In an effort to promote and encourage innovation in the field of climate change, Prince William will visit Singapore next month to attend the third annual Earthshot Prize Awards. During his four-day visit, he will spotlight the finalists’ projects aimed at solving environmental problems. Among them are the world’s tallest indoor waterfall and largest glass greenhouse, as well as innovations that help solve food waste and water shortages.
In addition, he will also meet with leaders from the country’s top universities and companies to discuss how they can collaborate with the Earthshot Prize finalists on future research and development. The winner of the award will receive a $2 million grant to fund a new project in 2022, with the runner-up receiving $100,000.
Organizers of the prize say that this year’s finalists “represent some of the most exciting research in the fields of astrophysics, aeronautical engineering, marine biology, climate science and conservation.” They are all working to find solutions to global issues such as air pollution, ocean acidification, land degradation and biodiversity loss.
The NUS Singapore History Prize, which was created in 2014 to mark the city-state’s 50th anniversary program (SG50), recognises important publications on Singapore history. It is administered by the NUS Department of History and awarded every three years. This year, it was won by Professor John Miksic’s book, Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800. The prize’s judges lauded its ability to show how fragmented historical records like literary references point to Temasek as an established trading centre long before Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819. It also showed how undisturbed layers of soil and archaeological finds such as glass shards and bronze bowls at Fort Canning indicated at least seven centuries of settlement here prior to Chinese trader Wang Dayuan writing about Southeast Asia in the 13th century.
Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow at the NUS Asia Research Institute and chairman of the NUS History Prize Jury, explained how “the history of Singapore is not static. New information and insights keep emerging, as demonstrated by the works of our two inaugural prize winners.”
The second runner-up was Shubigi Rao for Pulp III: An Intimate Inventory Of The Banished Book (2022), the third instalment of her decade-long project on banished books. The first runner-up for the English creative nonfiction category was 91-year-old National University of Singapore professor emeritus Peter Ellinger, who won Down Memory Lane: Peter Ellinger’s Memoirs (2023). The other runner-up was the Malay creative nonfiction work Theatres of Memory: Industrial Heritage Of 20th Century Singapore by Lynn Wong, Alex Tan, Koh Keng We, and Tan Teng Phee. Both works are available for purchase from local bookstores. They are also listed on the NUS Press website.