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IMPORTANT

  • Course duration. This is a year-long project-based course offered in both Semesters 1 and 2 of the Academic Year. GEN2002X is offered in Semester 1 of the Academic Year; it runs till the end of Semester 2 of that Academic Year, when grades are awarded. GEN2002Y is offered in Semester 2 of the Academic Year; it runs till the end of Semester 1 of the following Academic Year, when grades are awarded. You're expected to expend up to 40 hours developing the project (conducting surveys, developing prototypes, etc).

  • Note to graduating students. If you intend to graduate at the end of AY2024/25 and wish to read GEN2002, the latest you can enrol is Semester 1 of that Academic Year, in GEN2002X. Grades are awarded at the end of Semester 2, which means your degree will be conferred in end-June, and you will join the Commencement ceremony in the same year.

 Course Description

Through the years, the nature of threats have evolved from traditional security, e.g. territorial threats and terrorism, to hybrid threats, in which state or non-state actors conduct coordinated propaganda, sabotage, pressure, and other overt or covert non-military or military actions to subjugate the target. In this course, students will learn the key concepts of total defence to deal with such threats to a nation’s well-being; identify and articulate a potential hybrid threat to Singapore; and then design, and possibly execute, a community project that could provide suitable counter-measures that integrate an effective multi-faceted response to the identified threat. 

GEN2002 Video Introduction_Jan2023.mp4

 Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  1. Understand the fundamental concepts of total defence, in particular social, psychological and digital defences and their implementation in nations

  2. Understand the nature and evolution of hybrid threats to modern nation states

  3. Analyze key potential hybrid threats to Singapore in relation to the complex environment it operates in.

  4. Evaluate and synthesize an executable community project or initiative that could provide an effective counter-measure to this threat

Throughout the course, students will be challenged to engage in critical thinking including decomposing problems, questioning assumptions, biases and blind spots, and project management.  

Projects submitted may be introduced to the relevant ministries through our course partner, Nexus, MINDEF. See their webpage here. 

 Pre-requisites

NIL

 Course Units

4 Units. As this course spreads over up to a year, it will count 2 Units in the first semester and the other 2 Units in the following semester. Thus, students can register for this course on top of their usual workload, such as of five other 4-Unit courses, without breaching the workload cap of 23 Units per semester.

 Grading, Delivery & Assessment

There are no final exams. Students are required to attend lectures and tutorials in the first semester and work on their project proposal in groups of 4-6 throughout both semesters. There will be a project presentation in each semester. The ultimate deliverable is a 3000-4000 word project proposal addressing a specific threat to Singapore's community.

 Project Work

  • GEN2002 is a project-based course with focus on dealing with existential/security threats (eg, disruption to our food supply) through community engagement. This is not a course to research, analyze and propose new initiatives at the policy level, nor would we be dealing with overarching issues like climate change.  

  • The course is spread out across two semesters. There will be 10 classes in the first semester (6 lectures + 4 tutorials), and students will work on completing their project proposal in the second semester

  • If the proposal is developed early and deemed feasible, students may choose to implement it before the course ends

 Course Structure

All lectures and tutorials are 2h, in-person. Students can refer to NUSMods for more details.

First Semester

Week

Class

1

Lecture 1: Hybrid threats and contemporary TD

Lecturer: Mr Kenneth Chong

2

Lecture 2: National identity and pride – the basis for psychological and social resiliences?

Lecturer: A/P Tan Ern Ser (Sociology & Anthropology/ FASS)

3

Tutorial 1: Discussion on first two lectures

4

Lecture 3: Psychological and Social Resilience

Lecturer: A/P Tan Ern Ser (Sociology & Anthropology/ FASS)

5

Lecture 4: Digital resilience - misinformation and scams

Lecturer: Mr Kenneth Chong

6

Tutorial 2: Discussion on lectures 3 and 4. 

7

Lecture 5: Summary and project briefing

Guest Lecturer: S/LTC Psalm Lew (Nexus/ACCORD, MINDEF)

8

Tutorial 3: Project proposal preliminary planning 

9-10

Work on project proposal draft and presentation 

11

Tutorial 4: First project proposal presentation 

Second Semester

Students will mainly work in their groups on the project proposal, with scheduled check-ins with the tutor. 

Week

Class

4

Group check-in #1

Recess

Submission of written draft of proposal

8

Group check-in #2

12-13

Final project proposal presentation 

14

Submission of project proposal

Please click here for frequently asked questions.

For further enquiries, please contact the Course Lead, Mr Kenneth Chong (pvocbsk@nus.edu.sg)

See you in Total Defence Project!

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