Philip Yeo

Singapore's science agency has persuaded several 'whales' — internationally eminent scientists — to 'swim' to the island nation. Here, they head up some of our research institutes, guide us into new research areas and, most importantly, inspire and mentor our 'guppies'.

Our guppies are 600-plus National Science Scholars, who are fully funded by Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). We call these scholars guppies because the small fish are curious and adventurous. To prepare them for hardier environments, we send most of our guppies overseas for their PhD education. Some do study in Singapore, but they also spend time at our partner universities in the United States and Europe. As a result, our scholars grow up with a global perspective.

Combining whales and guppies in our research programme does sound like a mixed metaphor. Purists might argue that salt-water whales cannot mix with freshwater guppies. But I say it's poetic license. Whales generally swim in schools, and occasionally depart temporarily from the group, sometimes followed by young ones.

Finding, funding and nurturing the guppies to follow the whales was a key challenge when I arrived at A*STAR in February 2001 from the Economic Development Board (EDB). Fewer than 20% of PhD holders in A*STAR's institutes were Singaporean, and few among them were young scientists. I had to actively recruit Singaporean talent, and scholarships provided the best means of doing so. Today, many of A*STAR's scholars come from working-class families. After they've been selected, they study for their first degrees at some of the world's best universities. They then return home for a year to work in our laboratories. A*STAR is a family of 14 research institutes and a growing number of scientific consortia. After this lab-attachment year, the scholars choose their specialization and where they want to do their PhD.

The scholarship scheme I set up is run by the A*STAR Graduate Academy. A*GA, as it is known, has a big job to do. By 2010, A*GA will have selected more than 1,000 scholars, each of whom will take nine years — including their lab-attachment year — to complete their studies, from beginning their BS to finishing their PhD. Our earliest guppies are now well on their way towards completing their studies in areas including information technology, engineering, molecular biology, biochemistry and medicine.

Nurturing scholars has been the most enjoyable and fulfilling part of my job as A*STAR chairman.

I help select the scholars, then keep in touch with each one by email, chat with them when they come home, and have lunch or dinner with them when I am at or near their places of study overseas. Nurturing the scholars has been the most enjoyable and fulfilling part of my job as A*STAR chairman.

After eight years of publicly funded tertiary education, guppies come home to serve their country in their scientific domains for a contractual six years.

A*GA often suggests that I spoil the young scholars, and maybe I do from time to time. But I am very strict about their studies. They must achieve a UK First Class honours or US grade-point average of 3.8 minimum. Many attain perfect scores of 4.0. To recognize the top performers and to inspire others, we have the annual Chairman's Honours List and also the graduating A*STAR Roll of Honour. And the honorable behaviour I insist on is that, after eight years of publicly funded tertiary education, they come home to serve their country in their scientific domains for a contractual six years.

This contract guarantees that after completing their PhDs every one of our guppies can come home to a good job in a great lab. Every returned scholar will continue to have a mentor assigned to them, and will have ample opportunity to attend scientific symposia around the world. During their years of graduate study they will already have been exposed to such meetings and encouraged to interact with leaders in their field. We anticipate that guppies will eventually run some of A*STAR's labs and spin-off companies, work at some of the big pharma companies that have established bases in Singapore and launch their own start-ups. We encourage our scientists to move on to private-sector labs and related jobs in Singapore if they see greener pastures there.

My vision for the staffing of Singapore's research laboratories is a perfect mix of Singaporean and foreign scientific talent. Perfect in terms of a 50:50 balance. When our 1,000 guppies are all home with their PhDs in 2020, we expect many of them to be on track to one day achieve whale status themselves. Meanwhile, the hunt is still on for more whales.