NUS appoints new law dean from within the faculty

A long-time professor of the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Law has been appointed its new dean, following a global search that started in January.

Professor Andrew Simester, 55, who has been with the NUS law faculty since 2006, will be taking over the reins in January next year from Professor Simon Chesterman, who has served as dean since 2012.

In a statement yesterday, Prof Simester said: "(I) look forward to collaborating with our students, colleagues, alumni and the wider legal community in Singapore to build on our success and aim even higher in the years to come."

In March last year, NUS announced that Professor Hans Tjio, also from its law faculty, was to take over as the faculty's dean. However, citing medical reasons, Prof Tjio, 56, relinquished the appointment two weeks later, sparking the global hunt for a new dean.

Prof Simester, who has held teaching positions at the University of Cambridge and University of Nottingham in England, currently teaches courses relating to criminal law and theory at NUS.

The Singapore permanent resident is well recognised in the field of criminal law. In 2007, he was elected to a fellowship at the University of Cambridge and has held the Edmund-Davies Chair in criminal law at King's College London since 2015.

NUS' School of Computing will also be getting a new dean.

Professor Tan Kian Lee, 57, will take over from Professor Mohan Kankanhalli as dean from next January. Prof Tan was head of the NUS computer science department from 2014 to 2020.

His research focuses on issues related to managing and analysing big data, or complex data sets. He was a recipient of the NUS Outstanding University Researcher Award in 1998 and a co-recipient of Singapore's President Science Award in 2011.

Thanking the departing deans for their contributions, NUS president Tan Eng Chye said: "Under their able leadership, NUS Law and NUS Computing have established themselves as world-leading schools for highly talented students and staff from around the world. I am pleased that Simon and Mohan will continue to contribute to NUS in other important roles."

Prof Chesterman will continue to serve as David Marshall Professor of Law, vice-provost of educational innovation, and dean of NUS College at the university, while Prof Kankanhalli will continue his tenure as director of the NUS Centre for Research in Privacy Technologies.

Prof Chesterman described his tenure as NUS law dean as "the best job" he ever had: "The opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in legal academia - and to teach the best students in the world - has been a privilege I'll never forget."