Hi there, I'm Kai!

Journalist, Researcher, Storyteller

I write about issues at the intersection of technology, culture, and society.

As a journalist at the Straits Times, my stories delve into oddball interests, unusual subcultures, alternative ways of living, and emerging trends. Some examples of my longform journalism include features on lo-fi music, craft beer, digital mourning, school dropouts, TikTok historians, and places to eat when you have a food allergy in Singapore.

Beyond ST, some of my past work include roles in journalism (Business Insider, Yahoo Singapore) and communications (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, LITMUS Public Relations).

I studied sociology and political science – graduating at the top of my class from the University of Cambridge as a postgraduate Chevening Scholar, and completing my undergraduate studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Always happy to be a listening ear, especially if you have a story to share. 

I can be reached at teokaixiang [at] protonmail [dot] com, or at kaixiang.01 on Signal.

You can find me on: LinkedIn, Signal, Instagram, Threads and Bluesky

Selected Work

Journalism

I am currently a journalist at The Straits Times, covering lifestyle news with a focus on design and digital culture. Most of my stories are features examining a lesser-known aspect of life in Singapore.

Previously, I was a reporter for Business Insider, with a focus on digital culture, career journeys, and first-person "as told to" profiles. To give a sense of my reporting, some highlights include:

Skills and competencies: interviews, digital journalism, aggregation, tech news, lifestyle news, digital culture and social media

Highlights


The Straits Times (full-time journalist)

2024Primarily lifestyle news, with a focus on bringing to light lesser-known aspects of life and culture in Singapore.


Business Insider (full-time junior reporter)

2023 Primarily business and tech stories, with a focus on turning interviews into first-person narratives about relocation, career change, and digital culture.


Singapore Samizdat (newsletter)

2021 - presentA newsletter on Singapore's press, internet, and government.


Poet rejects arts funding in Singapore amid censorship debate (journalism)

2015, Yahoo Singapore


Sean Lee's The Garden (art writing)

2013, Today Singapore

Research

My research interests focus on the social implications of data, and how it influences how we think about fairness, marginalisation and sustainability.

I graduated at the top of my cohort from the University of Cambridge, with a MPhil in Sociology of Media and Culture, as a Chevening and Cambridge Trust Scholar.

My dissertation focused on data governance and civic engagement in Singapore, and was awarded the Hart-Marshall Arts and Humanities Prize.

Working with data analytics and visualisation has been a core component of my past work. Excel, SPSS and Tableau have been my primary tools, and I am well-versed in working with large datasets and data communication.

Beyond effective data analysis, I love finding creative and innovative ways to use data in storytelling (see highlights).

I was a 2022 fellow of the European Summer School on Internet Governance and part of the Fall 2021 cohort of the Atlantic Council's Digital Sherlocks open-source intelligence programme.

Skills and competencies: open-source intelligence (OSINT), data visualisation, data journalism, web analytics, quantitative and qualitative research, ethnography, computational social science

Highlights


Civil Society Responses to Singapore’s Online “Fake News” Law (journal article)

2021, International Journal of Communication — This journal article marks the first piece of primary and interview-based research on Singapore's controversial law against "fake news".

 

POFMA'ed Dataset (dataset)

2020-2022, Singapore Internet Watch — This dataset compiles every electronic communication subject to Singapore's law against "fake news", and has been cited by Freedom House,  ASEAN Parliamentarians For Human Rights, and the International Commission of Jurists, among others. Here's my breakdown of the law's usage.


7 Ways Singapore Has Changed Because of Covid-19, Explained Through Charts (data journalism)

2021, Kopi.co


SGForumBot (twitter bot)

2020-2022 This experiment in procedural generation exclusively uses words found in Straits Times Forum letters to generate parody forum letters.


Choose Your Own Singapore (game)

2020, Heritage Game Jam / Singapore Heritage Festival

Communications

I was previously an associate consultant at LITMUS, a leading boutique PR agency in Singapore for B2B tech clients.

Prior to that, I was the Communications Officer of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), one of Europe's leading security think tanks, where I led the organisation's public engagement and digital strategy. 

I have presented my research at the Oxford Internet Institute, the Institute of Policy Studies, SOAS University of London, and the European Summer School of Internet Governance.

I have also facilitated workshops on a variety of topics, including public speaking, debate, and personal branding. As a competitive debater, I won numerous awards while representing Singapore Polytechnic and Leiden University.

Skills and competencies: content development, communication strategies, media relations, SEO and SEM, newsletters, podcasts, thought leadership, multimedia design, game design, stakeholder management, event management

Highlights


Bridging the Gap Between Counterterrorism Research and Practice Through Game-Based Learning (thought leadership)

2021, Global Network on Extremism and Technology


Flashpoints: an Interactive Game on Counter-Terrorism (game)

2020, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism — Flashpoints is a first-of-its-kind educational game aimed at conveying counter-terrorism research findings to policy-makers and practitioners.


Counter-Terrorism after 9/11 (podcast)

2021, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism


ICCT Newsletter (newsletter)

2020-2021, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Among other editorial responsibilities, curating and developing the ICCT newsletter was one of my duties as communications officer.


10 Years of ICCT (conference/event)

2020, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism

Resume

Business Insider

Junior Business Reporter

Singapore

2023

Journalism, Tech and Business Reporting

LITMUS PR

Associate Consultant

Singapore

2022-2023

Public Relations, Content Development, Media Relations, Campaign Strategy

International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT)

Communication Officer and Research Assistant

The Hague, Netherlands

2021-2022

Digital Strategy, Public Policy, Security Studies, Data Analytics, Public Affairs

Internships

International Centre for Counter-Terrorism; Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict; and Yahoo Singapore

University of Cambridge

MPhil in Sociology of Media and Culture (Distinction)

Cambridge, United Kingdom

2021-2022

Computational Social Science, Critical Data Studies, Ethics of Data/AI, Public Policy

University of Leiden

BSc (Honours) in Political Science

The Hague, Netherlands

2018-2021

International Relations, Public Policy, Statistics, Economics, Security Studies

Singapore Polytechnic

Diploma in Creative Writing for TV and New Media

Singapore

2013-2016

Journalism, Filmmaking, Multimedia Design

Personal Works

Untitled Train Story, my first ever published short story and one of 11 winners of the 2022 Storytel Epigram Horror Prize.

Paper Trails, a satirical pen and paper game published in the final issue of Mynah Magazine.

How a Reddit Post Sparked a National Conversation on Trans Rights, an article in my newsletter on Singapore's media and politics.

We, the City, a pen-and-paper game about belonging outside belonging, where players define the soul of a city.