RDG Conference Report of Emilia S. Visco

Write up about the Conference

The XIX International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology jointly with IV International Conference on Sustainability Science in Asia was a success. It was a very good opportunity for us the presentors and delegates to learn and share our research to our peers in human ecology. The conference was attended by more than 250 participants from 15 countries around the world. Authorities in human ecology and other related fields from the US, Australia, Sweden, Japan and many others were resent in the conference. It was a great learning experience to listen to their sessions and discuss with them researches and recent concern on human ecology and related fields. Attendance to this conference is also a perfect opportunity to establish linkages with them for possible collaboration in programs for instruction and research in the future.

Feedback on paper presented

Both of my presentations were attended by participants from different countries. It was in the second presentation however where many participants got interested in the papers presented and we had very interesting discussions. I was even offered by the Human Ecology Review (HER) Editor if I am interested to have my papers published in the HER. I promised her I will send the article once I have compiled with their requirements. The HER is an ISI peer-reviewed “research and theory on the interaction between humans and the environments and other links between culture and nature, essays, applications relevant to human ecology”.

Future directions of research presented

I hope to have the papers published in HER or EcoHealth. EcoHealth is the official journal of International Association for Ecology and Health. Both of these journal publications are supporting journals of the conference.

Potential foreign collaborators

College of the Atlantic, Maine, USA, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and University of Tokyo, Japan

Other important contacts and insights

There were four presentors from the CHE-UPLB. Three of the four presented two papers each. Among the Asian delegates, we are probably next to japan who has the most number of paper presentors. Thus, I believe we have made a significant impression to other delegates since I believe we all did very well in our presentations. With our zeal and interest, we were able to establish contact with the officials of the College of Atlantic and some faculty member from ANU and University of Melbourne.

Short write-up of one’s participation (to be used to feature/publicize the grantee’s participation in the conference)

The XIX International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology Jointly with IV International Conference on Sustainability Science in Asia was a success. With the theme “Decisions that Work: Linking Sustainability, Environmental Responsibility and Human Well-being, the conference was attended by more that 250 participants from 15 countries around the world.

The plenary speakers are authorities of human ecology and related fields. These include Dr. Stephen Boyden, Founder of the Australian National University’s Human Ecology Program, Director of Hong Kong Human Ecology Program and author of many articles and books on human ecology and related fields; Dr. Charles L.Redman, founding Director of Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability and author and co-author of 14 books on human and environment interaction and other fields, Dr. Roderick Lawrence, Director of Human Ecology group at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, and many, many other authorities in Asia, the Pacific, America and Europe.

The conference provided a perfect opportunity for continued learning and sharing in the field of human ecology and other related fields. The author presented two papers last February 8, 2013 on two different sessions: Community Engagement and Responding to Environmental Crises. The sessions were all attended and discussions after the sessions proved to be very fruitful for the speakers as well as those who attended the sessions. Attendance to conferences like this should be encouraged and well supported since aside from the learning of the participant (that are useful to be shared to colleagues and students), the name of the Institution/s where the participant/s belong served as a good exposure to the international academic community. Presentation of research results to international conference like this is a perfect venue to show what the faculty members researchers are doing, helping the University realize its goal to be globally competitive, and most of all, providing medium for easy access of research results since conference proceedings is available in several networking sites.