ARI at NUS Singapore is hiring a Postdoctoral or Research Fellow for a project on ageing migrants in Singapore. You need a PhD (or confirmed pending PhD) in social sciences or humanities, strong qualitative research skills, and conversational ability in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesian, or Vietnamese for the fieldwork. Pay is S$6,000 to S$6,500 monthly, all-inclusive. Job starts October 2026 at the latest by December. Deadline to apply is August 14, 2026. Apply through the NUS careers portal link above, and don’t wait, the window is small.
If you already have your PhD, or you’re waiting for your school to confirm it, and your area is social science or humanities, this one is for you. The Asia Research Institute, which people just call ARI, at the National University of Singapore has opened a job for a Postdoctoral or Research Fellow. And the closing date is very close. Just August 14, 2026. That’s a few days from when this post is going up, so don’t sit on this one.
What this ARI fellowship is about
ARI is hiring for a research project called Ageing Futures and Resource Environments of Foreign-born Singapore Residents. Long name, but the idea is simple enough. Singapore has a lot of people who were born somewhere else in Asia and later moved there. As these people grow old, researchers want to know how they cope. Where do they get support from, in Singapore and back in their home countries too? Who helps them when they’re sick or need care in their old age? That’s what this project is digging into.
The study is funded by the Social Sciences Research Council of Singapore, under something called a Thematic Grant. It’s a four-year project in total, and the professor leading it is Prof Elaine Ho. Whoever gets the fellowship will work under her, inside ARI’s Migration and Mobilities Cluster.
The job itself
The role is full-time. It’s for one year at first, but they can renew it for a second year if things go well. Whoever gets picked is expected to resume duty at NUS in October 2026, and the latest they can start is December 2026.
On the ground, the fellow will spend most of the time doing qualitative research in Singapore, mostly talking to and observing foreign-born residents aged 55 and above who came from different Asian countries. It’s a mixed-methods project, so there will be teamwork with people from other academic backgrounds too, not just your own discipline. Writing is part of the deal as well, and not only for academic journals; some of it goes out to regular people outside the university. There’s also the chance to present at conferences, both abroad and in Singapore, plus co-author papers and help run project meetings and workshops along the way.
Who is eligible to apply for this ARI fellowship
You need a PhD in Social Sciences and Humanities. If your PhD result hasn’t come out yet but your school has confirmed you’ll get it, that still counts. ARI says they prefer people from Social Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, or Migration Studies backgrounds, but that’s a preference, not a hard wall.
Beyond the degree, there’s more they’re checking for.
You should have shown some real interest in the kind of things this project is about, ageing and migration and how people cope with both. Strong skills in qualitative research matter a lot here, and if you’ve worked with mixed methods before, that’s a plus for you.
Now here’s the part that will catch a lot of applicants off guard. Because the fieldwork involves talking to older migrants from specific communities, ARI wants someone who can hold a conversation in at least one of these languages: Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesian, or Vietnamese. If none of these is your language, this particular fellowship isn’t for you, no matter how strong your CV looks otherwise.
They also want to see that you can publish, or at least that you have the potential to publish, in serious peer-reviewed journals. Your writing and speaking should be sharp. And since you’ll be working with people from different disciplines, plus talking to non-academic people in the community, you need to actually be able to work well with others, not just be brilliant on your own.
Salary and other benefits for this ARI fellowship
The salary is all-inclusive, meaning housing and living costs are already built into it. It ranges from S$6,000 to S$6,500 a month, depending on your experience. If you’re coming from outside Singapore, ARI will help with your travel. Singaporean citizens and permanent residents also get Central Provident Fund benefits, which won’t apply if you’re coming in from Nigeria, but the base pay and travel support still stand for everyone.
There’s also support for fieldwork costs and for attending conferences, though this has to be approved first.
How to apply for this ARI fellowship
You put four documents together into one single PDF, then upload that PDF under the CV section when you apply. The four things are:
Your CV. A cover letter that isn’t more than 800 words, where you explain your past research and why you fit this particular project. Your academic transcripts. And one writing sample, capped at 8,000 words, so pick your strongest published or unpublished piece.
Submit everything by August 14, 2026. ARI has said plainly that only shortlisted candidates will hear back, so if you don’t get a response, that’s your answer. Interviews for those who make the shortlist will hold in late August or early September 2026, either in person or over Zoom.
You apply directly through the official NUS careers portal here: https://careers.nus.edu.sg/
