Dr Sa'eda binte Buang, a Senior Lecturer, has joined the Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group, NIE since 1 July 2001. She held the post of Assistant Head (Malay), Asian Languages and Cultures AG from 2016 to 2019.
Professional Contributions

Dr Sa'eda's research interests in literature and cultural studies, Jawi manuscripts and curriculum reformation have led to her involvement in four funded research projects which have just been successfully completed. In 2018, she took the helm as Principal Investigator for project "Reinstating Malay Manuscripts as Cultural Heritage through Locating Personal Manuscripts Collections and Re-discovering the Art of Manuscript Recital of the Malay Community in Singapore", and as Co-PI for projects "The Place of Sebutan Baku in Students Spoken Malay", "Designing Cultures: Raising Cultural Understanding and Multicultural Appreciation through Singapore's Oral Traditions and Location Mapping", and an international research project "Sriwijaya-Temasek Relations in Pre-14th Century". In 2018, working with ALC literature colleagues, she designed and led a 3-month pilot study on "Multiculturalism through Literature" involving 38 trainee teachers from three language specialties of ALC. As a result of this pilot study, an elective course will be offered to NIE and NTU students from 2022. In 2005, she was involved in the CRPP Core Panel 5 Mother Tongue Scoring Exercise as one of its facilitators to assess the intellectual quality of Malay Language tasks, either by teachers or students. It is her keen interest to instil deep learning through quality tasks/assessments. Passionate in Jawi manuscripts and dedicated to motivating students to participate actively in research, in 2017 Dr Sa'eda took on the role as Convener of a regional seminar by students and for students on Malay Manuscripts. Held in Singapore, this seminar attracted 12 student-paper presenters from 6 institutes of higher learning, from Malaysia and Singapore.

Dr Sa'eda has extensive experience working with the Ministry of Education, serving as member on the Malay Language Learning and Promotion Committee (MLLPC) since 2013, as reviewer of Malay language and literature syllabuses at O and A levels, and has conducted numerous workshops on Malay curriculum, including alternative assessments and literature for schools. Her professional contributions also include serving as consultant for schools and educational institutions in the areas of alternative assessments, literature, and teaching pedagogy. Currently, she serves as Curriculum Consultant for 2021 Secondary Malay Language (ML) Curriculum (Malay Literature, Malay Culture, Assessments), MOE. Her edited book, an anthology of short-stories, poems, and drama Begitulah Kata-kata (Bear these Words) (2013) has been used as Malay Literature A level H2 textbook since 2015.

Dr Sa'eda has served as Higher Degree Internal and External Examiner for local and external universities. She is currently member of several International Editorial Advisory Boards, Indonesia and Malaysia. She was the guest editor for the Asia-Pacific Journal of Education's special issue on Muslim Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Beyond (2007), as Associate Editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Education (Routledge), NIE-NTU (2014 -2016) and as Reviewer for numerous internationally refereed journals. She has also published academic papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals and been invited to contribute chapters in edited books by established publishers from USA, the Netherlands and UK.

A passionate writer, Dr. Sa'eda's contribution to the Malay literary world includes the writing of poetry and short stories. She won the much-coveted Literary Prize (poetry) awarded by the Singapore Malay Language Council in 2003; the Literary Prize (short story) and Literary Prize (commendation) for poetry, both in 2005. Her award-winning poetry was translated into Mandarin and featured in Lianhe Zaobao on 3 Oct 2003. She is currently served as expert representative of Singapore, Southeast Asian Literature Council (MASTERA), and as advisor as well as consultant for national and local literary industry. In 2021, her short story, "Razi" has been selected by the National Library Board for the ONE STORY project as part of the state-wide @Read Singapore movement. ONE STORY is a multi-year project by the National Library Board that makes local short stories – originally written in Tamil, Malay, Chinese, or English – available in other languages. The project aims to create a common literary conversation for everyone, regardless of language.