SMU has launched the SMU Longevity Societies and Economies Institute (LSEI) which will focus on the economic and societal transitions needed for economies and societies to continue thriving despite an ageing population. The Institute was launched on 14 April 2026 by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah at the World Ageing Festival 2026, organised by Ageing Asia with SMU as the Co-host and Academic Pillar Partner. SMU LSEI builds on the University's established track record in ageing research, including the Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA) and the Singapore Life Panel®, one of the world's leading high-frequency panel surveys tracking financial and well-being outcomes.
Noting that institutions need to keep pace with longer lifespans, SMU President Professor Lily Kong pointed out that a “three-stage life – learn, earn, retire” no longer describes how most people actually live. She said systems still treat later life as a phase of care and cost, with escalators that move a little too fast, digital forms that assume one has an employer, font sizes no one asked for, and retirement policies written when 65 was considered a long life. Taken together, these show that the designed world could afford to catch up with the lived world. Many still adjust to living to 90 and 100, while intending to remain curious, productive and engaged for much of it. She noted that this is the gap that the LSEI being established will help to close.
SMU Vice Provost for Strategic Research Partnerships and Interim Co-Director of LSEI Dr Cheong Wei Yang said the establishment of LSEI is vital to tackling the profound impact of population ageing, which has far-reaching economic consequences.
SMU Professor of Sociology (Practice) and Director of ROSA Paulin Straughan, who is the Interim Co-Director of LSEI, said that retirement represents a 'pivotal life course transition' which may also disrupt one's sense of identity and purpose, particularly within the Singapore context. She observed that while retirees report increased participation in activity and gendered expansions in different aspects of their social networks, they also experience a decline in perceived social contribution, adding that this points to an important area for intervention to help retirees find a sense of purpose in later life.