Jin Yao KWAN, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Denver
Born and raised in Singapore
Researcher
I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver. I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Luskin School of Public Affairs - under the National University of Singapore (NUS)-Overseas Graduate Scholarship - and I previously graduated as valedictorian of the class of 2017 with a Master in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS.
My work broadly focuses on the positive development and well-being of adolescents and young adults, especially those from low-income and marginalised families. In particular, I examine the familial and community relationships to which they have access. Another research interest of mine includes youth civic engagement, which I study using the positive youth development framework.
I am working on three primary projects right now (as of December 2021):
01.
"Singled out: The social capital and familial well-being of low-income single-parent families in Singapore". Funded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development of Singapore under the 2019 Social and Family Research Fund.
02.
"Exploring the long-term effects of COVID-19 on youths in Singapore: Psychological well-being, employment and educational outlook, and civic engagement". Funded by the National Youth Council of Singapore under the National Youth Fund.
03.
"The long-term outcomes of community service: The role of contribution among young adults in Singapore". Funded by the National Youth Council of Singapore under the National Youth Fund.
Volunteer
Having previously volunteered with the Association of Women for Action and Research, Children-At-Risk Empowerment Association Singapore, as well as the social empowerment initiative “I Am Talented”, I now volunteer or work with Singaporean charities on research projects and data analysis.
In addition, I am founder of and advisor to PREPMUN, Singapore's Model United Nations Preparatory Conference (organised by the United Nations Association of Singapore from 2011 to 2018), where we recently published a Singaporean guidebook to Model United Nations.
Finally, I have been working with Dr. Justin Lee of the Institute of Policy Studies on serve.sg, an open-source volunteer matching platform in Singapore. It is funded by the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth, under the “Our Singapore Fund”.Blogger
I now run socialservice.sg, a website, podcast, and newsletter (tinyletter.com/socialservicesg) dedicated to social service research, practice, and policies in Singapore.
I had a personal socio-political blog (July 2009 to July 2019) which is now archived (guanyinmiao.wordpress.com). I previously also wrote for three now-defunct sites: the “Breakfast Network” in 2013 and “The Middle Ground” from 2015 to 2016 as well as “SALT”, an online publication by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre in 2014.These archived posts best represent who I am as a blogger (at my best and worst):
Earlier Posts
- Singapore's education system as an overheated pressure cooker (2010).
- Why the Community Involvement Progamme (CIP) is not working (2010).
- The poor and the elderly in Singapore: Roving task-force a viable band-aid? (2011).
- The biggest problem that frustrates Singapore's NSFs (2012).
- National Service in Singapore: How and why you should unsubscribe from Pioneer magazine (2012).
- Singapore Youth Festival: So, what exactly has changed? (2012).
- Stop posting pictures of you and kids you've "helped" on your trips (2013).
Later Posts
- The man of the protest moment (2014).
- Eugene Tan: Captain Not-Obvious (2014).
- "The elite school student's burden" (2018).
- 12 years a SAP student, and nothing (Chinese) to show for it (2018).
- Our problematic "SES" responses reveal more than the guidebook itself (2018).
- Please, stop throwing anecdotes at Singapore's inequality and class divide problems (2018).
Personal Posts and Contributions
- Why I have chosen to further my studies in Singapore (2012).
- From Hwa Chong graduate to young Chef on Wheels: Going beyond conventional academic focuses (2012).
- "I Am Talented": An undergraduate's triumph against the odds (2012).
- "You don't need to be awesome at Hwa Chong": When failure means a hell lot more (2012).
- That first field camp (2015).
Social Media
Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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Contact Me
Get in touch with me via email.
Jin Yao Kwan © 2019-2021
