3 Pinoys get research grants

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – Seven Southeast Asians, three of them Filipinos, have been awarded funding grants to enable them to pursue their research projects.

The funding support was provided by the Los Baños-based, Filipino government-hosted Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA) through its Seed Fund for Research and Training (SFRT).

SEARCA, headed by director Gil Saguiguit Jr., is one of the 20 regional centers of SEAMEO, an inter-government treaty body founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science, and culture.

Launched in 2005, the SFRT is “a competitive grant aimed at providing assistance to selected promising but fund-strapped Southeast Asian researchers to enable them to carry out initiatives supportive of agricultural and rural development.” Each grant is up to $15,000.

Since 2005, the program has provided 51 research and training grants to nationals of SEAMEO member-countries.

The new Filipino SFRT awardees are Dr. Menandro Acda, professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Forestry and Natural Resources; and Paul Joseph Ramirez and Niño Alejandro Manalo, both assistant professors at the UPLB College of Economics and Management.

The other grantees are from Indonesia and Myanmar.

The research proposals of Ramirez and Manalo focus on the economic implications and safety nets for mesh-size regulations of the siganid fry (padas) fisheries in Pangasinan and Cagayan.

Aeda’s research project aims to investigate the feasibility of using agricultural and forestry residues for the production of fuel pellets as an alternative source of bioenergy in the Philippines.