My name is Yu Wei, and I’m currently a Year 2 student pursuing Economics at the National University of Singapore. I served as a Research Intern at the Institute on Public Understanding of Risk from June to October 2025. My area of research interest mainly revolves around examining public policy design and its broader implications on various stakeholders.

Throughout my time at IPUR, I was given numerous opportunities to work on projects spanning a wide array of disciplines. One that stood out to me was assisting with marketing research efforts to better understand the factors influencing the decision-making process behind pursuing post-graduate studies. Combing through academic journals and conducting literature reviews, I gained a better understanding of the factors at play influencing the choice to pursue post-graduate education. I also had a better appreciation to the contextualization of various factors. It turns out that some factors had to be considered more than others when fitting it to specific countries. Drawing links to the different risks that came into play was also particularly interesting to me. For example, geopolitical risk was not something I would have thought of intuitively when it came to breaking down this topic. This also relates to the 2024 United Nations Global Risk Report, where geopolitical tensions were identified as the most interconnected risk. Ultimately, it was extremely fulfilling to see my work translate into a research proposal, and subsequently a questionnaire to better examine the attitudes and choices behind pursuing post-graduate studies.

Apart from working on research projects, I also contributed to the publicity efforts and participated in the Climate Risk Workshop organised in conjunction with NUS Sustainability Connect. I was able to witness how climate risk communication translates in the real world, through the perspectives of both a climate scientist as well as the people from different facets of environmental journalism. One key takeaway I got from the workshop was the importance of empowering local communities when it came to climate risk communication, as they are often among the most vulnerable groups when experiencing the adverse impact of climate change.

In general, interning at IPUR greatly expanded my horizons and helped me recognize the importance and relevance of risk communication in my day-to-day life. I am forever grateful for the warm workplace environment at IPUR, which allowed me to learn and grow. One thing I will definitely miss is the lunchtime conversations with my colleagues, with discussions ranging from current affairs to thought-provoking philosophical and psychological concepts. This has truly been a special chapter in my life, and I will always look back on this internship experience with fond memories.