University of the Philippines
Diliman

University of the Philippines
Diliman
Campus

NSRI celebrates 60th year

July 02, 2024
The UP Diliman (UPD) Natural Sciences Research Institute (NSRI) celebrated its 60th founding anniversary on June 25 with the theme, Celebrating NSRI Legacy, Charting New Directions in Research and Extension. The event featured presentations from the four in-house laboratories, namely the Biological Research and Services Laboratory, the DNA Analysis Laboratory (DAL), the Microbiological Research and Services Laboratory (MRSL), and the Research and Analytical Services Laboratory (RASL). The presentations highlighted the laboratories’ mandates, research and extension activities, achievements, and future directions. Vistan. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UPDIO UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, in his message, emphasized the essential role of the NSRI in the UPD’s research and extension endeavors. “The NSRI’s work is invaluable, significantly contributing to the advancement of Philippine society through technological transfer and bridging the gap between academia and communities, school, industry, and other sectors. The institute’s unwavering commitment to its mission is evident in the legacy passed down from generation to generation of scientists who are not only skilled but also socially aware and service-oriented,” said Vistan. Maria Auxilia T. Siringan, PhD, the NSRI officer-in-charge, acknowledged the pioneering efforts and hard work of the NSRI’s first director, Bienvenido T. Miranda. In his honor, the NSRI building was named Miranda Hall in 2000.   Siringan. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UPDIO “While the institute turned 60 years old, which to us humans is equated to the senior stage of life, the NSRI will not retire but will keep on moving forward as it navigates through the advances in science and technology, during this age of genomics, data science, and artificial intelligence,” Siringan said. Meanwhile, the newly created UPD Research Ethics Board (REB) held an exhibit at the NSRI where it is housed. The exhibit featured the workflow of the research ethics review process in obtaining ethical clearance for research projects. According to its publication material, the REB “aims to safeguard the rights, dignity, and welfare of research participants by rigorously evaluating potential risks, benefits, and the informed consent process prior to research implementation.” In addition to the exhibit, the DAL, MRSL, and RASL laboratories were opened in the afternoon for guests to see what the laboratories offer. The staff members of each laboratory gamely answered queries from guests about what they do in their specific laboratory. Attendees at the anniversary celebration. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UPDIO
Campus

UPD holds housing fair

July 02, 2024
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the UP Diliman Housing Office (UPDHO) held Bahaginan at Bayanihan 2024: The UPD Housing Office 50th Anniversary Housing Fair from June 26 to 28 at the UPD College of Fine Arts Atrium. Vistan. Photo from UPDHO The three-day event featured free seminars on financial literacy as well as housing loans, acquired assets, MP2 Savings, and group sale by the Home Development Mutual Fund or PAG-IBIG Fund. At the fair were property developers, financial institutions with home loan options, a PAG-IBIG Fund satellite station, food stalls, and booths selling household-related products and services. Attendees listening to Constantino’s talk. Photo from UPDHO Present at the opening were UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Roehl L. Jamon, Bertrand J. Lesaca of the UPDHO, and Jacqueline Constantino of the Pag-IBIG Fund. Event participants. Photo from UPDHO
Campus

UPD celebrates Pride Month

July 02, 2024
In celebration of Pride Month, UP Diliman (UPD) through the UPD Gender Office held Rampa, Kweens! Tungo sa Kaligtasan, Kalusugan, Kalayaan (Rampa, Kweens!) on June 28 around the Academic Oval. Ramota (left, holding a megaphone) addresses the Pride March participants at Quezon Hall. Photo from the Opisina ng Faculty Regent Facebook page Pride March along Academic Oval. Photo from the Opisina ng Faculty Regent Facebook page Rampa, Kweens! began with a community street fair at 10 a.m. along Osmeña Avenue, followed by Pride March starting at the Palma Hall Steps by 3:30 p.m. and culminated with a concert at Melchor Hall by 5 p.m. In support of the activity, UP Faculty Regent Carl Marc Ramota gave a brief message at Quezon Hall as Pride March participants briefly stopped at the administration building. “Bilang pamantasang bayan, tungkulin ng Unibersidad na hubugin ang kamalayan at opinyong bayan sa iba’t ibang isyu, iwaksi ang mga palasak na ideya na iniluwal ng pyudal-patriyarkal na lipunan, at manindigan para sa karapatan sa malayang ekspresyon, asosasyon, at pagkilos,” said Ramota, according to the Opisina ng Faculty Regent Facebook post.
Research

Middle Paleolithic landscape understood through micromammal assemblage

June 13, 2024
A study led by Juan Rofes, PhD, an associate professor at the UP Diliman (UPD) School of Archaeology, determined the Middle Paleolithic landscape of the Iranian Zagros, through Tang-e Shikan cave, by using micromammals as paleoecological indicators. Rofes. Photo from the School of Archaeology website In an article by H. J. B. Birks in Encyclopedia of Ecology (2008) cited by the Science Direct website, paleoecology “is mainly concerned with reconstructing past biota populations, communities, landscapes, environments, and ecosystems from available geological and biological (fossil) evidence. There are two major types of paleoecology: Quaternary paleoecology, concerned with the last 2.8 million years of Earth’s history, and deep-time paleoecology, based on fossils from pre-Quaternary sediments over a wide range of timescales.” Rofes, who is an environmental archaeologist and paleontologist, in his correspondence with UPDate Online, explained “micromammals can be useful palaeoecological indicators, and that is the case of the remains from Tang-e Shikan Cave in the Iranian Zagros range. Through thorough taphonomic and taxonomic analysis, this assemblage reveals slight landscape and environmental changes between the older and younger human occupations of the site along the Middle Paleolithic period which can be reasonably correlated with cultural change in the region. Hominins involved in this process could be both Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern.” The Tang-e Shikan cave in Iran. Image from the research paper In the study Evolving Landscape and Cultural Change During the Middle Paleolithic in Southeast Zagros (Iran): Insights from a Micromammal Assemblage, Rofes and his team wrote, “The Iranian Zagros is a remarkable zone to study Middle and Upper Paleolithic human occupations, and Tang-e Shikan (Arsanjan) is a strategic cave site which archaeological evidence can be taken as a proxy for the southeast portion.” Rofes and his team explained they extensively used the micromammal assemblage from Tang-e Shikan cave “to infer the landscape and environment that framed and arguably triggered cultural change.” In their study, 14 taxa have been identified. These are “two ‘insectivores’, nine rodents, two lagomorphs, and an unidentified chiropteran.” Rofes and his team stated that their study’s “results show that shrubland and grassland dominated the distribution of habitats in the area during the Middle Paleolithic (MP), followed by moderate rocky, desert, and steppe components, and sparse patches of woodland. The younger period of the MP would be somewhat wetter than the older period.” Micromammal specimens from Tang-e Shikan cave. Image from the research paper More details of the team’s research can be read in Quaternary Science Reviews which published his study (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379124001586) last May. Rofes said this was his first international research funded by the UPD Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and…
Extension

Putting premium on public service

June 21, 2024
The University administration must place more value on a UP faculty member’s public service as part of his/her academic work. This was the urgent call made by the participants at the two-day 2024 UP Public Service Summit. Held in UP Diliman from May 30 to 31, the summit was organized by the UP Office of the Faculty Regent (OFR), All UP Academic Employees Union, and the Padayon Public Service Office, in partnership with the Office of the President, Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs. Participants of the public service summit. Photo from the UP Media and Public Relations Office Below is a news story about the event prepared by Kenneth Roland Guda of the OFR and posted on the Opisina ng Faculty Regent Facebook page: Place greater value in public service, summit participants urge UP admin By Kenneth Roland Guda Participants of the 2024 UP Public Service Summit from May 30 to 31 at the Vidal Tan Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman urged the university administration to put more value on public service as part of faculty members’ academic work. This entails, among others: increasing the percentage of public service in UP System programs; institutionalizing service-learning and community engagement; incentivizing faculty to perform public service functions; and increasing the percentage of public service in faculty merit promotion. The summit participants also proposed the establishment of a Public Service Productivity Award, as well as a system-based public service grant and mobilization fund, and institutionalization of public service load credit. The summit’s plenary speakers, meanwhile, also urged UP faculty members and participants of the summit to merge public service with the faculty’s other academic functions like research and teaching, thus enhancing and giving inspiration to the latter. Judy Taguiwalo, PhD, former Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary and former Faculty Regent, for instance, pointed out UP’s support for Lumad struggle for justice and protection of their ancestral land as an example of the university’s commitment to social change. “Iyong pagbibigay ng UP ng espasyo, halimbawa, sa mga Lumad—hindi lang iyon usapin ng welfare. Ang scholarship natin maaaring tumungo sa advocacy. And advocacy can lead to scholarship. It can also become subject of our scholarship. Iyon ang gusto natin: To encourage engagement with the communities not just because it is public service but it can also lead to teaching, research, and scholarship,” she said. Erlinda Palaganas, PhD, president of the Cordillera Center for Health and Social Concerns, former president of the Philippine Nurses Association, as well as former director of the Institute of Management in UP Baguio, urged the faculty participants to fuse their research work with advocacy…
Notices

2024 Search for the Next UPD College of Arts and Letters Dean: Announcement of Nominees and Schedules of the Public Forum and Interviews

June 13, 2024

UPDate ONLINE

UPD honors loyalty and excellence

June 28, 2024

It is said that excellence is found not in moments of brilliance but in the accumulation of everyday effort, and this was on full display at the two-part 2024 Parangal at Pagkilala para sa mga Kawani at Retirado ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (Parangal at Pagkilala para sa mga Kawani at Retirado). The first part of […]

PAJ presents UP’s flagship programs to the public

June 28, 2024

UP President Angelo A. Jimenez presented to the press his administration’s strategic plan for UP, which carried the theme Transformative University in the Service of the Nation. According to a brief the UP System presented, the UP Strategic Plan 2023-2029 “embodies UP’s commitment to contribute to national growth and sustainable development” and is “rooted in […]

UPD gets 100% in June architecture licensure exam

June 27, 2024

Every examinee from the UP Diliman (UPD) College of Architecture (CA) passed the June 2024 Licensure Examination, giving the University a 100% passing rate. Four examinees entered the top 10. Leading the 27 passers are Anna Patricia R. De Leon in second place (83.40%), Alyssa Rose C. Napoles in third (83.10%), Ida Talia A. Hernandez […]
See all news

Publications

See all issues
See all issues

Events

World Expert Lecture Series: Application of Biomarkers and Stable Isotopes in Archaeology
Jul 02

World Expert Lecture Series: Application of Biomarkers and Stable Isotopes in Archaeology

Everyone is invited to the lecture series “Application of Biomarkers...
Jul 03
World Expert Lecture Series: Application of Biomarkers and Stable Isotopes in Archaeology

World Expert Lecture Series: Application of Biomarkers and Stable Isotopes in Archaeology

Everyone is invited to the lecture series “Application of Biomarkers...
Jul 03
Publishing for Impact: New Lessons and Lessons Relearned

Publishing for Impact: New Lessons and Lessons Relearned

Join the lecture “Publishing for Impact: New Lessons and Lessons...
Jul 03
Beyond Latay, May Saysay: Post-Field Insights on the Samar Field School 2024

Beyond Latay, May Saysay: Post-Field Insights on the Samar Field School 2024

The Binalot Talks “Beyond Latay, May Saysay: Post-Field Insights on...
See more events