In cooperation with Symbiosis International University, the Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, ASEF will organise the 19th ASEF Summer University on “Sustainable Urbanisation in Heritage Cities” from 9-21 August in Pune, India. This two weeks project offers an exciting programme which fuses lectures, workshops and trainings as well as a hack-a-thon where the participants will jointly develop physical & digital prototypes, social impact models and business plans. ASEF has just launched the Open Call for Application and warmly invites students from all academic fields to apply. We would be very happy to see a number of applications […]
Philippine folklore takes center stage in UP rendition of Rusalka, a lyric fairy tale opera
Is love ever possible between two completely different beings? In the case of Rusalka, it is possible but not without a tragic ending. Rusalka is a Czeck opera by Antonin Dvořák with libretto by poet Jaroslav Kvapil. This sad, modern fairy tale that has elements of Denmark’s The Little Mermaid and Germany’s Undine was first performed in Prague in 1901. Kvapil wrote the libretto even before he met Dvořák. The composer, upon reading Kvapil’s text, quickly set to work on his opera which he finished in seven months. The universal theme of love, pain and sacrifice has made Rusalka a worldwide favorite in […]
UP seeks to recruit US-based academics in second leg of the roadshow
“We may have the good ideas from our national leaders and they are trying their best to implement these ideas but if you do not have the complement of highly trained professionals and innovators in the country, then those good programs will not last… they will not be sustainable,” UP Vice President for Academic Affairs Gisela Concepcion told Balitang America, a nightly news program of ABS-CBN International that is aired by The Filipino Channel. Vice President Concepcion was in San Francisco on May 7 as part of UP’s three-week roadshow that aimed to encourage foreign-trained alumni to go back to the […]
UP is on a par with the best universities in 8 subjects, according to global rankings
The University of the Philippines (UP) makes it to the top 100 universities in the world in the area of development studies. It is one of only four ASEAN universities which were included in that list. UP also ranks highly in seven other subjects, thereby making it an elite institution according to the 2015 QS Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings by Subject. More than 3,000 universities were evaluated from which only 894 representatives from 60 countries were eventually ranked. “To be elite means a lot,” says Vice President for Academic Affairs Gisela Concepcion. “[In a span of one year], we moved from one […]
Classroom, clan and crime scene: Students and professionals team up for the 2nd Forensic Science Symposium
The 2nd Forensic Science Symposium held on 7 April 2015 had its origin in a seminar course that served to show how science can assist the Philippine judicial system. It was in November 2012 when the UP Diliman Institute of Biology (UPD-IB) began to offer Forensic Biology (Biology 397 or BIOL397) in response to the increasing interest among young people to work in forensic analysis, and the need for more scientists to explore the forensic applications of their own fields. With Dr. Ian Kendrich Fontanilla as its coordinator and with active input from Dr. Maria Corazon De Ungria, BIOL397 featured lectures by forensic practitioners, […]
Experts stress the importance of DNA Science in understanding and preserving Philippine culture
How can forensic science and genetics help Filipinos better understand their rich history and multi-cultural heritage? This question was at the center of the symposium It’s All Relative: Discovering the Filipino Identity through DNA Science held at the Asian Institute of Management on April 15. Invited to speak at the event was Dr. Maria Corazon De Ungria, head of the DNA Analysis Laboratory of the Natural Sciences Research Institute (NSRI-DAL) of UP and director of the Program on Forensics and Ethnicity of the Philippine Genome Center. She was joined by two other forensic science scholars: Fullbright fellow and researcher-in-residence at NSRI-DAL Sheila Estacio Dennis who […]
Summa cum laude candidate wins three-month UK internship in genomics research
Liezel Tamon, a fourth year thesis student of the Disease Molecular Biology and Epigenetics Laboratory (DMBEL) at the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) in UP Diliman, is this year’s winner of the prestigious Sanger Institute Prize Competition. The sole winner is offered a three-month internship with a research group at The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, United Kingdom. All travel, living and research expenses are covered by the award. The Wellcome Trust Sanger institute is a world leader in genomics research and the internship provides the winner the opportunity to use cutting-edge experimental and genomics approaches […]
UP Cebu institutional video lands gold award at international conference and exhibit
UP Cebu’s five-minute video used the traditional Cebuano rice preparation called puso (boiled rice packed in weaved coconut fronds) as a metaphor for education, highlighting how hard work and perseverance, strength and faith helped a young man come through the hardships of earning high-quality education. (WATCH: UP Cebu institutional video) His mother, portrayed by Prof. Ligaya Rabago, never failed to support him and thus represented the many Filipino parents who sacrifice a lot for the education of their children. Genuine and poignant, the video received an overwhelming positive feedback from the audience at the 5th QS-Maple Professional Leaders in Education Conference and Exhibit in […]
UP connects with Filipino scholars in Europe
Young Filipino scholars gathered at the Philippine Embassy in London on Friday, April 24, for the UK stop of the University of the Philippines (UP) roadshow. The three-week tour aims to update UP graduates abroad on developments in the University as well as to encourage them to share their academic expertise or make financial contributions to UP. (READ: Infographics on the new system-wide donation scheme – page 1 and page 2) Dr. Aaron Joseph Villaraza, deputy director of the Office of International Linkages, was tasked to meet with the thirteen PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty members from the University […]
EIDR program on water governance engages stakeholders in multi-sectoral discussions in Luzon and the Visayas
A water resource management plan was successfully outlined at the Training Workshop on Water Management held last 10-22 March 2015 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños. The 12-day workshop involved twenty participants from the local government units of six municipalities in Laguna, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Laguna Lake Development Authority, and LIMAS Marina. But the initiative that resulted in the draft management plan is only among the major offshoots of the program Towards Good Water Governance for Development: A Multi-Case Analysis, which previously led to three similar multi-sector discussions. In […]
