Shi-Chen Baey

What is your full name?

Shi-Chen Baey.

What is your first name?

Shi-Chen.

Where were you born?

Singapore.

Where do you currently reside and work?

Singapore.

What is your educational background?

I obtained a BA in English followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education and an MA in Literary Studies from the National University of Singapore. I subsequently completed a joint PhD from the National University of Singapore and King’s College London.

What are other details of experiences, work or otherwise, that have led you to your current work?

Before transitioning into academia, I taught at both pre-tertiary and tertiary levels across a range of institutions. Alongside my academic work, I have also worked as a fashion journalist, contributing to Singaporean publications in both full-time and freelance capacities.

How would you describe your practice/business?

My research focuses on Singapore’s fashion industry and its intersections with cultural policy and urban futures, with particular attention to sustainability, social equity, and circularity. I examine the tensions between institutional mandates and the material realities of creative labour, exploring how governance, economic imperatives, and cultural strategies shape—and are in turn reshaped by—the practices of designers, makers, and cultural workers.

Through this lens, I approach fashion as a critical site where governance, identity, and urban transformation converge. My work seeks to bridge research, teaching, and industry engagement, fostering locally grounded and sustainable practices within Singapore’s evolving cultural landscape.

What are the highlight projects in your career so far?

A recent career highlight is co-convening the Minor in Visual Cultures programme at the National University of Singapore. In this role, I helped shape the programme’s academic direction while teaching undergraduates in a discipline central to understanding contemporary visual culture.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently focused on teaching while extending my dissertation research on fashion sustainability into cultural policy and urban futures, with a  focus on Singapore’s role within Southeast Asia. Based in Singapore, my work examines how city governance, creative economies, and circular infrastructures shape sustainable fashion practices and cross-border production and consumption flows across the region.

Instagram: @baeyshichen
Website: www.baeyshichen.com