Celebrating excellence at University Sharing and Awards Ceremony 2026
The University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) and its founding members, LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE) and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), celebrates colleagues whose work advances teaching, learning, collaboration and the development of the University. The event recognised newly conferred Professors and Associate Professors, recipients of two inaugural awards — the Choy Weng Yang Teaching Excellence Award, and Mr and Mrs Kwok Chin Yan Administrative Team Excellence Award — as well as Long Service Award recipients.
1. Conferment of 19 Professorial Titles
Launched in 2025, the UAS Professorial Conferment Framework (PCF) seeks to recognise sustained contribution, outstanding achievement, and significant impact of faculty in teaching, research and service. Eight Professors and 11 Associate Professors have been conferred their titles.
Professor Caren Cariño (NAFA)
Prof Cariño focuses on dance, interdisciplinary and intercultural collaborative performance-making practices, and pedagogy in Southeast Asian contexts. She is Dean of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Practices at NAFA.
Professor Chong Keng Hua (NAFA)
Prof Chong’s expertise is in social architecture, centring on interdisciplinary design and planning to improve quality of life. As Provost of NAFA, he leads the development of innovative curricula and institutional growth.
Professor Rebecca Kan (NAFA)
Prof Kan is an educationalist and musicologist. She is Associate Dean of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Teaching and Learning Centre, and Associate Dean (Degree Studies) in the Faculty of Performing Arts at NAFA, promoting knowledge advancement of the arts.
Professor Ronald Paul-Michael Henry Lay (LASALLE)
Prof Lay focuses on art-based experiential learning, clinical practice, therapeutic benefits of engagement with the arts, and professional postgraduate art therapy training. He is Programme Leader of LASALLE’s MA Art Therapy programme.
Professor Lim Yau (NAFA)
Prof Lim, a Cultural Medallion recipient, focuses on choral and orchestral education. He serves as Artistic Director of the School of Music at NAFA.
Professor Milenko Prvački (LASALLE)
Prof Prvački, a Cultural Medallion recipient, works on bringing together history, abstraction and intermedia methods. He is a Senior Fellow at LASALLE.
Professor Venka Purushothaman (LASALLE)
As President of LASALLE, Prof Purushothaman leads the reimagining of contemporary arts education, advancing creative practices and critical scholarship that shape society and connect Singapore to the world.
Professor Wong Sun Tat Sunny (NAFA)
Prof Wong’s practice centres on cross-cultural collaboration and the development of Chinese instrumental studies as a site for innovation. He is the inaugural Centre Director of the NAFA Centre for Singapore Chinese Music.
Associate Professor Nur Hidayah Bte Abu Bakar (LASALLE)
A/P Nur Hidayah’s work bridges pedagogical approaches, creative production and cultural discourse. She serves as Dean of the Faculty of Design at LASALLE.
Associate Professor Joyce Beetuan Koh (NAFA)
A/P Koh’s teaching focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration, and her research includes music composition and art-science integration. She is Associate Dean at NAFA’s Research Division.
Associate Professor Natalia Grincheva (LASALLE)
A/P Grincheva, a digital humanities scholar, focuses on data-driven cultural policy and diplomacy. She leads the Culture Futures Lab and LASALLE’s MA Cultural Analytics and AI Programme.
Associate Professor Circe Henestrosa (LASALLE)
A/P Henestrosa’s teaching, research and creative practice examine the intersection of fashion, culture and society. She is Head of the School of Fashion at LASALLE.
Associate Professor Lim Poh Teck (NAFA)
A/P Lim’s work engages with theory, practice and pedagogy within Southeast Asian contexts, with a focus in Nanyang Style painting. He is a Senior Lecturer at NAFA.
Associate Professor Darren Moore (LASALLE)
A/P Moore advances practice as a mode of research and inquiry through scholarship, pedagogy, recordings, performances, and collaborative projects. He is a Senior Lecturer at LASALLE.
Associate Professor Wolfgang Muench (LASALLE)
A/P Muench’s research is on the sociocultural and technological implications of media systems and human–computer environments. He is Dean of Learning, Teaching & Research at LASALLE.
Associate Professor Timothy O’Dwyer (LASALLE)
A/P O’Dwyer’s work centres on experimental music, improvisation and intercultural collaboration. He is Head of the School of Contemporary Music at LASALLE.
Associate Professor Rosslyn Prosser (LASALLE)
A/P Prosser focuses on gender and sexuality studies, with an interdisciplinary approach to her work. She is Programme Leader of LASALLE’s MA Creative Writing programme.
Associate Professor Nellie Seng (NAFA)
A/P Seng’s work centres on the intersection of performance, pedagogy and reflective practice. She is Associate Dean of the School of Music at NAFA.
Associate Professor Wang Ruobing (NAFA)
A/P Wang’s work examines eco-aesthetics, socially engaged resilience and the artistic humanities of ecology. She is Associate Dean of School of Fine Art at NAFA.
2. Choy Weng Yang Teaching Excellence Award
Made possible by the family of the late visual artist and curator, Mr Choy Weng Yang, the Choy Weng Yang Teaching Excellence Award is the first award at UAS dedicated to recognising excellence in art education. This award honours outstanding educators across LASALLE and NAFA whose teaching shapes the next generation of artists through both creative excellence and dedicated mentorship.
View articles on the award and recipients.
3. Mr and Mrs Kwok Chin Yan Administrative Team Excellence Award
The Mr and Mrs Kwok Chin Yan Administrative Team Excellence Award recognises exemplary teams across the University alliance in driving and realising administration-led initiatives that contribute to the strategic priorities of the UAS Strategic Plan, while demonstrating collaboration, collegiality and care.
View articles on the award and recipients.
4. UAS Long Service Award
The Long Service Award recognises and honours staff members whose years of dedicated service continue to support and strengthen our University community and advance our mission.
Looking ahead
Together, these recognitions highlight the people and teams contributing to UAS through academic leadership, teaching excellence and cross-institutional collaboration. Their work reflects the University's commitment to strengthening learning, creative practice, research and the way our community works together.
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