SMU School of Information Systems (SIS) Professor Robert Deng has been conferred the prestigious AXA Chair Professorship of Cybersecurity for a period of eight years. Prof Deng is the first named Chair professor at SIS, one of only six AXA Chairs selected for this honour worldwide in 2016 and the only one from Singapore, as well as the only AXA Chair in Asia to undertake research in the Data & Technology risks cluster under the AXA Research Fund.

The official conferment of the AXA Chair Professorship of Cybersecurity was held in conjunction with the inaugural SMU Cybersecurity Forum. More than 100 people attended the event, including SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong, Dean of SMU School of Information Systems Professor Pang Hwee Hwa, CEO of General Insurance AXA Asia, Mr Jean Drouffe, CEO of AXA Insurance Singapore Mrs Doina Palici-Chehab and Selection Officer at the AXA Research Fund Mr Chaouki Boutharouite, as well as representatives from government agencies, academia and the private sector.