Dr Yunci Cai

I am an Associate Professor in Museum and Heritage Studies at the School of Museum Studies University of Leicester and the Co-Director of the MA/MSc/PG Dip in Museum Studies (Distance Learning) programme. I joined the School of Museum Studies in May 2018 after completing my PhD in Museum and Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology University College London (UCL) in November 2017. I hold a Master of Arts with Distinction in Museum Studies from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and a Bachelor of Social Sciences with First Class Honours in Geography from the National University of Singapore (NUS). I have research interests about the cultural politics and museologies in and of Asia. I am the author of 'Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation Brokerage and Representation in Malaysia' (Routledge 2020) which explores the cultural politics of four Indigenous cultural villages in Malaysia and the editor of 'The Museum in Asia' (Routledge forthcoming) which is the first academic book to examine museums in Asia from a theoretical perspective informed by museum studies.

I am a Managing Editor of Museum and Society (2019 - Present); and I hold editorial board positions on Museums and Social Issues (2021 - Present), Museum Worlds: Advances in Research (2023 - Present) and Museum International (2024 - Present). 

I am also a Research Associate at the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts at the Birmingham City Institute of Creative Arts (2023 - Present).

I am a critical heritage and museum studies scholar, specialising in the cultural politics and museologies in and of Asia. Trained as a geographer/anthropologist, I am interested in the cultural politics of museum and heritage-making, Indigenous museology and post-colonial studies, with a regional focus on East and Southeast Asia. My research interests can be broadly summarised as follows:

• Critical museology and heritage studies
• Asian museology and heritage
• Non-western and post-colonial museologies
• Indigenous museology and cultural heritage
• UNESCO and heritage on the maritime Silk Road 

Current Projects

Rediscovering Linangkit: The Traditional Hand Needle-weaving of Women from Sabah, Malaysia

Funded by British Museum's Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP) Large Grant (2022 - 2025), £99,924; PI: Yunci Cai, Co-I: Judeth John Baptist, Prof Dr Jacqueline Pugh-Kitingan, Patricia Regis

Our project seeks to document the material knowledge system of a unique hand needle-weaving technique generally known as linangkit (Regis 1996, 2019). The linangkit technique uses a needle and threads to create a system of tiny intricately connected identical knots to form a dense fabric of colourful motifs, which are used on the costumes of several Indigenous groups in Sabah, who adopt different customary motifs, colour schemes and techniques according to their Indigenous beliefs and distinct cultural identities. The practice of linangkit is under severe threat as Indigenous peoples opt for less laborious and cheaper alternatives. With the demise of elderly womenfolk who were prolific producers of the craft, linangkit may soon be no longer practised. The project will undertake a detailed cultural mapping of linangkit to understand where and how it is currently practised. Through the object analysis of representative heirloom examples and interviews with living master craftswomen, owners and users, we seek to understand the distinct motifs, stylistic expressions, colour schemes and techniques associated with different ethnic groups, their legends, taboos and socio-cultural symbolism as well as how the linangkit craft is historically produced and transmitted as a methodology to trace its origins and evolution. The project is important as craft documentation, and for understanding the origins of linangkit and the role of material culture in identity creation. By tracing the changing values, functions and meanings of linangkit over time and space, we examine the intricate relationship between craft production and social change in Indigenous societies in Sabah. More information about our project can be found at: https://www.emkp.org/rediscovering-linangkit-the-traditional-hand-needleweaving-of-women-from-sabah-malaysia/; follow our research live at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555713920780

Community-Led Cultural Documentation for Indigenous Empowerment: Documenting the Genesis Myth in the Creation Rinait (Ritual Poetry) of the Lotud Communities in Malaysian Sabah

Funded by University of Leicester’s QR Global Challenges Research Fund (Research England) (2021), £10,000, PI: Yunci Cai, Co-I: Judeth John Baptist

In April 2021, I was awarded a research grant to undertake cultural documentation of the genesis myth in the creation rinait (ritual poetry) of the Lotud communities in Malaysian Sabah in collaboration with Judeth John Baptist from Sabah Seamex Association. The Lotud mamanpang is a form of ritual poetry that not only outlines the Lotud creation myth and provides an oral record of the historical past, but also prescribes the religious formula for patterns of proper human behaviour to maintain a harmonious relationship between the human world and the spiritual realms. Numbering about 20,000 people, the Lotud Dusun is an Indigenous community who resides in the Tuaran District of Sabah, East Malaysia. The Lotud mamanpang forms the foundation of the Lotud customary law that is recognised by the Native Court of Sabah which is still practised in Sabah today. The Lotud mamanpang is expressed in the form of the rinait, which is a unique genre of poetic oral tradition made up of paired lines with identical meanings, the first in everyday language and the second in ritual language. The rinait is customarily passed down orally by Lotud ritual specialists, also known as tantagas, who would memorise the rinait as part of their strict training and recite sections of the rinait during ritual ceremonies. The rinait of the Lotud mamanpang is contained within the Sumalud healing ritual practised by the Lotud Dusun residing in Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Our project seeks to document, transcribe, translate, analyse, and bring awareness to the Lotud mamanpang; and to research and formulate with the Lotud communities a community-led strategy to safeguard and refashion their cultural heritage for contemporary times as a means to Indigenous self-determination and empowerment. Our project outputs are available for download at: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.c.5917808.v1

Reviving the Ancient Maritime Silk Road: The Politics of Heritage Instrumentalisation in Asia’s Port Cities under China's Belt and Road Initiative

Funded by (1) University of Leicester College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (CSSAH) Grant Writing Fund (2019), £5,000, PI: Yunci Cai, Co-I: Prof Kenneth Dean and Prof Zheng Zhenman; (2) UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies Small Grants Scheme (2017), £2,460, PI: Yunci Cai 

My research explores the political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics surrounding the process of heritage instrumentalisation, based on a multi-sited ethnographic study of a selection of Asian port cities along the historic maritime Silk Road, namely Quanzhou in China, Melaka in Malaysia as well as Palembang and Semarang in Indonesia. Drawing on the politics of heritage instrumentalisation as a conceptual framework, it examines how different stakeholders at these port cities strategically mobilise their maritime history and heritage, especially the narrative of the historic maritime Silk Road, to further their respective agendas, and the results of this instrumentalisation. Theoretically, it makes an original contribution to critical heritage studies by going beyond the notion of heritage instrumentalisation to examine the power politics of this instrumentalisation. Empirically, it seeks to inform policy-making relating to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), one of the world’s most ambitious multilateral development strategy in recent times. In 2019, I was awarded a networking grant of £5,000 to conduct a workshop in Xiamen and Quanzhou with Xiamen University (China) and Quanzhou Maritime Museum (China). I was also awarded a small grant of £2,460 by UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies to undertake exploratory fieldwork in China, Malaysia and Indonesia in 2017. 

Past Projects

Staging Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Malaysia: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage, Representation

Fully funded by UCL Overseas Research Scholarship and UCL Graduate Research Scholarship (2013 - 2016)

My PhD research examines the politics of heritage-making in Malaysia, focusing on the development of indigenous cultural villages, which have become increasingly prevalent in both West and East Malaysia. Based on ethnographic field research at four case study cultural villages – the Mah Meri Cultural Village and Orang Seletar Cultural Centre in Peninsular Malaysia, and the Monsopiad Cultural Village and Linangkit Cultural Village in East Malaysia, it explores the political, economic, and social dynamics surrounding the process of heritage-making at these four indigenous cultural villages, and considers the outcomes of the instrumentalisation. Drawing on the politics of instrumentalisation as a conceptual framework and expanding it to incorporate other dynamics relating to brokerage, staging and representation, it demonstrates how these indigenous cultural villages are beset with issues of brokerage, tensions over the representation of cultural heritage, and conflicting motivations over the instrumentalisation of the cultural heritage, in which politics of brokerage and representation dominated, reproducing structural inequalities that reinforce the dependency of indigenous communities on external and internal brokers rather build capacity for self-determination and empowerment. The cynical interpretation that indigenous cultural practices have been instrumentalised to serve certain economic, political, and social agendas is then complicated through an exploration of several counter-narratives and anti-discourses, particularly how cultural practices have also been performed for ritual efficacy and for more altruistic interests of indigenous people. My research makes an original contribution to indigenous museology by challenging the simplistic conceptualisation of indigenous communities as harmonious and unified wholes, and opens up the complexities for adopting the ‘culture for development’ as a developmental strategy, such that the opportunities for self-representation and self-determination can become dominated by the politics of brokerage, which can in turn facilitate or compromise their intended outcomes. My research is published in Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage and Representation in Malaysia (Routledge 2020). 

Scholarly Monograph

Cai, Yunci (2020) Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage and Representation in Malaysia. Routledge Series in Culture and Development. London and New York: Routledge. [Publisher's Website] [Available here]

- Reviewed in Museum Management and Curatorship (2021), Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (2021), International Journal of Asian Studies (2021), Museum Worlds: Advances in Research (2021), Anthropologica (2022).

Edited Collections

Cai, Yunci (ed.) (Forthcoming) The Museum in Asia. Leicester Readers in Museum Studies. London and New York: Routledge.

Journal Articles

Cai, Yunci (2022) Indigenous Interpretations and Engagement of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Peninsular Malaysia. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 43(3): 234 - 249. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12437

Cai, Yunci (2020) What is in a Museum Definition? Reflections on the ICOM’s New Museum Definition. Museological Review, 24: 7. https://hdl.handle.net/2381/13285976.v1

Cai, Yunci and John Baptist, Judeth (2016) Cleansing the Sacred Mountain in the Aftermath of the 2015 Mount Kinabalu Earthquake. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 89(1): 61 – 78. doi:10.1353/ras.2016.0013. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2013) The Art of Museum Diplomacy: The Singapore-France Cultural Collaboration in Perspective. The International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 26(2): 127 - 144. doi:10.1007/s10767-012-9122-7. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2009) Museums as Temples of Cultures or Palaces of Entertainment: A Study of New Museums in Singapore. The International Journal of Inclusive Museum, 3(1): 73 - 85. doi:10.18848/1835-2014/CGP/v01i04/44531. [Available here]

Book Chapters

Cai, Yunci (Forthcoming) “A Manifesto for Museums in Asia” in The Museum in Asia, Cai, Yunci (ed.) London and New York: Routledge.

Cai, Yunci (Forthcoming) “Rethinking Heritage Diplomacy on the Maritime Silk Road” in The Museum in Asia, Cai, Yunci (ed.) London and New York: Routledge. 

Cai, Yunci (Forthcoming) “In the Quest for World Heritage Status: The Politics of Heritage Instrumentalisation at the Maritime Port City of Quanzhou in China” in Singapore and the Asian Maritime Interaction Sphere, Miksic, J. and Goh G.Y. (eds.) Singapore: NUS Press.

Cai, Yunci (Forthcoming) "Curating Potent Objects in the Monsopiad Cultural Village in Sabah, East Malaysia" in The Rise of Private Museums and Heritage in Asia, Were, G. (ed.) Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. 

Cai, Yunci, and John Baptist, Judeth (Forthcoming) “From Co-creation to Empowerment: Documenting the Genesis Myth in the Creation Ritual Poetry of the Indigenous Lotud People in Sabah, East Malaysia” in The Routledge Handbook of Co-creation and Collaboration in Museums, Heritage and the Arts, Edmundson, Anna and Haviland, Maya (eds.) London and New York: Routledge.

Cai, Yunci (Forthcoming) “Decolonising Collection Management in an Indigenous Ritual House in Malaysia” in Collections Management as Critical Practice, Krmpotich, C. and Stevenson, A. (eds.) London: UCL Press. 

Cai, Yunci (2024) “The Politics of Heritage Instrumentalisation: A Comparative Study of Two Indigenous Cultural Villages in Malaysia” in Routledge International Handbook of Heritage and Politics, Bozoğlu, G., Campbell, G., Smith, L. and Whitehead, C. eds. pp. 102 - 117. London and New York: Routledge.

Cai, Yunci (2023) “Reviving the Ancient Maritime Silk Road: The Politics of Heritage Instrumentalisation in Asia’s Port Cities of Quanzhou and Melaka” in Heritage Conservation and China's Belt and Road Initiative, Chan, V. Hui Y.F., Hui, D. and Varadari, K. eds. pp. 76 - 91. London and New York: Routledge. [Available here] 

Cai, Yunci (2022) “Museum Politics on the Maritime Silk Road” in Roads, Winds, Spices in the Western Indian Ocean: The Memory and Geopolitics of Maritime Heritage, Pandey, P. and Mahawar, N.K. eds. pp. 144 - 162. New Delhi: Macmillan Publishers India Private Limited and Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2019) “Connecting Emotions Through Wells’: Heritage Instrumentalisation, Civic Activism and Urban Sustainability in Quanzhou, China” in Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities: Spaces of Depoliticization, Lam-Knott, Sonia, Connolly, Creighton and Ho, Kong Chong eds. pp. 106 - 120. London and New York: Routledge. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2018) “Between Tradition and Modernity: The Ritual Politics of Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Urbanizing Sabah, East Malaysia” in Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Rita Padawangi ed. pp. 179 - 190. London and New York: Routledge. [Available here]

Cai Yunci (2017) “Performing Cultures, Negotiating Identities: The Cultural Politics of Indigenous Cultural Villages in West Malaysia” in Citizens, Civil Society and Heritage-Making in Asia, Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Yew-Foong Hui and Philippe Peycam eds. pp. 114 – 136. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof Ishak Institute. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2009) “Law and Singapore’s Built Heritage” in Essays in Singapore’s Legal History: In Memory of Professor Geoffrey Wilson Bartholomew, Tan, Kevin Y. L and Hor, Michael eds. pp. 87 – 125. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Academic.

Conference Proceedings

Cai, Yunci (2022) “Teaching Rapid Response Collecting for the Covid-19 Pandemic and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement: Reflections from Leicester’s Museum Studies Programme” in Museum Interpretation in Times of Disaster: Museum Education, Exhibition and Public Programs in the New Normal. Labrador, A.M.T. and  Tomada, A.D.M. (eds.) Manila: National Museum of the Philippines, pp. 104 - 109. [Available here]

Encyclopaedia Entries

Reports

Cai, Yunci, John Baptist, Judeth Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline and Hussin, Hanafi (2022). The Lotud Mamanpang (Creation Myth) in the Sumalud Healing Ritual of the Lotud Dusun Community, Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Cultural Documentation Report, DOI: 10.25392/LEICESTER.DATA.19576009

- Malay translation by Judeth John Baptist and Hanafi Hussin, DOI: 10.25392/LEICESTER.DATA.19590715

Cai, Yunci, John Baptist, Judeth, Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline and Hussin, Hanafi (2022). The Ritual Poetry of Lotud Mamanpang (Creation Myth) in the Sumalud Healing Ritual of the Lotud Dusun Community, Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Cultural Documentation Report, DOI: 10.25392/LEICESTER.DATA.19576051

- Malay translation by Judeth John Baptist and Hanafi Hussin, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.20769268.v1

Cai, Yunci, Thornton, Sara, Ang, Roslynn, Chua, Liana, Page, Susan and Upton, Caroline (2022). The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Environmental and Heritage Conservation. Workshop Report, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.19430453.v1

- Indonesian translation by Adventa Alma, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.19452638.v1

- Malay translation by Judeth John Baptist, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.19448402.v1

Reviews

Cai, Yunci (2022) Review of Cosmopolitan Ambassadors: International Exhibitions, Cultural Diplomacy and the Polycentral Museum. Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, 10(1): 294 - 295.  https://doi.org/10.3167/armw.2022.100122 

Cai, Yunci (2022) Review of Heritage and Religion in East Asia. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 28(6): 778 - 780. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2022.2064898

Cai, Yunci (2021) Review of Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past. The International Journal of Asian Studies, pp. 1 – 4. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479591421000358

Cai, Yunci (2017) Review of UNESCO in Southeast Asia: World Heritage Sites in Comparative Perspectives. ASEASUK News, 61: 14 – 16. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2015) Review of Museum of Our Own: In Search of Local Museology for Asia. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 25(2): 1 – 6. https://doi.org/10.5334/pia.481

Commentaries

Cai, Yunci (2022) Museums need to be wary they don’t fuel black market for illicit cultural objects. Channel News Asia (CNA) Commentary, 9 September 2022. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/museums-provenance-checks-illegal-antiquities-trafficking-artefacts-black-market-2926836

Magazine Articles

Cai, Yunci (2016) Mohlukas: A Housewarming Ceremony at the Linangkit Cultural Village. Sabah Malaysian Borneo, March 2016, 180: 10 – 13. Malaysia: Sabah Tourism. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2009) Living Landscapes: Breathing New Life into Singapore’s Community Heritage Institutions. BeMuse, 3(2): 76 – 79. Singapore: National Heritage Board. [Available here]

Cai, Yunci (2008) In the Land of the Ascending Dragon. BeMuse, 3(1): 68 – 75. Singapore: National Heritage Board. [Available here]

Cultural Documentation Projects

Cai, Yunci, John Baptist, Judeth, Kitingan-Pugh, Jacqueline and Regis, Patricia (Forthcoming) The Traditional Hand Needle-weaving of Women from Sabah, Malaysia. British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP) Open Repository, Website: https://www.emkp.org/rediscovering-linangkit-the-traditional-hand-needleweaving-of-women-from-sabah-malaysia/ 

Cai, Yunci, John Baptist, Judeth, Kitingan-Pugh, Jacqueline and and Hussin, Hanafi (2022) Documenting the Lotud Mamanpang (Creation Myth) in the Sumalud Healing Ritual of the Lotud Dusun Community, Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Archival Collection, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.c.5917808.v1

Video Collection, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.19514230

Image Collection, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.19430366

I am happy to supervise topics on the cultural politics of heritage and museums in the Asian context. I am especially interested in topics relating to the politics of representation Indigenous museology and culture for development discourse.

I act as first supervisor to the following students:

• Yi-ru Guo: The Role of the Kinmen Museum in Reconciliation between Mainland China and Taiwan [Second Supervisor: Dr Sarina Wakefield] (Funded by Taiwan Ministry of Education Scholarship)
• Isabel Collazos Gottret: Defining Decolonisation in Bolivian Museums: From Rhetoric and Practices to Conceptualisation [Joint Supervision with Prof Suzanne Macleod] (Fully-funded by Midlands4Cities PhD Scholarship)
• Kenneth Ching Kwong Chuen: Modern Buddhist Art Museums and Monuments as Places for Buddhist Practice [Second Supervisor: A/P Katy Bunning]
• Jo Hartwell: Heritage of Conflict: An Empirical Study into How National Military Museums and War Memorial Sites in England are Embedding the Experiences and Insights of Women [Second Supervisor: Prof Sandra Dudley]
• Sun Weilun: Design as an Interpretation to the Historical Exhibitions within Chinese Local Museums [Joint Supervision with Prof Suzanne Macleod]

I hold a Postgraduate Certificate with Distinction in Academic and Professional Practice from the University of Leicester, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

I have significant experience in module development. I revamped Module 1: Developing Professional Practice on the MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) programme to include practical case studies on collection and museum ethics, as well as current debates on decolonising museums, cultural repatriation and rapid response collecting for the Covid-19 pandemic. I also co-developed a new specialism on Global Museologies to explore non-Eurocentric approaches to museums and museology. 

I teach on the following modules:

Recurrent Courses

• Convener, Module 1: Developing Professional Practice, MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) Programme, University of Leicester, AY2019/2020 onwards
• Co-convener, Specialism: Global Museologies, MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) Programme, University of Leicester, AY2018/2019 onwards
• Contributor, Module 2: Contemporary Museum Contexts, MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) Programme, University of Leicester, AY2018/2019 onwards
• Contributor, Module 7: Research Project, MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) Programmes, University of Leicester, AY2019/2020 onwards
• Convener, Module 3: Supporting Heritage, MA/MSc/PGDip in Heritage and Interpretation (Distance Learning) Programme, University of Leicester, AY2019/2020 onwards
• Contributor, Indigenous Museology, Museum Studies Distance Learning Summer Programme, University of Leicester, AY2017/2018 onwards

Previous Courses

• Convener, Module 7: Research Project, MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) and MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies (On Campus) Programmes, University of Leicester, AY2018/2019
• Contributor, Module 8: Practice, MA/MSc in Museum Studies (On Campus) and MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies (On Campus) Programmes, University of Leicester, AY2019/2020

I am happy to be contacted on topics relating to museum development, museum ethics, cultural politics and Indigenous issues in Asia with a regional focus on Singapore, Malaysia and China.

I am an editor of Museum and Society (2019 - Present) and I hold editorial board positions on Museums and Social Issues (2021 - Present) and Museum Worlds: Advances in Research (2023 - Present), and Museum International (2024 - Present). 

I also hold professional membership in the following organisations:

• Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Ordinary Fellow (2016 - Present)
• Association of Critical Heritage Studies Member (2015 - Present)
• Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) Ordinary Member (2013 - Present)
• International Council of Museums (ICOM): International Committee for Museums of Ethnography (ICME) (2016 - Present)
• Museum Association, UK (2009 - Present)
• British Academy Early Career Researcher Network (2022 - Present)

Research and Networking Grants

• 2024 - 2025: British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants, £5,000, PI
• 2023 - 2025: British Museum's Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP) Large Grant, £99,924 PI
• 2023: British Academy International Visiting Fellowship, £31,365, Institutional Host for Dr Magdalena Buchczyk 
• 2021: AHRC and NERC Hidden Histories of Environmental Science: Partnership Seed Fund, £4,950, PI 
• 2021: Global Challenges Research Fund - International Development Programme Fund, £10,000, PI
• 2019: University of Leicester College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (CSSAH) Grant Writing Fund, £5,000, PI
• 2017: UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies Small Grant, £2,460, PI
• 2014: UCL External Training Fund for Language Acquisition, £1,500, PI

Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

• 2020: Best Support Staff Nomination
• 2019: Fellowship of Higher Education Academy 
• 2016: Associate Fellowship of Higher Education Academy
• 2013 - 2016: UCL Graduate Research Scholarship (GRS)
• 2013 - 2016: UCL Overseas Research Scholarship (ORS)
• 2009 - 2010: National Heritage Board (NHB) Postgraduate Scholarship
• 2005: Placement on Vice-Chancellor’s List (Now President’s Honour Roll) (NUS)
• 2005: Designation of University Scholar (NUS)
• 2001 - 2004: Placement on Dean’s List in 2001/2002, 2003/2004 (NUS)

Workshop and Conference Travel Grants

• 2023: Travel Grant for Taiwan Museum Talent Development Programme (台湾博物馆人才培养计划) hosted by Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2023: Travel Grant to attend Museum Work: Hierarchies and Barriers, Exclusion and Inclusion Workshop hosted by University of Lincoln and British Museum, United Kingdom
• 2023: Travel Grant to attend Across the Margins: Working with Marginalised Communities Workshop hosted by Nottingham Contemporary, United Kingdom
• 2022: Honorarium for International Conference on Culture and Heritage in the Capitalist World hosted by Academia Sinica, Taiwan
• 2022: Honorarium for 21st Anthropological Forum: Anthropology and Cultural Heritage (第21届人类学高级论坛: 人类学与文化遗产) hosted by Zhejiang Normal University, China 
• 2022: Travel Grant for Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP) Training Programme hosted by British Museum, United Kingdom 
• 2022: Honorarium for Lecture Series From the World to Quanzhou: Interdisciplinary Collision of Maritime Cultural Heritage (泉州文化遗产研究院邀访学者讲座系列之从世界到泉州：海丝文化遗产的跨学科碰撞) hosted by Quanzhou Cultural Heritage Research Institute, China 
• 2022: Travel Grant for The Rise of Private Museums and Heritage in East and Southeast Asia: Understanding Memory and Transformation Workshop hosted by University of Bristol, United Kingdom
• 2021: Honorarium for The Fifth Museology Forum of Young Scholars Conference (第五届博物馆学青年论坛) hosted by Shandong University, China 
• 2021: Honorarium for ASEAN Museum Congress hosted by National Museum of Philippines, The Philippines 
• 2021: Workshop Grant for Social Science Research Council’s Inaugural Inter-Asia Academy hosted by New York's Social Science Research Council, USA and National University of Singapore, Singapore  
• 2020: Honorarium for International Conference on Heritage Conservation along the Belt and Road Zones: Between Politics and Professionalism hosted by Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 
• 2020: Honorarium for International Conference on Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones: Alternative Imaginaries of China’s Presence in Southeast Asia in Contemporary Contexts hosted by Asia Research Institute, Singapore
• 2020: Honorarium for International Conference on Roads, Winds, Spices: The Memory and Geopolitics of Maritime Heritage hosted by Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), India 
• 2019: Travel Grant for International Conference on Placing Islands in Sustainable Urban Development: Heritage, Histories, Tourism, and Identity hosted by Asia Research Institute, Singapore 
• 2019: Travel Grant for International Conference on Singapura before Raffles: Archaeology and the Seas, 400 BCE – 1600 CE hosted by National University of Singapore, Singapore 
• 2019: Travel Grant for History Seminar hosted by Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
• 2018: Travel Grant for International Conference on (Re)-conceptualising Asian Civil Society in the Age of Post-Politics hosted by Asia Research Institute, Singapore
• 2016: UCL Institute of Archaeology Conference Grant for Royal Anthropological Institute Conference: Anthropology, Weather and Climate Change, United Kingdom
• 2015: Travel Grant for 10th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asia Studies hosted by Asia Research Institute, Singapore
• 2014: Travel Grant for International Conference on Citizens, Civil Society and the Cultural Politics of Heritage-Making in East and Southeast Asia hosted by Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology, Taiwan
• 2014: Travel Grant for Reading Craft: Itineraries of Culture, Knowledge and Power in the Global Ecumene Summer School hosted by International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS), The Netherlands
• 2014: UCL Graduate School Bursary for Leadership in Action Course hosted by University College London, United Kingdom

PhD in Museum and Heritage Studies (Pass with no corrections) awarded by Institute of Archaeology University College London (UCL) (Sep 2013 - Nov 2017); Fully funded by the UCL Overseas Research Scholarship (ORS) and the UCL Graduate Research Scholarship (GRS)

Postgraduate Certificate with Distinction in Academic and Professional Practice awarded by Leicester Learning Institute University of Leicester (Sep 2018 - Jun 2019)

Christie’s Foundation Certificate with Merit in Art Business awarded by Christie’s Education London (Jan - May 2016)

Master of Arts with Distinction in Museum Studies awarded by Institute of Archaeology University College London (UCL) (Sep 2009 - Nov 2010); Fully funded by the National Heritage Board of Singapore Postgraduate Scholarship 2009

Bachelor of Social Sciences with First Class Honours in Geography awarded by National University of Singapore (NUS) (Jul 2001 - Jun 2005); Placed on Vice-Chancellor’s List 2005 for outstanding academic and leadership achievements; Placed on Dean’s List for various semesters in 2001/2002 and 2003/2004

Visiting Student at the University of Auckland (Feb - Jul 2003)