Job Title: Temporary Curatorial Assistant, NUS Baba House (6 months)
University-Level Unit: NUS Museum
Faculty/Department-Level Unit: NUS Museum
Employee Category: Contingent
Location_ONB: Kent Ridge Campus
Posting Start Date: 17/04/2026
NUS Museum seeks a Curatorial Assistant (Baba House) to lead a Cultural Mapping project that surveys and synthesises current state of scholarship on Straits Chinese and Peranakan histories, material cultural and regional connections. The Cultural Mapping initiative is designed to map the breadth of scholarship and levels of discourse across academia, community practice and public engagement; identify key researchers, institutions and publications across Southeast Asia; build an intellectual infrastructure that enables NUS Museum to strategically engage regional networks; and inform curatorial directions, collections development strategies and scholarly positioning. Working across the Baba House and NUS Museum curatorial staff, the Curatorial Assistant will lead the research consolidation and the conceptual planning, structuring and execution of the workshop framework to ensure that each iteration is methodologically grounded and thematically interlinked.
About Baba House
NUS Baba House is a heritage site managed by NUS Museum that supports object-based study and interdisciplinary engagement with Singapore's urban, architectural heritage and conservation, and Peranakan histories. Through exhibitions, research, and community programmes, it offers a space for exploring how heritage can inform contemporary understandings of identity, memory, and design while bridging conservation practice with broader cultural and academic conversations. Built around 1895, 157 Neil Road is a three-storey townhouse in Singapore's historic Blair Plain district. The Straits Chinese Collection of over 2,000 objects documents the material history of Peranakan Chinese communities around the turn of the 20th century, promoting the study of migration, cultural encounters, and hybridity within the context of urban and social change in Singapore and the region. At the advent of NUS Baba House's two-year essential restoration and conservation works is the opportunity to take critical stock of its discursive contribution to Singapore society.
Duties And Responsibilities
- Literature Review and Mapping
- Conduct a comprehensive literature review of scholarship on Straits Chinese and Peranakan histories and material culture published over the past two decades (2005-present), with historical scope extending from the late 19th century through the pre-WWII mid-20th, capturing shifts in historiography, methodology and interpretive frameworks. The geographic scope is Southeast Asia-wide, with attention to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and regional diasporic networks. The review would also include prior internal research undertaken at NUS baba House and NUS Museum as well as contributions from community historians, cultural activists, independent researchers and practitioners.
- Identify key researchers and institutions whose work addresses thematic areas including architecture and urban morphology, archival and visual culture studies, social history, economic history and trade networks, material culture and craft traditions, food and culinary heritage, language and print culture, and regional connections.
- Provide strategic recommendations identifying priority researchers and practitioners for engagement in workshops and symposium platforms, thematic gaps for research fellowships to address, potential partnerships for exhibitions and publications, and strategies for positioning Baba House within regional scholarly networks.
- Mapping Output
Produce a comprehensive Cultural Mapping resource with the following components:
- a database/spreadsheet of researchers including institutional affiliations, key publications, research focus areas, and collaboration potential;
- an annotated bibliography organizing significant publications thematically with historiographic analysis and identification of research gaps;
- a visual and relational mapping showing geographic distribution, thematic clusters, existing networks, and gaps in scholarship; and
- a trend and discourse analysis identifying key trajectories in Peranakan and Straits Chinese scholarship.
- Workshop Engagement
Role
Play a central role in conceptualising, structuring, and sustaining a multi-year workshop series from the mapped scholars and practitioners that functions as the methodological backbone of the Cultural Mapping project. This includes:
- Designing a coherent workshop pipeline that moves from exploratory methodological sessions toward thematically focused engagements;
- Ensuring that workshops are sequentially linked, with each session contributing directly to research dossiers and curatorial planning;
- Developing briefing materials, thematic rationales, and benchmarking frameworks to situate each workshop within regional and international discourse; and
- Supporting long-term relationship building with regional scholars and practitioners, transforming workshop encounters into sustained institutional partnerships.
Requirements
- Degree or Master's degree in history, Art History, Museum Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Southeast Asian Studies, or related fields
- Demonstrated research experience in Straits Chinese/Peranakan studies or related fields (colonial Southeast Asia, migration studies, material culture, heritage studies)
- Familiarity with regional scholarship and academic networks across Southeast Asia
- Strong methodological skills in literature review, bibliographic research, and qualitative data synthesis
- Excellent written communication in English
- Self-directed work style with ability to manage independent research projects
Preferred Knowledge & Skills
- Experience in research with established Southeast Asian networks
- Extensive contributions to art, heritage, or cultural research in Singapore and Southeast Asia through research, teaching, publications, and exhibition projects
- Proficiency in Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien, or other regional languages
- Experience facilitating workshops or convening scholarly communities
- Familiarity with digital humanities tools (database management or data visualization, etc)
- Publication record in peer-reviewed journals or heritage/museum contexts
- Existing relationships with researchers, institutions, or community organizations in the region
