Intro
Hello! I am Jiajun Huang, a PhD student from Bournemouth University. I am studying artificial intelligence (specifically, 3D computer vision).
Since I got a basic idea of how to do research, my supervisor has advised me to visit other teams and laboratories, just like most of his successful students did. Backed by the experience of my colleagues, this is a great way to network with peers and collaborate on projects or research papers. Visiting is especially useful for me as no other students are working on the same topic at BU, and AI research is rapidly becoming a team effort. Besides, it would also be nice to work on my ability to adapt and explore. Visiting other teams will shake up my (already rigid) life routine, which is a well-known trick to inspire creativity.
However, the chance of visiting is hard to come by, as I had no notable research work or connections for quite a while. Finally, as the first piece of my publishable work started coming together, I put the first revision of the paper on ArXiv —— a paper preprint sharing service, which turned out to be interesting to a couple of researchers from Nanyang Technological University(NTU) in Singapore, which they are working on similar things as well. After a few emails, I was able to seize a chance to visit them for three months.
What a fantastic opportunity! I can visit an incredibly prestigious university, network and work with other capable peers in my field, and see how they do research! Besides, as someone born and raised in southern China, I get to re-experience the sunny, hot, but well-air-conditioned summer that filled my childhood and teen years for a while. (But I missed the cooler and less rainy British summer when I actually experienced it again.)
I learned about the Turing Scheme from my colleagues. It was presented as a great way to secure funding for my visit. Knowing that I decided to visit the university’s career hub for details, and it was a smooth experience. There were counsellors to answer my questions, a pre-assessment process to ensure my application was more likely to be accepted, and events to let me know more about the process. I feel supported throughout the journey.
The funding provided by the Turing Scheme turned out to be extremely helpful once I started hunting places to rent in Singapore. With additional funding, I could rent a place in a really convenient spot close to the university. Thanks to this, I was able to spend more time on research and networking instead of commuting or walking to remote stores. This convenient spot also allows me to explore the country(which is basically just a really big city) whenever I have time.
Living in Singapore
My first impression of Singapore was “Guangzhou, but summer came early”. As the metro departs from the airport and enters the city, it really feels like a moderately developed corner of Guangzhou, where I spent my bachelor years. There were some construction sites, lots of mid-rise buildings, and construction material yards using steel sheets as fences. I am still certain that I am in a different country, though —— the signs are written in Chinese, English and Malay, and so are the commuters. The culture here certainly feels similar to China but with an international and southern Asian twist. So, it was surprisingly easy to blend in.
As I settled down and started to adapt to my new routine, I was impressed by how convenient and accessible everything was. Within a 5-minute walk, I have metro lines, bus stations, and a mall with shops ranging from inexpensive supermarkets to fine dining and luxury item shops. The public transport is fantastic: there is a metro or bus every 5-10 minutes! This is in stark contrast to the more car-dependent life in the UK, where despite being lucky enough to rent a place very close to the main streets and supermarkets, I still need to walk for 20 minutes.
There is a much wider choice of food as well! Not to mention all the stands and restaurants outside the campus, the food choice in the NTU campus is already abundant: 3 canteens, each canteen has about 5-6 stands, each offering something different. This reminded me of my time in undergrad, when such vast choices were available, and the joke that “All of the UK Eats Like the Germans are Still Flying Overhead”.
(There is no way I can get this from BU’s canteen lol)
But being more convenient also means higher densities—my room is really tiny—it’s almost a prison cell that barely houses a wardrobe, a bed, and a table that can barely hold my laptop. I also had to share facilities with six other tenants. This turns out to be pretty challenging as we all want to do our laundry during the evening, which requires some proper coordination in friendly or not-so-friendly ways.
Working in Singapore
(This was Sunday, but people are still working)
But the majority of my revelations and challenges happen where I work—at the MICL Laboratory. Since my research topic aligns well with the students there, I get to continue working on my projects, but I also have some chances to speak with peers working on similar topics and potentially work with them.
This was a challenging experience as the team is much larger than my PhD group —several PhDs and a large group of visiting students working on something different under a common research field. Knowing them and their research topics took me quite some time, as within the first month, I have connected with more people than I had over the last three years! Considering the size of the team, it’s very easy t##o become “drowned” in it and be left out, so it was up to me to be proactive, introduce myself, talk to, share exciting findings and discuss with others. This experience certainly made me more proactive and more confident in leading initiatives.
My biggest revelation throughout the visit was that “I am as skilled as them”. After speaking with other researchers with stellar performance(such as multiple top-conference papers), I gradually realised that there is no significant difference between us in terms of workflow and understanding of machine learning research. What differs are the amount of resources available, colleagues to collaborate with, and perhaps just as important, effort. They spend more time in the office, work on most weekends, and arrive early and leave late every day. They are generally more efficient with their time, which I unfortunately do not have enough stamina for. Another very interesting observation is that the majority of the student here produced their best research work during their internship with the industry. Perhaps I should start looking for such opportunities as well.
Closing Thoughts
In conclusion, my three months in Singapore were a good experience, and I would recommend others give it a shot.
My experience of working with peers here has certainly boosted my confidence in pursuing a more international career path —— I have just come to a completely different country, settled down, adapted to the culture, worked with people here and made some progress. So I can reasonably expect I can do this again. In addition, after enjoying many friendly exchanges here, I feel more confident about socialising and connecting with others. This has made me feel more at ease regarding job hunting, as I feel less intimidated to walk up to others and present myself.
Furthermore, this journey is also a good chance to reflect on the culture of my homeland and what I have experienced back in the UK. This is because Singapore turns out to have a fascinating mix of Eastern and Western culture, with Southern Asian bits sprinkled here and there. The researchers here are much more innovative, and work happens faster; this means higher pressure, but it also means being more productive. This resembles the Asian culture of being hard-working and diligent, which is constantly expected by my parents and the society I grew up in. Living in a cultural hub has also inspired me to explore other cultures; I have had some pleasant encounters with people and food from different cultures there. I am looking forward to more of this in the future, and this journey is a great starting point!
Tagged: #travel #singapore