“It’s been nearly a year since I joined NLSIU after my PhD and postdoctoral fellowship at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. What began as a visiting faculty appointment for an elective course 2 years ago, has grown into a fulfilling journey through teaching courses like Economics for Public Policy, Policy Evaluation, and Policy Dialectics for the students of the MPP programme. I find the classroom to be an incredible platform to learn and gain insights for both the instructor and students.

My research on the governance of emerging technologies feeds into my teaching and has sparked vibrant discussions with students on AI’s challenges in health and education and the need for effective policy design. Presenting a co-authored research paper on challenges of ChatGPT in higher education at a faculty seminar where I received excellent feedback from my colleagues has been one of the highlights for me this academic year. I look forward to continuing this journey with energy and curiosity while working on new projects like the development of public policy education and building AI trustworthiness.”

“When I left corporate legal practice for academia, I was struck by a fundamental disconnect. In the corporate world, legal services were abundant – teams of lawyers working tirelessly to navigate complex problems. But step outside that bubble, and you find most ordinary people facing their legal challenges alone, often without even recognising them as ‘legal’ problems. What fascinates me is how people actually solve these everyday legal issues. We tend to think justice flows through courtrooms and law offices, but that’s just not the reality for most people. People create their own pathways to justice. They Google solutions, ask friends for advice, contact government agencies, or simply try to negotiate directly. Some give up entirely. Others find unexpected routes to resolution through community organisations, faith groups, or informal networks that legal scholars have traditionally overlooked. This is where my research lives – in that messy, improvisational space where people are trying to solve legal problems without the formal legal system. This is ‘everyday justice’ – the justice people cobble together with limited resources and information.

The corporate world taught me how powerful well-crafted legal solutions can be. But academia has shown me how rarely those solutions reach ordinary people. The gap isn’t just about money – though that matters enormously – it’s also about design. Our legal system wasn’t built with everyday users in mind. I’m increasingly convinced that improving access to justice requires legal resources that meet people where they are – online, in communities, in plain language, and responsive to real-world constraints – using digital tools, community navigators, embedded services in trusted institutions – and recognising that justice is a result you achieve through many possible routes.”