Deputy Dean Gregor Halff of the Lee Kong Chian Business School named first director.
The Institute for Public Relations launched the opening of the IPR Southeast Asia Alliance at Singapore Management University at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lee Kong Chian Business School in Singapore. The goal of the IPR Southeast Asia Alliance is to help promote and foster research relating to the public relations and corporate communications industry in the Asia-Pacific region. This is the first regional alliance office that IPR has opened internationally.
“IPR is thrilled to form an alliance with a prestigious university like Singapore Management University,” said Dr. Tina McCorkindale, President and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations. “We hope this partnership can help build IPR’s presence in the region while supporting research that matters to the practice, which is core to IPR’s mission.”
“At the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, we develop teaching and research content that is uniquely Asian and sought after by corporations around the world,” said Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean Gerry George. “Together with IPR we will be well positioned to answer questions about the growing communication profession in Asia.”
IPR has named Deputy Dean Gregor Halff as the first director of the IPR Southeast Asia Alliance. Gregor is a professor of corporate communication practice and immediate past chair of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the global umbrella association of the communication industry.
“Gregor Halff brings a wide-range of experience on a global and Asian level,” said McCorkindale. “His reputation, commitment to the profession, and research dossier make him the perfect fit for this role.”
The Alliance will help students gain field experiences and apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities. IPR will conduct an annual research project with Singapore Management University and help to support other research in the region.
Developing associations with prominent universities with a strong supportive faculty can help IPR fulfill its mission to promote, conduct, and sponsor research that matters to the profession in specific world regions, and to provide an outlet for global dialogue relating to public relations needs, strategies, and outcomes.
For more information about the IPR Southeast Asia Alliance, please contact IPR Research Director Dr. Sarab Kochhar at sarab@instituteforpr.org or Professor Gregor Halff at gregorhalff@smu.edu.sg.
About the Institute for Public Relations
The Institute for Public Relations is an independent, nonprofit research foundation dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations™. IPR focuses on research that matters to the profession, providing timely insights and applied intelligence that professionals can put to immediate use. All research is available free at instituteforpr.org and provides the basis for IPR’s professional conferences and events.
Singapore Management University
Singapore Management University’s mission is to generate leading-edge research with global impact and produce broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy. SMU education is known for its highly interactive, collaborative and project-based approach to learning, and for its technologically enabled pedagogy of seminar-style teaching in small class sizes. The Financial Times recently ranked the Executive MBA program at Singapore Management University 24th globally and its Wealth Management Programme 3rd globally. The Lee Kong Chian School of Business is ranked 3rd in Asia on the UT Dallas research rankings and was the first business school in Asia to introduce a master’s degree in communication management.
