SINGAPORE : Singapore's defence think tank, the newly named S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, plans to establish three new centres in the near future.

They are the Centre for Diplomacy and International Affairs, the Centre for Science, Technology and Security and the Asian Centre for Negotiation and Conflict Management.

The school will also offer PhD and Masters Programmes.

For a start, the school will first open two centres in the early part of next year.

They will focus on advanced study in regionalism and multiculturalism, and non-traditional security issues in Asia.

Speaking at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies' 10th anniversary, its founding director President SR Nathan said: "Its research on Asian security issues has won the appreciation and respect of scholars, officials and institutions of significance abroad.

"In addition to having analysts and programmes that seek to enhance scholarship of strategic developments in and around Southeast Asia, and the related trends in the interaction of powers such as China, India and the United States, IDSS has also responded to the times by bringing in experts and initiating programmes that address new issues impinging on security questions that affect the interest of Singapore and the region.

"I am referring to the Centre of Excellence for National Security, the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, and the programmes on Multilateralism, and Non-traditional Security. As the names of these centres and programmes suggest, they focus on some of the less conventional and traditional sources of insecurity: economic crises, terrorism, infectious diseases, the environment, and how all these new threats affect our social and psychological fabric."

The institute's current head, Barry Desker, will continue to lead the renamed school. - CNA /ls http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/246601/1/.html