2025 Academy Completed! Click to view honour roll and photographs

The ASEAN Law and Policy Academy 2025 will be conducted in-person only in Singapore from 4 – 8 August 2025. A flagship programme of Centre for International Law (CIL) at NUS, the Academy is a cross-disciplinary master’s level intensive programme for policymakers, practitioners, and academics working in the fields of politics and governance, economics, and law. It is founded on twelve years of research at CIL on ASEAN legal integration and institution building, including the ASEAN Integration Through Law book series published by Cambridge University Press.

Considering contemporary geopolitics and global supply chain shifts, the Academy syllabus focuses on ASEAN’s rules-based integration and its responses to external issues, emphasizing the new opportunities and challenges for ASEAN. New content includes modules on the latest developments in the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN’s external trade relations, digital trade, international dispute resolution, law of the sea, climate change, and more.

Co-directed by Professor Joseph Weiler (New York University (NYU), NUS) and Dr Tan Hsien-Li (NUS), the modules are created and taught by an international faculty of experts from practice and academia and provide participants with a deeper understanding of ASEAN institutions and key developments in ASEAN’s economic integration, foreign affairs and legal framework.

Who Should Attend?

For Practitioner Programme

• Officials from ASEAN Member States, external partners, and/or international organisations involved in ASEAN cooperation/policymaking
• Legal practitioners advising clients in the Asia-Pacific
• Company executives benefitting from ASEAN economic integration and trade agreements
• Legal background NOT required

For Educator Programme

• Lecturers in tertiary institutions
• Postgraduate-level students
• Academics researching ASEAN or regional integration
• Legal background and prior teaching experience NOT required

Programme

Monday 4 August 2025
Opening Lecture by Ambassador Rena Lee
Programme Briefings, ASEAN Economic Community
Distinguished Lecture by ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn

Tuesday 5 August 2025
ASEAN’s Rules-Based Order

Wednesday-Thursday 6 – 7 August 2025
Concurrent Specializations :
The ASEAN Economic Community / ASEAN and Foreign Relations

Friday 8 August 2025 Compliance, Monitoring, and Dispute Settlement
Compliance, Monitoring, and Dispute Settlement
Parallel Educator Programme – Research, Publication, Conferencing
Graduation Ceremony

Tuesday 19 August 2025 (via Zoom, for Educator Programme only)
ASEAN Law Academy Conference

2025 Academy Faculty

1. Ambassador Rena Lee, Ambassador for International Law of the Republic of Singapore
2. Professor Joseph Weiler, New York University/National University of Singapore
3. Associate Professor Tan Hsien-Li,  National University of Singapore
4. Dr Jayant Menon, Visiting Senior Fellow, Yusof Ishak Institute for Southeast Asian Studies
5. Ms Joanne Lin, Senior Fellow, Yusof Ishak Institute for Southeast Asian Studies
6. Dr Ming Tan, CEO, Tech for Good Foundation
7. Dr Deborah Elms, Head of Trade Policy, The Hinrich Foundation
8. Ms Elizabeth Chelliah, Principal Trade Specialist, Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore
9. Dr Julia Tijaja, Associate Senior Fellow, Yusof Ishak Institute for Southeast Asian Studies
10. Mr Jason Tan, Senior State Counsel, Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore
11. Dr Linda Yanti Sulistiawati, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law/Universitas Gadjah Mada
12. Dr Nguyen Thanh Trung, Research Fellow, Centre for International Law
13. Ms Emily Choo, Deputy Senior State Counsel, Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore
14. Professor Joel Lee, National University of Singapore
15. Professor Simon Chesterman, National University of Singapore
16. Associate Professor Jean Ho, National University of Singapore

Practitioner Programme (5 days, 4-8 August 2025)

This Programme is designed for policymakers in governments and regional institutions of Southeast Asia and partner countries, as well as practitioners in the private sector and civil society. The Academy enables participants to keep abreast of ASEAN developments, engage in specialised content and practicums on key topics and interact with influential ASEAN researchers and educators. The Practitioner Programme is taught over 5 days between 4-8 August 2025. All participants will receive a certificate of attendance. Click here for the detailed programme.

Educator Programme (6 days, 4-8 August and 19 August 2025)

This Programme is for tertiary educators and/or researchers teaching and researching issues related to any aspect of ASEAN integration. The Academy’s Educator Programme has received acclaim from senior faculty as well as aspiring academics, especially those from the faculties of law, economics, political science, international relations and regional studies. The Educator Programme comprises the taught programme in-person from 4-8 August 2025, including a half-day workshop by Professor Joseph Weiler on academic publishing and pedagogy on 8 August 2025. In-person participation from 4-8 August 2025 is compulsory for all participants in this year’s Educator Programme. Click here for the detailed programme.

The programme concludes with a full-day Academic Conference held ONLINE on 19 August 2025. Presentation at the conference is compulsory for scholarship recipients in this Programme. All participants of the Educator Programme will receive a certificate of attendance. Submissions for the ASEAN Law and Policy Academy Conference 2025 are now closed.

Selection of Specialisations

For greater in-depth training in their area of interest, Academy participants (for both the Practitioner and Educator Programmes) are split into subject specialisations on 6-7 August 2025.

Specialisations offered in 2025 are:

1. The ASEAN Economic Community

• • ASEAN Trade and the Indo-Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities,
    Ms Elizabeth Chelliah
  • The AEC Scorecard and Strengthening ASEAN’s Economic Institutions,
    Dr Julia Tijaja

2. ASEAN and Foreign Relations

• • ASEAN External Relations, Mr Jason Tan
  • ASEAN and Climate Change/the Environment, Dr Linda Yanti Sulistiawati
  • ASEAN and the South China Sea, Dr Nguyen Thanh Trung
  • ASEAN and its member states at international fora, Ms Emily Choo

Application

Participation in the Academy is by selection or invitation only. Applicants should be fluent in English, and should fulfil at least one of the following requirements:

• • Familiarity with at least one aspect of ASEAN cooperation in either a practitioner or academic setting, OR
  • Comparative expertise in law, public policy, political science or economics in one or more Southeast Asian countries, OR
  • Has completed the ASEAN Law Academy Foundation Programme, OR
  • Has attended previous iterations of the Academy.

Click here to apply (Applications are now closed)

Early applications are encouraged. Educator scholarship applications and conference abstract submissions closed on 7 July 2025. General applications will close on 15 July 2025, or earlier if the course reaches capacity. 

Educator scholarships. A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available for academics and researchers only at Masters or Doctoral level or above, with a strong background in law, economics, political science, international relations and regional studies. Applicants from Southeast Asian countries and those with a background in ASEAN or Southeast Asian topics will be prioritised. Scholarship recipients are required to present a work-in-progress academic paper at the Academy conference on 19 August 2025 (online). Scholarship applicants must submit a short abstract (max 500 words) of the unpublished paper/work-in-progress they wish to present.

The full scholarship includes a waiver of Educator programme fees and a fixed travel stipend of SGD800 to support participants’ travel to Singapore. Please note that Singapore-based academic participants are not eligible for the travel stipend.

The partial scholarship includes a waiver of Educator programme fees. Partial scholarship recipients must also attend the in person programme in Singapore from 4-8 August 2025.

Applications for the Educator scholarships are now closed.

Course Fees

The fees include course materials and catering for in-person attendance. The fees are inclusive of government taxes, exclusive of bank charges, travel and accommodation costs.

Enquiries

Please email Ms Chan Sze-Wei (cilcsw@nus.edu.sg) if you have any enquiries.