Write up about the Conference
The conference is annual event participated by an international pool of scholars. There were scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Macau, Kansas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas, U.S.A., Moscow, Russia, Middlesex, U.K., Vietnam, Malaysia, and of course the Philippines.
This year, there were over 200 papers that were read, half of the abstract that were submitted during the call for papers. Several parallel sessions were held and I was in Session 9E: Environment and Sustainable Development in Asia moderated by Dr. Rital Li Yi-man. I was the first presenter of the panel.
Feedback on paper presented
The paper presented was well-received. Questions raised were about collection fees for garbage collection, fines and sanctions. Discussion that followed were about the sustainability of the SWM program in the Municipality San Francisco, Camotes, especially with the news that the Engr. Arquillano, the man credited with the success of the program is not running for elective office anymore; and also about the factors that made the SWM a success and it’s replicability in other municipalities/cities of Cebu and the whole of the Philippines.
Future directions of research presented
There is a need to re-assess the situation in the Municipality of San Francisco after the elections and to revisit my previous research in SWM for a possible comparative case study. I am also planning to rewrite the paper and give it a new slant and new data for a different conference here in the Philippines for possible publication.
Potential foreign collaborators
I met two scholars from Taiwan: Dr. Wen-Li Ke from National Immigration Agency, Taiwan) possibly coming over in April 2013 for an international conference on population ageing. Our possible collaboration will be about migrant worker. Another is Dr. Tsung Hsi Fu from National Taiwan University; possible area of collaboration is on disaster and risk reduction management.
Other important contacts and insights
A scholar from the University of Macau has a paper using textual analysis using a computer program to do it. It is a useful tool for research and he is willing to help constructing the program. He told us to send him and e-mail when we need his help. His name is Dr. Ernest F. Martin, Jr. of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Another important contact is Dr. Krishna K. Tummala, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Kansas State University. He can be contacted for a possible linkages with KSU.
Short write-up of one’s participation (to be used to feature/publicize the grantee’s participation in the conference)
It was good to see other scholars from different disciplines converging together and presenting their papers with the common theme of transforming the current practices and effect changes that are beneficial for the future. I presented my paper on Solid Waste Management on the 2nd day of the conference in the Environment and Sustainable Development Panel. It was well-received and I believe that it has contributed to the dialogue on citizen participation in decision-making in addition to the ideas of transforming waste/trash to something that is useful and beneficial to the community.
ASAHK will start a refereed journal of its own next year in time for the 9th annual conference. I hope to be able to present a paper in this future conference and have my paper published as well.
