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KEYNOTE

Peta J. White

https://experts.deakin.edu.au/11457-peta-white/about

Co-Director, Center for Regenerating Futures

Associate Professor, Deakin University

Peta J. White is an Associate Professor in Science and Environmental Education at Deakin University. She led the OECD PISA Environmental Science contribution to the 2025 Science Framework 'Agency in the Anthropocene' and is active in climate change education research and advocacy. Peta Co-directs the Centre for Regenerating Futures - a Faculty Centre that explores Anthropocene challenges and decolonising practices while building researcher capacity. She is the Editor-In-Chief of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education. Her current research follows three narratives: science and biology education; sustainability, environmental, and climate change education; and collaborative/activist methodology and research.

Title: Leading to Climate CHANGE education: A trajectory of methodology

Abstract: Climate change and the 6th mass extinction are two important parts of the polycrisis that will inevitably change how we do education - because our lives will change. I changed my life when confronted with how I might educate future teachers about this importance and practices of educating their future students about sustainability - how we all need to live lightly on the Earth. I reflected… was I living lightly? In my phd I asked this of myself for 8 years! I employed autoethnography to ensure I could understand not only my what - but my why… how I was positioned in and by society. I also employed self-study of teacher education to consider how I might be able to teach teachers. I designed an action learning pedagogical strategy. This adventure did the work and I eventually came back to Australia as a newly minted PhD… and took up roles consecutively in two universities where I established self study research groups which involved the collaborative weaving together of research and teaching practices that balance the establishment of personal and communal growth. As my research deepend with my Deakin University colleagues and I started infusing arts-based practices and together we defined Collaborative Arts-based Autoethnography (CABAE). Simultaneously my science education research took up a design-based research practice. I now hover around these methodologies and engage in research focussed discussions at the Contemporary Approaches to Methodology (CAR) Symposium (held annually in November as a hybrid methodology focussed event) that invites presenters to contribute to an edited book. We are now submitting our 6th volume in a book series called Contemporary Approaches to Research in STEM Education. In this keynote I will unpack my experiences through the changing nature of these research methodologies that have driven my approach to climate change education and natural and human systems interactions.

I have also posted this event online too.

Romulo de Castro

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jongdecastro/

Director, Center for Informatics, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City

Consultant, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Medicine Diagnostic Imaging (NMDI) Section

Dr. Romulo de Castro (Jong) is a Balik Scientist and currently leads projects in telehealth (TDP4/ATIPAN+), mental health (MHAI) and Indigenous health (IHECs) funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada), the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO, UK), the Global South AI4PEP (AI for Pandemic/Epidemic Preparedness) Network, Fondation Pierre Fabre – Global South eHealth Observatory (ODESS, France), and INCITE Global Change Program (at Columbia University, USA). He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry & Genetics from the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston) and conducted his postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology (Neuroscience) and The Burnham Institute (Developmental Neurobiology). He took off from laboratory research to pursue Informatics/Data Science via the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Autism Speaks, Pathway Genomics, 3R Biosystems and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (where he focused his work on Minority Health and Health Disparities). His current work in Digital Health includes telemedicine in remote, underserved and marginalized Indigenous and rural low-income communities, planning and developing of the Philippines’ Mental Health Information System (MHIS), the Negros Occidental Mental Health Information Resource (NOMHIR), the Poison Control Network – Toxicology Information System (PCN-TIS), e-Care for Dementia and Health AI. His work outside health, in the Marine Sciences, is on Fish Monitoring in Marine Protected Areas (MPAFishMApp).

DR. MIGUEL Q. RAPATAN

Associate Professor teaches at the Department of Communication,

De La Salle University - Manila

Dr. Miguel Q. Rapatan finished his AB Communication-Arts degree (magna cum laude) at De La Salle University-Manila. He then obtained his MA Communication (Documentary Film) on a Fulbright grant from Stanford University. Through a second Fulbright award, he finished his second Masters and a Doctorate in Education major in Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education from Teachers’ College, Columbia University (New York). Today, Dr. Rapatan as Associate Professor teaches at the Department of Communication (DLSU-Manila) where he handles graduate courses in the Department’s MA in Applied Media Studies program. He has given talks in a number of national and international conferences on topics dealing with his research interests covering pedagogy, curriculum, technology integration, multimedia design, film studies, new media and media literacy. He has worked on various projects involving online learning, technology integration and literacy with the following organizations: UNFCCC based in Bonn, Germany; ABC+ in partnership with USAID; the ASEAN University Network; and the ASEAN Foundation based in Jakarta, Indonesia and various DepEd City Schools Divisions in Batac and Laoag, Ilocos Norte and Vigan in Ilocos Sur. He also served as member of a technical working group on flexible learning for the Non-Conventional Higher Education Division of the Commission on Higher Education. He is the Executive Director of SPARKEd based in De La Salle Zobel, a center established to conduct professional development programs in technology integration. He is also the consultant for Phoenix Educational Foundation, Inc. and the CEAP Commission for Philippine Catholic Schools Standards or PCSS for Basic and Higher Education. He is also the consultant for the Private Education Assistance Committee where he trains 150 private Junior High School teachers from all over the country on new pedagogical approaches such as the integration of Artificial Intelligence apps in teaching and learning.

Title: The Dance of Human Wisdom and AI Algorithms: Towards a Complementarity of Traditional and Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Practices in Research

Abstract: The keynote address explores the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping research practices across disciplines and educational levels. It contrasts traditional research—characterized by linear processes, human judgment, and limited scope—with AI-supported research, which enhances scale, speed, and pattern recognition through automation and intelligent systems It emphasizes a complementary paradigm where human creativity and critical thinking intersect with AI’s computational power, illustrated through example action research cases at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The document concludes with a forward-looking discussion highlighting their potential to engage in more challenging research and education while calling for ethical vigilance that ensures human agency, inclusive innovation and the pursuit of the common good.

PLENARY TALK

Decibel Faustino-Eslava

Professor, School of Environmental Science and Management

University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna

Lead Researcher, Action for Climate Change

Dr Decibel V. Faustino-Eslava is a geologist, professor, and university scientist at the University of the Philippines Los Baños-School of Environmental Science and Management (UPLB-SESAM).

She obtained her BS and MS in Geology degrees from The University of the Philippines - Diliman, her MS in Earth Systems from Kumamoto University, Japan, and her PhD in Geology from the University of Hong Kong.

She served as UPLB's School of Environmental Science and Management Dean for two consecutive terms, from 2015 to 2021. She was president of the Geological Society of the Philippines for two terms from 2021 to 2022 and president of the Philippine Environmental Science Association, Inc. from 2019 to 2024. Dr. Faustino-Eslava was the division chair for Earth and Space Sciences of the National Research Council of the Philippines from 2013-2017, during which she led the work on formulating the National Basic Research Agenda for the Environmental Sciences.

She was conferred by the NRCP the Achievement Award for Earth and Space Sciences in 2019 and by the Philippine Federation of Professional Associations-Council for the Built and Natural Environments the Distinction Award for the Geologist Profession in 2020. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's flagship women's leadership initiative, the Women's International Network for DRRM (WIN DRRM) Excellence Award, also recognized her as one of their finalists for 2023. She is a 2024 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipino Teacher awardee, and dubbed as Los Baños Environmental Crusader. She currently co-leads the commissioned work on crafting the Philippines' Action for Climate Empowerment Strategy, which seeks to empower all members of society to engage in climate action through key pillars that include education and training.

Title: Leveraging Education to Take Action for Climate Empowerment

Authors: Decibel Faustino-Eslava*, Maria Victoria Espaldon, Antonio Contreras, Loucel Cui, Eduardo Roquiño, Juan Miguel Guotana, Rosemarie Laila Areglado-Dimasuay, Maria Regina Regalado, Eduardo Calzeta, Danesto Anacio, Charles Gunay, Evaristo Niño Cando, Thaddeus Lawas, Sofia Alaira, Janice Sevilla-Nastor, Dhannielle Grace Bernardo, Cherry Padilla, Ericha Amante, Jessica Peyraube, Badi Samaniego, and Wesley Gagarin

*Corresponding author: dfeslava@up.edu.ph

Abstract:

We all feel it. The hotter days have become unbearably hotter, and the rainy days are becoming regular deluges. We all, as educators know this too well: climate change is overwhelming our education system. The number of school day cancellations due to inclement weather, disaster-related damages on already insufficient infrastructures, the rising frequency of the need to share school facilities with community evacuees, and increased climate-related health risks, among many others, have become more frequent. With an already heavily challenged sector, the impacts of these translate to even more reduced abilities to learn, aggravated retarded cognitive development, and, thus, long-term negative impacts to educational attainment.

Recent studies have shown that while most teachers recognize these issues, many feel technically unprepared to teach about climate change, mostly due to the lack of access to relevant training and teaching materials. While we emphasize the need for improve climate change education in our schools, the reality is that it takes the back seat when weighed against other issues, such as the low foundational skills of students, specifically in literacy and numeracy.

Nonetheless, the urgency to improve societal resilience cannot be put on the back burner. If we are to escape the viscous impacts of climate change, work must be realized through action-oriented climate education to equip children with knowledge and skills for green jobs, cultivate risk-reducing behaviors, reduce eco-anxiety, and develop advocacy skills for cultivating climate-conscious and just societies. The challenge, therefore, is how to develop climate literacy to empower children to become active contributors to sustainable practices and climate action.

Climate education channeled through both formal and community-based education the paradigm shift needed to achieve a just and climate-conscious society by changing habits and behaviors for the long term. This talk explores approaches to mainstreaming climate education into the overall education goals, with due consideration of current limitations and challenges. It introduces the Philippine’s Action for Climate Empowerment Strategy and proposes approaches for the education sector to contribute to its overall goals.

Dr Syafiq Mat Noor

PhD in Science Education (University College London (UCL), United Kingdom

Lecturer in Climate Change Education

Dr Syafiq Mat Noor is an Assistant Professor in Climate Change Education at the School of Education, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He is an international scholar, having previously undertaken competitive fellowships in Brunei Darussalam, England, Japan, Scotland, and the United States. He is widely recognised as an expert in curriculum development, specialising in participatory and decolonising methodologies. His research in curriculum development has been funded by prestigious organisations such as the British Academy, Education Scotland, and the Wellcome Trust, with a focus on climate change education, science education, and STEM education. In more recent times, climate change education and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) have become central aspects of his work. He is currently leading a substantial research grant on climate change education with indigenous communities, Voices of the Rainforest. This project seeks to co-create a traditional ecological knowledge-based climate change curriculum framework for schools in collaboration with indigenous communities in Malaysia.

Title: Participatory action research as a pathway towards decolonising curriculum development

Abstract: Participatory action research is inherently transformative rather than merely informative. In the context of curriculum development, it calls for the active involvement of students, teachers, parents, and community members – not as passive subjects, but as co-researchers in the process of knowledge production. However, in many countries, curriculum development continues to follow Westernised, top-down approaches that marginalise local epistemologies. This presentation draws on three case studies—The Knowledge Project (KPTEAL) in Scotland, STEMFunds in Brunei Darussalam, and Voices of the Rainforest in Malaysia – to demonstrate the transformative potential of participatory action research as a decolonial approach to curriculum development. Through these cases, I argue that local epistemologies serve as a critical resource for curriculum development. Participatory action research, as a participatory methodology, can centre local epistemologies, thereby challenging dominant paradigms and fostering more inclusive, and culturally grounded curricula.

Mary Brydon-Miller

https://louisville.edu/education/faculty/brydon-miller

Professor, University of Louisville

Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation, and Organizational Development, College of Education and Human Development

Mary Brydon-Miller, PhD is a participatory action researcher who conducts work in both school, organization, and community settings. She is the editor, with David Coghlan, of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research (2014). Her most recent book with Sarah Banks is Ethics in Participatory Research for Health and Social Well-Being: Cases and Commentaries. She is currently working on an international middle-school citizen science project focused on global climate change education.

Invited Symposia

1 / [Action research in business and entrepreneurship]

Maria Paquita D. Bonnet, PhD
Chairperson and Associate Professor
Management and Organization Department, Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business
Cecilio Kwok Pedro Professor in Entrepreneurship Management
De La Salle University, Manila