A global economic slowdown might seem like an unlikely driver of professional advancement for a scientist. Yet that is exactly what the financial crisis of 2007–08 was for French immunologist Florent Ginhoux. He began to consider working in Asia when the crash made it difficult to find an institution in the West that was willing to fund his plans to set up his own lab. In 2009, he moved his family to Singapore, where he became a principal investigator. He now leads a lab of 12 researchers and students, and has no intention of leaving any time soon.

Singaporeans test a self-driving vehicle, technology that may soon be part of the transport system. Credit: Edgar Su/Reuters

“In Europe or the US, sometimes when you start your lab you have to think small and slowly expand,” says Ginhoux, who is studying the biology of dendritic cells with his group at the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), a research institute that is part of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). “Singapore was the only place where I could really think about doing the science with all the resources and support I needed.”

The island city-state welcomes foreign talent such as Ginhoux as part of the government's commitment to promote research, innovation and enterprise as the cornerstones of its economy. A wealthy country, Singapore spends 2.2% of its gross domestic product on research and development (R&D). Its per capita R&D spending is among the highest in the world. In January, the Singaporean government unveiled a 5-year, S$19-billion (US$13.9-billion) plan to support R&D in the country — an 18% increase on 2011–15.

boxed-textUp to S$4 billion of this will be invested in research collaborations between industry and academia, reflecting a broader trend in the way science is done in Singapore. In October 2015, for example, US-based engineering company Applied Materials established a joint R&D lab with A*STAR to develop advanced semiconductors for logic and memory chips.

Although government funding is available for basic research, an increasing amount is being directed towards work that is seen as most likely to have an economic impact. “There are still significant resources available for basic research at A*STAR, but there is a tangible push towards work that has a more immediate return on investment,” says French geneticist Bruno Reversade, who joined Singapore's Institute of Medical Biology in 2008. He now leads a group that investigates the genetics of rare diseases and how twins are produced.

Renting property in Singapore is notoriously expensive, but the average salary there buys more goods and services of an equivalent standard than the average wage in London, according to crowdsourced website Numbeo.

Compared with neighbouring countries, western researchers may find Singapore easier to settle in. English is widely used, and there are plenty of international associations and schools for expats and their families. Ginhoux needed to do little to prepare for his move: “Singapore is open and foreigner-friendly,” he says.

Where to work

The top ten institutions in Singapore, based on research output included in the 2015 Nature Index, May 1 2015–April 30 2016, shown as weighted fractional count (WFC), a measure of the relative contribution of an author to an article weighted to correct for imbalances between subjects. Bars are divided according to the proportion that each subject area contributes to the overall score.

Salaries

Starting salaries in Singapore are the highest among the Asia-Pacific countries profiled for professors, but less generous for those lower down the scale, according to data collected in Nature’s interviews.

Collaborations

Singapore’s average collaboration score (top) — the sum of Nature Index’s fractional count (the relative contribution of authors to an article) for international collaborations divided by the number of countries Singapore collaborates with.

Research focus

Imagine cars that know where empty parking spaces are; buildings that can identify sources of air pollution; and smartphone apps that alert users when someone nearby has a heart attack, and locates the closest defibrillator. Trend watchers have long predicted the advent of networks of connected sensors embedded in the physical objects around us, seamlessly collecting and exchanging data to enable a wide variety of innovations.

Many cities are experimenting with such technologies to improve traffic management or street lighting, for example. The Singaporean government's Smart Nation initiative, launched in 2014, outlines a broader, bolder vision of the Internet of Things. One early example is Beeline, an app that analyses historical travel patterns and crowdsourced data to suggest routes to bus operators. Smart Nation is creating systems that combine data from sensors such as those in smartphones, other sensors and surveillance cameras to generate a live picture of the nation in unprecedented detail. The initiative's fellowship programme offers funding to computer and data scientists with ideas for applications that would allow for better management of traffic congestion, power outages, floods and infectious-disease outbreaks, for example. The Singaporean government hopes that the country's compact size and centralized political system will allow it to become a world leader in the field. But given its history of authoritarianism, some are sceptical about the government's promise to anonymize the new data it will collect.

Opportunities & contacts

  • The A*STAR International Fellowship is a two-year fellowship for postdocs who have completed their PhD in the past four years and final-year PhD students.

  • The Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellowship is a three-year fellowship at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore, to be held concurrently with a staff research position. It is open to foreign students.

  • NTU assistant professorships are tenure-track positions with attractive remuneration and start-up grant packages for foreign researchers who have obtained a PhD in the past ten years.