We are 100 editions young! Since our very first edition in July 1991, the NIE newsletter has been the chronicle of our achievement and togetherness as an institute.

In this new semester, we look forward to the inauguration of the NIE Visiting Artist Programme which will see Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) for the Arts, Mr Kok Heng Leun, resident with us for the August 2017 semester, and look back at the 3rd Teacher-Mentor Learning Forum held in May 2017 at NTU, Lee Kong Chian Lecture Theatre.

In this issue, tying in with our development in the Arts, we will hear from Dr David Carr, Professor of Ethics and Education at the University of Birmingham (UK), who questions our partiality of evidence-based education over Arts subjects. In addition, based on the common belief of creative people as messy people, this issue's Bookwork Club reviews 'Messy' by Tim Harford. Harford's book argues for the acceptability of a messy work desk.

Moreover, find out more about The Centre for Research in Child Development (CRCD) at NIE and learn about the how language, cognitive and socio-emotional skills affect childhood development.

With a heavy heart, we also remember NIE's late and gifted 'gardener' Professor Lee Sing Kong and unearth his unerring ability to nurture and grow both trees and teachers. It was only 100 editions ago, during the March to July 1991 appointments of the NIE News, when Professor Lee Sing Kong was appointed Senior Lecturer, Division of Biology in the School of Science, and was leading biotechnological research in the development of Anthurium plants for Singapore through cloning and cultivation.

I do hope you enjoy this 100th edition of NIE News, I thank the previous Guest Editor Associate Professor Jude Chua and the NIE News team for their work, and hope that you will join me in celebrating our very special 100th edition. To quote Fatboy Slim's 1998 album….(NIE) You've come a long way baby!


— Paul Lincoln
    Editor