A groundbreaking initiative at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has culminated in the launch of the Centre for Computational Social Science and Humanities (CSSH), an interdisciplinary research hub that uniquely integrates data science, artificial intelligence, and computational techniques with the rich theoretical frameworks and methodologies derived from social sciences and humanities. This convergence enables unprecedented examination and modeling of complex social phenomena, advancing both academic understanding and viable policy solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges.
As the first institution in Singapore to systematically fuse computational social science with humanities scholarship within a single entity, CSSH pioneers new approaches that transcend traditional academic boundaries. Its formation reflects an ambitious vision to harness the precision and scalability of emerging technologies together with nuanced interpretative insights into human behavior, institutions, and cultural contexts. This synergy holds tremendous potential for driving innovations that directly translate into improving societal resilience, inclusiveness, and governance frameworks.
The foundation of CSSH rests upon a remarkably broad interdisciplinary spectrum, drawing from computing, new media studies, linguistics, geography, public policy, and healthcare, among other fields. This amalgamation empowers researchers to investigate critical societal interactions such as the multifaceted impacts of AI-powered digital platforms on social relations, the deployment of computational tools for safeguarding Singapore’s cultural heritage, and tailored strategies to enhance digital literacy among marginalized populations. Each thematic focus is approached through a computational lens combined with deep domain expertise to produce finely calibrated and socially relevant insights.
According to Professor Liu Bin, NUS Deputy President (Research and Technology), rapid advancements in digital technologies and artificial intelligence have dramatically transformed global societies, yet the true measure of progress lies in tangible improvements to human welfare. CSSH embodies NUS’s strategic commitment to channeling technological innovation toward real-world applications that enrich daily lives and fortify community bonds. By embedding social science and humanities perspectives into computational research, the Centre is ideally positioned to inform policy-making processes and institutional practices with rigorously validated, context-sensitive evidence.
The Centre’s leadership augments its pioneering mandate, with Professors Atreyi Kankanhalli and Peter Millican serving as Co-Directors, respectively representing the NUS School of Computing and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Their stewardship ensures robust interdisciplinarity, fostering collaborations that stimulate novel research trajectories and generate impactful knowledge outputs. Since its operational inception in mid-2024, CSSH has coordinated over 50 interdisciplinary projects involving 105 researchers spanning NUS schools and external academic partners, underscoring its active role in producing diverse computational social science scholarship.
Among the flagship initiatives spearheaded by CSSH is the five-year “Computational Social Simulations for Aiding Policy Design” project. Led by Professor Kankanhalli, this endeavor integrates artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs), to build sophisticated social simulation platforms. These platforms model heterogeneous public personas, enabling policymakers to experiment with policy propositions in virtual environments before real-world implementation. This approach promises to considerably reduce dependency on expensive and time-consuming empirical studies during early policy development phases while preserving opportunities for community engagement at critical decision junctures.
Supporting this initiative, Associate Professor Dandan Qiao, CSSH Deputy Director and a prominent figure in computational methodologies, contributes expertise in AI-driven modeling techniques. Together, the project team’s work exemplifies CSSH’s mission to use computational innovations for creating evidence-based, adaptive policy tools that enhance governance efficacy against emerging societal challenges.
In the cultural domain, CSSH also champions the “Jawi AI Project,” an ambitious undertaking led by Associate Professor Miguel Escobar Varela from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. This project employs advanced AI methods to facilitate large-scale transliteration and semantic analysis of Jawi-script texts, a historically significant Malay script that few contemporary readers can decipher. Collaborative efforts with the National Library Board (NLB) have resulted in digitizing thousands of archived pages of Malay-language newspapers from 1870 to 1970, rendering them fully searchable and accessible for academic and public use.
This digital renaissance of Malay heritage enriches regional historiography and broadens the narrative of Singapore’s multicultural history. By enabling computational access to vast corpora of primary historical material, the project opens new avenues for research into Malay journalism, political discourse, and social movements in Southeast Asia, while also preserving intangible cultural assets at risk of fading from collective memory.
Professor Millican emphasizes that CSSH’s core contribution lies in transcending disciplinary silos. The Centre’s integrative framework encourages synergistic interaction between humanities scholars and data scientists, catalyzing novel methodologies and insights unattainable through isolated inquiry. Such interdisciplinarity positions CSSH as a vital nexus for tackling complex, multifactorial issues that demand both the interpretive depth of the humanities and the analytical sophistication of computational sciences.
Looking ahead, CSSH aims to deepen and expand research domains addressing critical societal matters where computational tools can yield decisive impact. Prospective focus areas include the ethical and social ramifications of AI and emergent technologies, sustainable environmental policy-making, demographic analysis amidst population shifts, public health and social care innovation, and further efforts in preserving historical and cultural legacies informed by digital humanities.
The Centre’s establishment not only aligns with but also advances Singapore’s national agenda of responsible technological innovation, promoting solutions that are not only technically robust but also inclusive, trustworthy, and responsive to complex social realities. As digital transformation continues to reshape every facet of human life, CSSH embodies an exemplary model of how academic institutions can lead in fostering holistic, humane, and rigorous engagement with these changes for broad societal benefit.
CSSH’s integration of large language models and AI-driven simulation platforms represents a significant leap forward in computational social science methodologies. By automating complex modeling of social phenomena and enabling virtual experimentation, the Centre accelerates policymakers’ ability to test hypotheses and refine interventions with higher precision and agility. This innovation could serve as a blueprint for research institutions worldwide aiming to bridge the technology-society divide and operationalize data-informed governance on a transformative scale.
In merging technology with humanistic inquiry, CSSH also addresses key challenges in the digital preservation of linguistic heritage, as exemplified by the Jawi AI Project. The application of AI in digitizing and interpreting historical texts not only reinvigorates scholarly research but also democratizes access to cultural knowledge, thereby strengthening collective identity and educational resources. This dual focus on policy innovation and cultural preservation illustrates CSSH’s comprehensive and visionary approach to computational social science.
In summary, the CSSH stands at the frontier of a new era in interdisciplinary research, shaping an intellectual landscape where AI and big data meet critical social science and humanities questions. Its establishment heralds a vital step toward more integrated, impactful, and socially accountable scientific inquiry, with the potential to profoundly influence policy, culture, and societal well-being in Singapore and beyond.
Subject of Research: Computational social science, humanities, AI-driven social simulations, digital preservation of cultural heritage
Article Title: National University of Singapore Launches Centre for Computational Social Science and Humanities to Revolutionize Interdisciplinary Research
News Publication Date: 2024
Web References: https://mediasvc.eurekalert.org/Api/v1/Multimedia/01c64997-c9a3-45b5-bfca-6ad9214ae860/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public
Image Credits: National University of Singapore
Keywords: Computational social science, artificial intelligence, social simulations, digital humanities, Jawi script, cultural heritage preservation, interdisciplinary research, policy design, large language models, social science, humanities, data science, AI platforms
