By Roel Amazona/ PNA
TACLOBAN CITY — Around 200 students from various state universities and colleges in the country are expected to participate in the first national congress for student researchers on March 27 to 29.
Ma. Cristina Caintic, Eastern Visayas State University vice president for Planning, Research, and Extension, said the congress was conceptualized after the yearly International STEAM Research Congress, which aims to pool researches from the academic sector to find scalable solutions to problems prevalent in today’s society.
The event is dubbed as the National DABEST Students Research Congress. DABEST stands for development studies, arts, and humanities, business, and entrepreneurship, education, science and engineering, technology, and innovation.
Caintic said they noticed that some undergraduate students have been participating in the yearly congress intended for faculty members and researchers.
“So we thought of an avenue exclusively for students, where they will not compete with faculty and researchers,” she explained, adding that the researches to be presented are based on the six strands of DABEST.
“Even research of food processing or product development may also be presented at the Congress. This may have the potential for patent application or utility model which we can provide with assistance,” Caintic added.
The participants will also have to compete in two categories –best papers and best invention– where winners will be receiving a cash PHP10,000 cash prize.
Among the speakers in the congress are former National Research Council of the Philippine President Paciente Cordero, 2016 National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Outstanding Young Scientist Award for Soil Science and Ateneo de Manila University’s Environmental Science Assistant Professor Ian Navarrete, and University of the Philippines Los Baños Gender Center Reproductive Health Office Coordinator Teri-Marie Laude.
The organizers chose a scientist who came from Eastern Visayas as one of the speakers to make participants aware that there are people from the region who are achievers in the field of science and technology.
Caintic further said researches are important requirements of university and college life, as these require students and faculties come up with ideas that can improve the quality of life, inventions and improve the quality of instructions.
Research output is also a vital requirement for good placement in the ranking of universities, she added.
