(Press-News.org)
The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) launched the MOH–NUS Postgraduate Fellowship in Biomedical Ethics, a postgraduate programme to advance the understanding and translation of the practice of ethics in healthcare settings, and to equip healthcare professionals and leaders with the frameworks and tools to address real-world ethical challenges in everyday healthcare practice. The first awardee of the Fellowship is Ms Kwek Shi Qi, a registered nurse at the National University Hospital (NUH), and alumna of the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, NUS Medicine.
Singapore’s healthcare system is growing increasingly complex, fuelled by advances in medical technology, an ageing population, and more informed patients. This complexity routinely brings critical questions of consent, communication, fairness and end-of-life decisions to the patient’s bedside. Beyond delivering excellent care, healthcare professionals must navigate these ethical challenges while balancing patient autonomy, professional responsibilities, and system-level constraints in a transparent and principled manner. It is essential to equip them with knowledge and understanding of biomedical ethics, ethical analysis and reasoning, so that they can recognise and resolve conflicts early, and reduce moral distress.
Associate Professor Michael Dunn, Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE), NUS Medicine, said, “The Fellowship builds system‑wide ethical capacity by training practising healthcare professionals and grounding their capstone projects in frontline clinical attachments. Focused on translating ethics education into practice, the programme will enable Fellows to develop transformative improvements in healthcare practice locally.”
As the inaugural Fellow of the programme, Ms Kwek will undertake a Master of Science in Biomedical Ethics at CBmE, NUS Medicine, in a unique model of healthcare ethics training that combines academic scholarship with formal placements in public healthcare and policy settings. In her role as a staff nurse since August 2024, she has provided specialised care to patients with cardiovascular diseases at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS), while collaborating with a multidisciplinary team to ensure holistic patient wellbeing. She empowers individuals through patient education to better understand and manage their conditions, and uses clear, empathetic communication to support patients and their families through critical phases of care—upholding dignity and offering clarity during moments of uncertainty. As part of the Fellowship, she will conduct a research project, titled “Everyday ethics on the ward: Exploring nurse-led ethics support”, which will map barriers and drivers for nurses mediating ethical conflicts in frontline work; clarify roles, steps and escalation criteria that complement existing ethics committees; and inform nursing education through practical tools.
Ms Kwek said, “Nurses are pivotal in addressing ethical conflicts that arise daily in frontline care, given the extensive contact we share with patients and their families. I believe that a deeper understanding of ethics in clinical decision-making would help me better support my patients. Through the MOH–NUS Masters Fellowship Programme in Biomedical Ethics, I am eager to discover how we can empower Singapore’s nurses to navigate everyday ethics in the ward. The Fellowship bridges rigorous academic training with frontline practice through active discussions and study attachments, equipping healthcare professionals with the expertise to make ethically sound and compassionate decisions that will greatly shape patient care.”
The Fellowship provides full funding for tuition and relevant university fees, and a monthly stipend of S$3,800 for the duration of the programme. It is supported by a fund of up to S$1.2m from MOH, reflecting a national commitment to embedding ethical reasoning alongside clinical excellence in everyday practice.
“Ethical dilemmas are part of everyday life at the bedside. This Fellowship equips healthcare professionals with practical tools to make principled, patient-centred decisions, and to resolve conflicts early, even when there are no easy answers,” added Dr Sumytra Menon, Director at CBmE, NUS Medicine.
Adjunct Professor (Dr) Raymond Chua, Deputy Director-General of Health (Health Regulation), Ministry of Health, said, “Excellent healthcare is defined as much by ethical considerations as it is by clinical outcomes. This fellowship reflects our commitment to boosting the capabilities of our healthcare workforce in healthcare ethics. By embedding deep ethical expertise within our teams and cultivating a new generation of ethics practitioners, we ensure that our healthcare system continues to evolve in a way that prioritises the well-being of every patient while navigating increasingly complex medical and technological challenges."
END
Sungkyunkwan University (President: Jibeom Yoo) announced that a joint research team led by Professors Han-Ki Kim and Bo Ram Lee from the School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering has developed a next-generation transparent electrode technology that completely eliminates the use of the rare metal indium, while maintaining high performance and significantly extending device lifetime.
Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs), which have recently attracted considerable attention as a key technology for next-generation ...
Quantum computers work by applying quantum operations, such as quantum gates, to delicate quantum states. Ideally, quantum computers can solve complex equations at staggeringly fast speeds that vastly outpace regular computers. In real hardware, the operations of quantum computers often deviate from the ideal behavior because of device imperfections and unwanted noise from the environment. To build reliable quantum machines, researchers need a way to accurately determine what a quantum device is actually doing.
Quantum process tomography (QPT) ...
In a dry riverbed in Brazil, in a dense forest near the Amazon, a team of paleontologists found a fossilized jawbone from an ancient animal. Over the course of their fieldwork, they found eight similar bones, each around six inches long—but no other bones that they could confidently use to complete a skeleton for one of these mystery animals. However, the jawbones alone were enough to reveal that they belonged to a species that would have been a “living fossil” for its time, 275 million years ago when it lived. What’s more, the jawbones were oddly twisted, with some ...
Jackdaw chicks learn about predators by listening to adults, new research shows.
Scientists played recordings of predator calls to chicks in their nests – and paired the sounds with either adult jackdaw “alarm” calls or “contact” calls that indicate no danger.
Chicks that heard predator sounds paired with alarm calls learned to fear the predator – becoming more vigilant on hearing that sound again – while chicks that heard contact calls did not.
The study, by researchers at the University ...
The year-long algal bloom along the South Australian coastline has not only devastated marine life and triggered health risks for humans and pets: it has also had a significant psychological impact on local residents, according to new research.
An Adelaide University survey of more than 600 South Australians during the peak of the 2025 bloom found high levels of ‘eco-anxiety’ – distress linked to environmental damage – with many participants reporting persistent worry, sadness and feelings of helplessness.
The findings have recently been published in the Journal of Environmental ...
A research team led by Prof. Seunguk Song from the Department of Energy Science at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), in collaboration with the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), the University of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, has published a comprehensive technical roadmap for two-dimensional (2D) Indium Selenides (InSe)—a key material for next-generation low-power and quantum computing.
The study, titled “Indium selenides for next-generation electronics and optoelectronics,” was recently published in Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering, the ...
A new Cochrane review has found that sucrose can help with pain relief in newborn babies during common hospital procedures, such as venepuncture. This involves drawing blood with a needle, typically for testing.
Newborns, especially preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), undergo numerous painful procedures. Because of their immature pain regulation, they can experience these procedures intensely. Preventing and treating procedural pain in hospitalised newborns is important, as repeated untreated pain has been associated with poorer physical ...
Pollen exposure is linked to poorer exam results taken at the end of secondary (high) school (matriculation), with the effects especially noticeable in subjects involving maths, including physics and chemistry, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
Recognition is needed of the adverse effects of fluctuations in pollen levels on academic performance and the potential impact on a student’s future prospects, conclude the researchers.
Allergic rhinitis, caused by an allergic reaction to ...
Sleeping for 7 hours and 18 minutes every night may be the sweet spot for warding off the risk of insulin resistance—the precursor to type 2 diabetes—suggests a large observational study published in the open access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.
But weekend catch-up sleep is associated with a heightened risk of impaired glucose metabolism in those who sleep beyond the optimal threshold every night, the findings indicate.
Previously published research shows that sleep duration is strongly associated with the risk of insulin resistance, diabetes, and ...
Around 6 deaths a year are linked to clubbing in the UK, finds a 15 year retrospective study published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.
Physical assault, including stabbings and head trauma, or too much ecstasy (MDMA) are the primary causes, the findings indicate.
UK nightclubs attract close to 100 million visitors every year and boast a revenue of just under £1 billion. Risky behaviours while clubbing are common, but current evidence on deaths associated with nightclubs is limited to small case series or isolated critical incidents, with no national data, ...
