About | Shirley S. Ho, PhD

I am the Associate Vice President for Humanities, Social Sciences & Research Communication in the President’s Office at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. I am concurrently President’s Chair Professor in Communication Studies in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at NTU. I am an elected fellow of the International Communication Association, as a recognition of distinguished scholarly contributions to the broad field of communication. I am also the 2018 Recipient of the Hillier Krieghbaum Under-40 Award, given by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for outstanding achievements in research, teaching, and public service.

I received a Ph.D. in mass communications (minor: educational psychology) and a M.A. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2008 and 2005, respectively. I also received a B.A. in communication studies (first class honors) from NTU in 2002. In 2004, I was awarded a four-year overseas scholarship by NTU to pursue my graduate studies at UW-Madison. I was a senior tutor in the WKWSCI at NTU from 2003 to 2008 (on study leave from 2004-2008).

My research area focuses on cross-cultural public opinion dynamics related to science and technology, with potential health or environmental impacts. My interdisciplinary research is instrumental in understanding how human values, media, and other advanced modes of communication shape public attitudes toward emerging technologies (e.g., nuclear energy and renewable energies), applications of artificial intelligence technologies (e.g., autonomous vehicles), as well as novel food technologies (e.g., cultured meat, nano-enabled food, and plant-based protein). As a firm believer of science communication, my research investigates how best to motivate scientists to take the role of the “public intellectual” to communicate their research findings to the general public and the media. Science communication is pertinent amidst the current climate of misinformation. As an extension of my research, I was invited by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering to serve as member of their study committee to address inaccurate and misleading information about biological threats through scientific collaboration and communication.I have successfully garnered numerous competitive external and internal grants. My research has been funded by A*STAR, Defence Science Organization, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, National Research Foundation, the Infocomm Media Development Authority, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, National Medical Research Council, NTU Accelerating Creativity & Excellence (ACE) Grant, and the Workplace Safety and Health Institute.

I have given keynote talks, plenary speeches, and other invited talks on science communication and public opinion at institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Houston, Tsinghua University, the Science Centre Singapore, and many more. [You may click on the links to watch videos of my talks.]

Publications & Teaching

I have published articles in top-tier communication journals such as Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Journal of Health Communication, New Media & Society, Public Opinion Quarterly, Public Understanding of Science, and Science Communication, as well as journals in other disciplines such as Energy Policy and Nature Nanotechnology. My papers have won numerous prestigious Best Published Article of the Year Awards and Top Faculty Paper Awards from professional associations such as the ICA and AEJMC conferences. I am the recipient of the CMO Asia’s “Women in Education Leadership Award” at the 9th Asia’s Education Excellence Awards.

I have been an advisor for a number of honors, masters, and PhD theses. As I believe that learning is best achieved through direct involvement in academic writing and research collaboration, many of my graduate students have co-authored publications with me. Besides this, I have offered a number of graduate and undergraduate courses including “Quantitative Research Methods in Communication and Information,” “Audience Research Methods,” and “Public Opinion.”

Service

Aside from academic work, I am a Cluster Director for Sustainable Building Program at the Energy Research Institute (ERI@N) at NTU. I am the Director for the Science, Environmental, & Health Communication Research (SEHCR) Lab in the WKWSCI at NTU. I serve on the editorial boards of the Journal of Media Psychology, Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research, Risk Analysis, Science Communication, and Journal of Science Communication. I served as the Editor-in-Chief (2020-2023) and as Associate Editor (2016-2019) of the journal Environmental Communication, the Associate Editor for the Asian Journal of Communication (2014-2019), and the Associate Editor for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication (2016-2018). I am the Board of Director at the International Environmental Communication Association (2020 – 2022). I served on AEJMC’s Elected Standing Committee on Research (2020 – 2023). I was the former Head (elected) of the Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk (ComSHER) Division for the 2014-15 AEJMC conference. I have also served as an elected officer of the ComSHER Division as Teaching Chair in 2011, as Professional Freedom & Responsibility Chair in 2012, and as Vice Head in 2013.

In addition, I am the Vice Chairman (invited) of the Program Advisory Committee for English Programs (PACE) at the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) (2011-present), and a member of the Films Advisory Committee at MCI (2022 – present). I served as an invited Chair of the Evaluation Panel for The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (MISTRA) (2023). I served as a council member (invited) of the National Crime Prevention Council (2016-2023), as a member (invited) of the Singapore Science Centre Steering Committee Members of the Radiation Themed Student Competition 2019 and the Singapore Science Festival 2019. I have consulted for organizations and institutions such as the Singapore Science Centre, Singapore Institute of Management, Temasek Polytechnic, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Medicorp.

Join my vibrant research team today (Current full-time job vacancies -Click on link):

Google Scholar | ResearchGate | ORCiD