Prof. Lily Kong

Prof. Lily Kong is Singapore Management University’s (SMU) fifth president, and the first Singaporean to lead the 22-year-old university. She is also the first Singaporean woman to head a university in Singapore. She was previously Provost of SMU, Vice Provost and Vice President at the National University of Singapore in various portfolios. 

Prof. Kong is internationally known for her research on urban transformations in Asian cities, with particular focus on social and cultural change. She has written extensively about communal relations, particularly the intersection of religion and secularity in cities, creative industries and cities, urban heritage conservation, and smart cities. She is an award-winning researcher and teacher locally and internationally.

Prof. Kong was conferred the Public Service Star in 2020 and Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2006. In a global study by Stanford University in 2020, Prof. Kong was identified as among the world’s top 1% of scientists in the field of Geography. In 2022, Prof. Kong was in the Forbes Inaugural 50 over 50 Asia list, recognized in Kompasiana Online in 2021 as one of the 10 most influential women in Asia, and also in the 2020 Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.