Nurturing collaborations toward resilience: Highlights from the SECRA Metro Manila Meeting

The European Commission-funded project Strengthening University Enterprise Collaboration for Resilient Communities in Asia (SECRA) convened for a week-long project meeting in Metro Manila, Philippines from the 13th to 17th of November 2023. This event gathered consortium members from higher education institutions (HEIs) in Estonia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines in one venue to discuss enhancing collaborations among the academe, enterprises, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders to strengthen resilience against disasters and achieve sustainability. The meeting was organized by Ateneo de Manila University, Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (MMCL), and the Philippine Normal University Manila (PNU).

The first day of the SECRA Metro Manila Meeting kicked off with an opening ceremony and keynote talks. The heads of the three Philippine HEIs, Fr Roberto Yap, President of Ateneo, Engr Anthony Hilmer Medrano, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of MMCL, and Dr Bert J Tuga, President of PNU, gave their welcoming remarks. 

In his welcoming remarks, Fr Yap emphasized the importance of intersectoral understanding of resilience through inclusive dialogue. He shared that Ateneo de Manila strives to cultivate a community that empowers resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability. He said, "As we anticipate the continuous effects of climate change, Ateneo de Manila remains steadfast in its commitment to collaborate and help strengthen and protect our communities and our common home."

The opening remarks were followed by a cultural show rendered by the PNU Rondalla and the KISLAP Dance Troupe. The cultural show featured a Philippine folk song medley and folk dances. To officially open the project meeting, Dr Jörgen Sparf, on behalf of his co-SECRA Project Coordinator Dr Evangelia Petridou, both of the Risk and Crisis Research Centre, Mid Sweden University, gave the opening remarks, highlighting the five substantive work packages of SECRA.

The morning session featured two keynote talks about the landscape and experience of university-enterprise collaborations (UECs) from the perspective of the public and private sectors. The speakers were Engr Romelen T Tresvalles, Regional Director of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the National Capital Region, and Mr Rene S Meily, President of Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF). Engr Tresvalles shared about the initiatives and programs of DOST toward DRRM, including innovation and technologies that enable communities to prepare for disasters by leveraging on the collaborations among the industry, government, civil society, and the academe. From the side of the private sector, Mr Meily talked about PDRF's approach at mobilizing the private sector for disaster preparedness and response, leveraging on the resources and equipment of the private companies to deliver relief goods and provide assistance to affected communities. The keynote talks were moderated by Mr Steve Chavez, Head of the Ideation Support Group at the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office.

The afternoon session of the first day consisted of a panel discussion focused on local resilience, along with a workshop centered on the psychology of resilience, both organized by MMCL. The panel was composed of representatives from the academe, the industry, and the government. Prof Emma E Porio from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University, and Science Research Fellow, Manila Observatory, was invited to share about the perspective of the academe on climate and disaster resilience. The perspective coming from the government was provided by Dr Likha G Minimo, Director for Knowledge Sharing at the UP Resilience Institute, while the perspective of the industry was shared by Arch Alvin Tejada, a Project Management Professional and an Accredited Professional for LEED, WELL, EDGE, TRUE and GREEEN Building Standards. The panel was moderated by Dr Roel C Rodrigo, Director of the Institute for Excellence in Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning at MMCL. 

Dr Porio during her talk shared insights and perspectives on local resilience from the academe based on work with cities under the project, "Coastal Cities at Risk in the Philippines: Investing in Climate and Disaster Resilience." The project co-generated knowledge with stakeholders, and through this process, co-created capacities of scientists, practitioners, and professionals. Through the project, she, along with scientists and experts in the academe and practitioners in the government and private sector, carried out intersectional analysis of the social, geophysical, political, economic and cultural factors in understanding vulnerability and building adaptive capacity and resilience at the micro, meso, and macro levels. She further emphasized the importance to work towards integrated multi-scalar approaches to risk and governance.

The first day also featured a Workshop on the Psychology of Resilience, which was delivered by Ms Mahjalin Araiza B Diez, chair of the Psychology Department of MMCL.

The recording of the first day is available here. The same-day-edit (SDE) video may be viewed here and photos accessed here.

The second day of the SECRA Metro Manila Meeting opened with a Policy Dialogue with representatives from Philippine government offices and the NGO sector. The Policy Dialogue served as a platform for presenting the Policy Brief crafted by Philippine partners, centered on the initial findings of the SECRA project. This session facilitated a dialogue with sector representatives to glean their perspectives on gaps, barriers, and enablers of UECs in enhancing resilience within the country.

Dr Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales, Associate Professor and Director of the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability and Country Lead of the Philippines for the SECRA Project, presented the Policy Brief, which includes gaps and proposed interventions on four identified models of UECs in the country: Student Internship Model, Faculty Immersion Model, Research and Development Model, and Research and Extension Model. The dialogue proper was moderated by Ms Maria Rhodora R Austria, the Dean of the ET Yuchengco College of Business and SECRA Lead in MMCL, and Dr Darryl Roy T Montebon, Assistant Professor and Director of the Institute of Teaching and Learning and SECRA Lead in PNU.

Key resource persons invited to give their perspective on the policy brief were Director Jose Harry M Barber, the Officer-in-Charge of the Policy and Development and Planning Service Office of the Civil Defense Central Office; Mr Elvin Ivan Uy, Executive Director of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the country’s largest business-led NGO at the nexus of corporate citizenship, sustainable development, and poverty reduction; Mr Reuel Ruiz, the Program Head of Startup QC Local Economic Investment and Promotions Office, Quezon City Government; Mr Eugene Garcia, Education Program Specialist II from the Office of Student Development Services of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Central Office; and Mr Efren Singin Jr, Education Program Specialist II in the International Student Affairs Division System of OSDS CHED. The Policy Dialogue was streamed live via Facebook, recording of which may be accessed here.

The rest of the day consisted of internal discussions on the Policy Briefs of the consortium members from Asia and updates and announcements on Work Package 6 (WP6) on dissemination and exploitation activities led by Mr Thisara Uduwarage, a PhD Researcher affiliated with the Global Disaster Resilience Centre at the University of Huddersfield.

The SDE video of the second day may be viewed here and here while photos may be viewed here.

On the third day, the agenda consisted of work package (WP) updates and workshops, and a campus visit to Ateneo de Manila University. The campus visit featured talks on UECs, student pitches, a sustainability walk, and art gallery tour.

Dr Sarita Jane Robinson, Deputy Head of the School of Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Central Lancashire, delivered updates on Work Package 1 (WP1). Work Package 2 (WP2) followed with a presentation by Dr Kinkini Hemachandra, Lecturer in the Department of Management at the University of Huddersfield, and Mr Thisara Uduwarage.
 

The afternoon sessions were held at the Ateneo Blue Nest, located in the Eduardo J Aboitiz Sandbox Zone of the Areté. The Blue Nest is a Technology Business Incubation (TBI) initiative supported by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The campus visit began with Welcoming Remarks by Dr Filomeno Aguilar, Jr, Assistant Vice President for Research, Creative Work, and Innovation. This was followed by 15-minute flash talks by the implementing partners of the SECRA Project within Ateneo: the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability (AIS), the Ateneo Research Institute of Science and Engineering (ARISE), the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM), and the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office (AIPO). They were represented by Dr Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales, Dr Emilyn Q Espiritu, Mr Joselito Olpoc, and Dr Proceso L Fernandez, respectively.

The afternoon session also featured a student pitching event in partnership with the DECSC25 (Creative Thinking and Innovation Management) class of Ms Paula Atun, Instructor at the Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology of JGSOM. Students from partner HEI Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (MMCL) also participated in the event. Project leads Dr Jörgen Sparf and Dr Evangelia Petridou from Mid Sweden University, Dr Sarita Jane Robinson and Dr Andrew Carmichael from the University of Central Lancashire, and Engr Benjamin Mirasol of AIPO served as the judges for the competition.

A total of 26 students, organized into six groups, participated. Each of the six groups presented their pitches, which was followed by questions from the panel of judges. EcoEats, a group of students from Ateneo, was announced as the champion, and Vitastrip, a group of students from MMCL, was announced as the first runner-up. Both groups won a 3-month incubation at AIPO, and the winning group won additional tokens from AIS and JGSOM QMIT Department.

The formal program closed and participants were directed to their respective Activity Hours, where some consortium members took a self-guided tour of the Ateneo Art Gallery at the Areté building, and some took a guided Sustainability Walk around some of the sustainability-related initiatives around Ateneo. Dinner was prepared upon their return to the Blue Nest, with remarks by Dr Genejane Adarlo and Dr Roberto Martin Galang, OIC of the School of Science and Engineering and Dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management, respectively.

The SDE video of the third day may be viewed here and photos accessed here.

The fourth day of the Metro Manila Meeting began with a session for Work Package 3 (WP3), led by Dr Evangelia Petridou of Mid Sweden University and Dr Chaminda Senarathna Bandara of the University of Peradeniya. This was followed by a session on WP4 led by Dr Sarita Jane Robinson and Dr Andrew Paul Carmichael of the University of Central Lancashire. Dr Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales of Ateneo de Manila University and Ms Aleesha Lad of the University of Central Lancashire also shared presentations and updates.

A session on Work Package 5 (WP5) was also held, led by Dr Jörgen Sparf of Mid Sweden University and Prof Lasith Gunawardena of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Information on the succeeding Project Meeting in Sri Lanka was shared by Prof Ranjith Dissanayake of the University of Peradeniya. The day was capped with a Steering Committee Meeting.

The SDE of the fourth day may be viewed here and photos accessed here.

A whole-day excursion program marked the final day of the Metro Manila Meeting. It was organized by the PNU SECRA partners and commenced with a visit to the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, where the consortium listened to presentations and were toured around the institute’s offices and facilities. A lunch program was then held at PNU, another of the host HEIs. In the afternoon, the consortium visited the National Museum of Natural History, and enjoyed a tour of Fort Santiago and the Manila Cathedral with the help of the Intramuros Administration. The evening culminated with dinner at Barbara’s in Intramuros, marking the end of the Metro Manila Meeting.

The SDE of the fifth day may be viewed here and photos accessed here and here.

Article written by Michaela Serrano, Jean Jardeleza Mijares, and Daniel C Ratilla
Photos taken by Dennis Mendoza, Atalia Studios, and Philippine Normal University
SDE videos by Almer Chris Ocampo, Leodegario II A. Sabas, and Seth Dela Paz