Skip to main content

Newsroom

Close

INSEAD co-hosts groundbreaking Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium

INSEAD Co-Hosts Groundbreaking Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium

INSEAD co-hosts groundbreaking Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium

INSEAD co-hosts groundbreaking Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium

Mental health is often shunned or dismissed in Asia despite being the top health concern in Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and other countries. To help bridge the disconnect, INSEAD co-hosted the inaugural Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium this month, bringing together 70 speakers and 350 practitioners and policymakers from across the continent to discuss a growing emergency.

"In Asia, we have traditionally shied away from these conversations," said Professor Sameer Hasija, Dean of INSEAD’s Asia campus, in an opening address. "But as we celebrate INSEAD's 25th anniversary in Singapore, we recognise that mental health is a necessary condition for creating business leaders who can truly transform business and society."

Over three days, delegates and participants explored critical questions including preventative approaches to mental well-being, how to destigmatise mental health issues, using evidence-based research in policies and actions, and the climate crisis’s impact on mental health.

Speakers included Professor Vikram Patel, Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; Alberto Rodriguez, Regional Director for Human Development in East Asia and the Pacific at the World Bank; and Dr Daniel Fung from the Institute of Mental Health Singapore. Sylvie Gleises, CEO of AXA XL Singapore, who recounted on stage her own mental health struggles, called for business leaders to lead by example and show employees that “it’s okay not to be okay”

Participants also attended workshops on diverse mental health topics offered by INSEAD faculty and other experts at the school’s Asia campus. These included workplace wellbeing by Enoch Li, Co-Director of the INSEAD MBA’s Personal Leadership Development Programme and working parents’ mental health by Assistant Professor Winnie Jiang.

From a systemic perspective, Assistant Professor Xinyu Liang led a hands-on session on building mental health ecosystems. Vinika Rao, Executive Director of the INSEAD Gender Initiative, took a deep dive into diversity and inclusion considerations, while Ridhima Aggarwal, director of INSEAD’s Stone Center for the Study of Wealth Inequality, shared insights from social impact organisations.

Participants also gained on-the-ground insights through site visits to NGOs like The Greenhouse Community Services Ltd, a trauma recovery centre for marginalised communities in Singapore, and institutions including National Gallery Singapore, which champions the role of art in mental wellbeing. 

Notably, a full day was dedicated to exploring climate change’s impact on mental health, a nascent area of research. Practitioners and experts from some of the most climate-impacted countries, such as the Philippines, Pakistan and India, shared emerging research and data that showed, among other things, a rise in psychiatric symptoms and even violence as temperatures rise beyond what the human body can sustainably tolerate.

As Emma Lawrance, who leads the Climate Cares Centre at Imperial College London and the Connecting Climate Minds global initiative, summed it up: “What we do to nature, we also do to ourselves.”

Global Mental Health Asia 2025 was organised by the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute and the Mental Health Innovation Network (MHIN) Asia Hub, backed by The World Bank, and supported by the Musim Mas Group.

From INSEAD, Deputy Dean Peter Joos, Professor Michael Jarrett and Enoch Li helped organise the event, and the INSEAD Hoffmann Institute and Stone Center for the Study of Wealth Inequality provided sponsorship.