He is currently serving as Commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Prior to his stint at CHED, he was the Vice President for Public Affairs of the University of the Philippines. He also served as the Director of two NCPAG centers: the Center for Policy and Executive Development (CPED) and the Center for Leadership, Citizenship, and Democracy (CLCD).

Dr. De Vera brings with him extensive experience in the Philippine government, having served as a Technical Assistant, Chief-of-Staff, Senior Consultant, and Senior Adviser to former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Senate President Pro-Tempore Sotero Laurel, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, and Juan Flavier and Senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Gregorio Honasan. He also worked as a Jesse Marvin Unruh Fellow/Policy Analyst with the Committee on Revenue and Taxation of the California State Legislature in the United States. 

CHED OIC De Vera was awarded as 2014 Outstanding Pangasinense by the Provincial Government of Pangasinan. He was a Fulbright-Hays Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and the California State University-Sacramento (1990-1992), and Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University (2000-2001).

His expertise includes forest fire management and wildlife management. He has over 20 ESCI articles in various international publications. Additionally, he is a member of editorial boards in various International Journals and also the head editor of Journal of Kastamonu University Faculty of Forestry. He is a supervisor of many MSc and PhD students. He speaks Turkish and English, married and has 3 children.

PROF. RADOMIR JASKUŁA, PH.D. (University of Lodz, Poland)

Dr. Jaskula is specializing in tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae or Cicindelinae) and is especially interested in zoogeography (including phylogeography), ecology and diversity of Cicindelidae of the Mediterranean Region (mainly Balkan Peninsula, Maghreb and Levant regions). He is also working on ground beetle diversity (Carabidae) in Central Europe, especially in protected areas and biodiversity of insects in protected areas in Central Poland.

His scientific expeditions were in these countries: Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, among others. To date, Dr. Jaskula’s scientific outputs include 19 publications with impact factor, 42 original publications, and a number of monographs, book chapters, book reviews, and more than 50 conference abstracts. 

DR. GANAPATHY P. GANAPATHY 

(VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, INDIA)

Dr.Ganapathy graduated from the College of Engineering Guindy and earned his Master’s degree on Applied Geology at Anna University, Tamil Nadu, India. He completed his Doctoral Research in Earthquake Microzonation for Chennai City at Anna University, Chennai, India. As a scientist, he has carried out research studies in the field of earthquake hazard assessment, earthquake monitoring, seismic micro-zonation, landslide hazard zonation, liquefaction hazard mapping, soil bioengineering for slope stabilization, environmental impact assessment and management.

Dr. Ganapathy presented more than 50 research papers in reputed international/national journals, workshops and conferences and he is Managing Editor and Editorial Board Member of 13 International Journals. He offered technical support in two major publications by the Government of India viz. Seismic Micro-Zonation methodology, Landslide Hazard Zonation Atlas of India.

Creating awareness on Disaster Education to the public and scientific community across the globe, he has been invited to lecture in various academic institutions for the last 12 years, including MSU-IIT, Philippines. His last visit to MSU-IIT in 2015 was at the GDIC http://www.msuiit.edu.ph/offices/opi/ downloads/gazette-may-2015.pdf

He is a member for the creation of Disaster loss database for Tamil Nadu State by UNOPS, Geneva, and a member pf the Working Committee on Landslide Hazard Mitigation, formulated by the National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India. Dr. Ganapathy contributed to the Global Assessment Report 2011 on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Currently, he has on-going projects funded by UN on the development of early warning system and working as an Associate Professor & Director at Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.

DR. IRDIKA MANSUR (SEAMEO- BIOTROP, INDONESIA)

Dr. Mansur is the Director of SEAMEO BIOTROP the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology and also a lecturer at the Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia.

 He received his BSc in Forestry from IPB in 1988 and completed his Master’s degree in Forestry Science (MForSc) from the School of Forestry University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 1994. In 2000, he earned his Ph.D. at the Department of Biosciences, the University of Kent in England. He has been engaged with various research projects related to reforestation, bioremediation, and reclamation of ex-mine sites in Indonesia. He has visited some ex-mine sites in other countries, such as Thailand, New Zealand, and the UK. His interest is to restore the productivity of degraded forest and ex-mine land.

 He recently completed his international collaborative research funded by the British Council, under the Global Innovation Initiative, where he served as the Country Coordinator. The research is entitled “Establishing a Network of Research Excellence for Mine Reclamation in Southeast Asia” in collaboration with Bangor and Aberystwyth Universities (UK), North Carolina University (US), and universities in Indonesia such as Bogor Agricultural University, Bandung Institute of Technology, University of Diponegoro, and University of Brawijaya, and in collaboration with Bukit Asam Ltd. a state coal mining company in South Sumatera, Indonesia.

Dr. Mansur has introduced essential oil-bearing tree and plant species for rehabilitation of ex-mining sites to bring back economic value, and socio-ecological function of the ex-mine site as early as possible.