MCYS MEDIA RELEASE NO: 21/2008

DATE OF ISSUE: 05/03/2008

5 March 2008

MEDIA RELEASE

FAMILY RESEARCH NETWORK TO SPUR RESEARCH ON FAMILY ISSUES

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) will be

forming a Family Research Network this year to develop research capabilities and
foster collaboration on issues related to the family. The Network will enable the
Ministry to engage family research experts to identify and collaborate in in-depth
studies on emerging social trends and developments that affect families in Singapore.
The Network will also help foster closer relations between government policy-makers
and research professionals in the academic and people sectors.

2 The Family Research Network will help create a vibrant market-place of ideas
to better anticipate and address the challenges and opportunities facing our families.

3 The aims of the Family Research Network are three-fold:

a. To promote a multi-disciplinary approach and greater expertise on family

research through sharing of new research findings and developments;

b. To identify new areas of research interests and facilitate research

collaboration between government and the research communities, and

c. To develop a stronger research and evidence base for family policies.

4 The Network could cover the following areas, among others:

a. New theories or perspectives that help inform current policy discussions

on families;

b. Research that will help strengthen policies or service-delivery to at-risk

families or families facing multiple problems or life stressors; and

c. Evaluation studies on existing programmes or services for families

5 Participants in this Network would include academic and corporate

researchers, practitioners and researchers from Voluntary Welfare Organisations,
university undergraduates and postgraduates, and researchers and policy-makers
from various government agencies.

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6 The Network will take the form of regular round-table discussions where
academics and policy-makers will present and discuss new research findings. The
Network is also a platform from which academics and policy-makers may discuss
new research initiatives and projects which they can collaborate together on.

7 The Network is targeted to be set up by the middle of this year.

ISSUED BY

MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS