collaborate with tertiary partners and deepen opportunities to explore research-informed practice.
Inquiry
We provide opportunities for students develop real-world skills, interdisciplinary learning and problem-solving capabilities through innovation-focused programmes designed and delivered with external partners.
Student-led Initiatives
The Institute also supports and encourages outstanding initiatives that are grounded in scholarship and the extension and application of curricular interests to industries and disciplines, such as Finance and Sustainability.
• The Finance Society curates and organises a studentled conference annually, drawing participants from schools across Singapore and high-profle guest speakers such as the Global Chief Investment Ofcer at Standard Chartered Bank. The students create and run case studies and debate workshops on topics in sustainable fnance, digital assets, and dollarisation.
• Students with a passion for sustainability attended the Sustainability Dialogue, organised by the British Chamber of Commerce. The event proved to be both inspiring and thought-provoking, ofering th opportunity to engage with industry leaders and connect with students from schools
across Singapore. Mille D. M. one of the student attendees, refected, “Attending the Sustainability Dialogue was an eye-opening experience. Being one of the youngest in a room full of business leaders and policymakers, I learned how much progress is being made in turning sustainability promises into action. Hearing Ravi Menon speak about accountability and inclusive change really inspired me, and it made me want to apply these ideas to our school’s sustainability projects.
The Institute Entrepreneurship Programme
This programme, launched with Standard Chartered Ventures in 2022, and now delivered in partnership with Reactor School, is a rigorous 16 week programme for selected Year 12 students. This is a tailored programme for The Institute where students are coached and mentored by external experts in design thinking, lean methodology, and developing business models. Students are expected to validate and test their ideas and develop prototypes based on feedback from industry experts and potential customers. The programme culminates in a pitch to real venture builders and business leaders.
Industry Workshops
The Institute hosts industry experts in areas that students are keen to explore further for future careers. We have organised:
• An Aviation workshop for our Physics and Design Technology students in collaboration with companies such as BOC Aviation, Rolls-Royce and the Singapore Institute of Aerospace Engineers.
• We also recently hosted workshops with experts from HSBC, providing our students with a rare opportunity to learn directly from senior leaders who brought global economic shifts to life. They explored how tarifs and trade tensions shape policy, economies, and industries, before turning to the fast-evolving world of digital assets, where they worked in teams to design innovative applications for banking and fnance.
NXplorers at Tanglin
Designed by Shell, and delivered by the Science Centre, NXplorers is a global initiative aimed at bringing about positive change to food, water and energy resources by introducing young students to complex and creative thinking to address global sustainability issues. Since 2022, three of our student teams have successfully won the seed money to develop and pitch their ideas at the fnal showcase and won prizes. We are the only international school that participates. The programme uses ‘NXthinking’ concepts, which include critical and creative thinking through scenario planning and stakeholder mapping. We draw on expert practitioners through the Institute to mentor and provide feedback to students throughout their project.
Dr Ayesha Khanna, in conversation with Sixth Form and Upper School students before her Centenary keynote, Winning with AI
Thought Leadership
We host distinguished thinkers and practitioners to expand and challenge our perspectives across disciplines, and to catalyse learning beyond the classroom on topics shaping the future of work, education, and our wider environment. Students have the opportunity to work with The Institute to introduce speakers, moderate discussions and questions, and interview our distinguished guests for our ‘In Conversation’ series available on The Institute’s website.
Insights on Global Climate Realities
Peter Shumlin, former Governor of Vermont, at The Institute for a thought-provoking conversation on climate leadership.
The Future of Health Industries
Disruption
and Innovation in Fashion
Natasha Damodaran, Publisher at Vogue Singapore and Petra Sekhar, Head of Marketing at Vogue Singapore and former Programme Director of the Vogue Foundation, gave a fantastic introduction to the challenging and innovative world of fashion.
Dr Gavin O’Neill and Dr Zubin Daruwalla (Tanglin Alumni of the year 2024), who kicked of The Institute’s Centenary Speaker Series with a discussion on The Future of Health Industries, sharing their thoughts on traditional and alternative pathways in medicine and the latest trends in MedTech.
Diplomacy In a World of Flux
In a characteristically sharp and deeply engaging talk, Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan brought his trademark clarity and wit to the complexities of diplomacy, statecraft, and strategic clarity.
Partnerships
Underlying all our programmes is the concept of drawing external expertise into our programmes and providing students with an authentic, immersive experience to explore their interests in a meaningful way. In 2025, we drew on existing and new connections to provide Sixth Form students with three distinctive Institute opportunities: from cuttingedge research at the NUS Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, tackling cybersecurity challenges and completing a cybersecurity course at SUTD’s iTrust Centre, to stepping behind the scenes at Vogue Singapore’s fagship Next in Vogue event.
Chloe S. got to work at Vogue Singapore and said that she “gained valuable industry connections, as well as real-life experience working in the fashion industry.” Meanwhile, James C. worked at a university research lab and shared, “the experience was absolutely fascinating and opened my eyes to a new world of science.”
These experiences refect the purpose of The Institute— bridging education with the world beyond school. Through opportunities like these, students gain meaningful access
to real-world expertise, develop design thinking and interdisciplinary skills, and are inspired to think creatively and innovatively. The Institute challenges students to explore their interests deeply and build the capabilities they need to thrive both within and beyond Tanglin.
10 of our Sixth Form students completed a cybersecurity course at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, iTrust, a global leader in cyber defence for critical infrastructure.