Ms. Joy Santiago is a geographer and licensed environmental planner, currently serving as the only female Chief Science Research Specialist at the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute. She is also the Director of the Internal Audit Division at the Centre for Neighbourhood Studies Philippines. Ms. Santiago taught spatial analysis and cartography using geographic information systems at Miriam College for nearly a decade. She was a fellow at the American Geoscience Union Thriving Earth Exchange Program and the International Visitors Leaders Program for Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. In 2016, Ms. Santiago was honoured with the European Geosciences Union Outstanding Student Poster and PICO Award for her team's project, "Development of Storm Surge Hazard Maps and Advisory System for the Philippines." Throughout her career in geography and environmental planning, Ms. Santiago has assisted local government units across the Philippines in formulating risk-informed land use and development plans.

Research spotlight:

Lagmay, A.M., Santiago, J.T., Mendoza, J.E. (2024). Mainstreaming Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. In: Berse, K.B., Pulhin, J.M., La Viña, A.G.M. (eds) Climate Emergency in the Philippines. Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Singapore.

#BehindTheSciencePodcast is presented to you by the Marine & Earth Science Learning Hub, UP Resilience Institute, and Liknayan Podcast.

Do you want to share your research? Sign up through this ⁠⁠form⁠⁠.

Michael Y. Roleda is a Professor at the Marine Science Institute of the University of the Philippines-Diliman. His passion for tropical seaweeds started in the early 1990s cataloguing their biodiversity and worked on the biology and biochemistry of an agarophyte, Gelidiella acerosa. Further graduate study and postdoctoral fellowships in Germany, Sweden, and Scotland enabled him to work on cold-temperate and polar seaweeds and microalgae with emphasis on their physiological responses to global climate change stressors (e.g., UVR, ablation-derived sedimentation, ocean warming and acidification, and eutrophication). In 2004, he went bipolar– participated in land-based expeditions to Spitsbergen in the Arctic and King George Island in the Antarctic. His search for a niche brought him to the Southern Ocean in New Zealand (2010) and then back to the North Atlantic in Norway (2014), where he started working on the food and feed applications of seaweeds. He came full circle in 2018– back in the Philippines working on the biodiversity of carrageenan-producing eucheumatoids (Kappaphycus spp., Eucheuma denticulatum, and Betaphycus gelatinus, among others), led and improved the in vitro and hatchery gene banks with >200 unique strains undergoing genotypic and phenotypic characterizations, understanding their ecological breath and susceptibility to pest and diseases, and innovating mitigating measures.

Follow the Algal Ecophysiology Laboratory

Know more about the 13th International Phycological Congress

Research spotlight:

Roleda, M.Y., Hinaloc, L.A.R., Capacio, I.T., Jao, M.C.B., Crisostomo, B.A. (2024). Reproductive Biology and Novel Cultivar Development of the Eucheumatoid Kappaphycus alvarezii. In: Critchley, A.T., Hurtado, A.Q., Neish, I.C. (eds) Tropical Phyconomy Coalition Development. Developments in Applied Phycology, vol 11. Springer, Cham.

#BehindTheSciencePodcast is presented to you by the Marine & Earth Science Learning Hub, UP Resilience Institute, and Liknayan Podcast.

Do you want to share your research? Sign up through this ⁠form⁠.

Engr. Eros Paul Estante is a licensed chemical engineer and academic researcher with over six years of experience specializing in life cycle assessment and carbon footprint accounting for agricultural commodities, organizations, and academic institutions. Currently, he works as a researcher at the University of the Philippines Los Baños Interdisciplinary Life Cycle Assessment Laboratory (UPLB-ICAL) and the University of the Philippines Los Baños Interdisciplinary Biofuels Research Studies Center (UPLB-IBRSC). His expertise includes conducting feasibility studies for bioethanol plants and optimizing processes through simulation. He is actively involved in a research project focused on diversifying feedstock for bioethanol production in the Philippines. Eros holds a master's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, where he was recognized as an Academic Achievement awardee. He also graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Visayas.

Visit the UPLB Interdisciplinary Life Cycle Assessment Laboratory

Article spotlight:

Estante EPV, Demafelis RB, Matanguihan AED, Magadia BT, Gomez CC, Nuñez CJE, Sumague JVS and Jamieson C. (2023). Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Low Carbon Rice Production System in Victoria, Laguna, Philippines. Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS) 2023, 48(1):41-53

#BehindTheSciencePodcast is presented to you by the Marine & Earth Science Learning Hub, UP Resilience Institute, and Liknayan Podcast.

Do you want to share your research? Sign up through this form.