Vice President for Academic Affairs Gisela P. Concepcion is among the 44 new Fellows elected to The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). The election took place at the Academy’s 26th General Meeting in Vienna, Austria on 19 November 2015. TWAS is a global science academy based in Trieste, Italy that seeks to recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in developing countries. Founded by Abdus Salam, a Pakistani physicist and Nobel laureate, it consists of distinguished scientists from the developing world. TWAS started with 42 Fellows in 1983, nine of whom were Nobel laureates. The number has since grown to over 1,000 — […]
Social learning and not genetic inheritance explains sperm whale groupings
A team of biologists and physicists from universities in Canada, the United States and the Philippines revealed that it is biased social learning and not genetic inheritance or pure social learning that accounts for the groupings of sperm whales. Their discovery, published recently in the high impact international journal Nature Communications, drew the attention of over 30 news outlets including Time, Washington Post, Newsweek, Nat Geo, Discovery, Smithsonian, BBC News, CBC News, NBC News, Nature, and Science. UP’s own Dr. Reniel Cabral of the National Institute of Physics is part of the team. “I am proud that a Philippine institution is included in a paper published in one […]
Reefs unlikely to recover from the effects of China’s construction activities in the Spratly Islands
For nearly two years, China has been reclaiming land in the Spratly Islands and it is causing permanent damage to the marine environment. In an interview for Earth Island Journal, National Scientist Edgardo Gomez holds that China’s land reclamation activities have several immediate effects including the “total destruction of productive coral reefs, seagrass beds, and other shallow marine ecosystems” and “the smothering of areas adjacent to the dredged and filled areas.” Land reclamation or land fill is the process of creating new land from a waterway or wetland such as an ocean, riverbed or lakebed through, according to the article, “massive dredging of sand […]
Internationally recognized scientist Dr. Rhodora Azanza receives the Pantas Award
Marine Science Institute professor and former UP Diliman College of Science dean Dr. Rhodora Azanza was presented with the 2015 Pantas Award by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Every year, the council confers the Pantas on an outstanding scientist or researcher who has made exemplary contributions for the advancement of agriculture, aquatic and natural resources in the Philippines. Azanza, fondly known to students and colleagues as The Red Tide Lady, is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking research on seaweeds and harmful microalgal biology, coastal environment management and […]
UP Concert Chorus is big winner at international choir festival in Poland
The University of the Philippines Concert Chorus (UPCC), led by its artistic director/conductor Prof. Janet Sabas-Aracama, copped the plum award—the Grand Prix —in the recently concluded 6th International Krakow Choir Festival Cracovia Cantans held from 11-14 June 2015 in Poland. UPCC received a statuette of Golden Polyhymnia (Muse of Choral Art) and a cash prize. The jury was composed by no less than the most respected authorities in choral music, with Prof. Romuald Twardowski (Poland) as head and Ko Matsushita (Japan), Irina Roganova (Russia), Javier Busto (Spain/Sweden) and Rihard Dubra (Latvia) members. The Krakow Choir Festival awards the Grand Prix to the group that […]
Philippine representative UP ARCO triumphs in Bratislava music fest
The UP ARCO, the Philippines’ first-ever representative to the 7th Bratislava International Youth Music Festival, scored a feat when it topped the festival’s competition category in “String Orchestras up to 35 Years.” It was awarded the Silver Band after garnering 24 points, only one point shy away from the much coveted Gold Band. Eight choirs and four orchestras from ten countries – Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, the Philippines, Singapore, Slovenia, Thailand and the United States of America – competed in the festival. The distinguished panel of jury was headed by Prof. Scott Ferguson of the USA with Prof. John Damsma of The […]
UP ARCO wows audience in Budapest with two Filipino classics
UP ARCO, the string section of the UP Orchestra, warmed the hearts of the audience with its splendid rendition of two Filipino classics during the Festival Concert of All Participants that opened the Budapest Music Festival on 3 July 2015 at the concert hall of the ELTE Radnóti Miklós School in Budapest, Hungary.The orchestra played Rondino based on a popular Filipino folk song Magtanim ay Di Biro from Antonio Buenaventura’s Children’s Quartet and Francisco Buencamino’s Pizzicato Caprice, a whimsicial composition that showcased the plucking technique in playing the violin. Conducting the UP ARCO was its director and conductor Prof. Edna […]
UP ARCO is Philippine representative to international music festivals in Europe
The UP String Orchestra, known to many as UP ARCO, has been invited to represent the Philippines for the first time in two acclaimed international music festivals in Europe. From July 2 to 6, UP ARCO will be in Hungary for the Budapest Music Festival. This will be followed by a trip to neighbor country Slovakia for the 7th International Youth Music Festival I slated for July 9 to 12 in Bratislava. The unique experience is an opportunity for UP ARCO not only to learn from other young talented musicians but also to perform in historical and cultural edifices in these cities of great […]
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 […]
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 […]
