The National Research Council of the Philippines’ (NRCP) Science and Technology Experts’ Pool or NSTEP Visayas conducts a membership campaign and research forum in Iloilo City.

The two-day activity was conducted by the Department of Science and Technology VI (DOST VI) as part of the activities of the NSTEP Visayas Cluster. It was attended by 18 faculty researchers from private and public universities from the provinces of Iloilo, Guimaras, Capiz and Antique.

On the first day, Dr. Naomi Cossette R. Luis, DOST VI Assistant Regional Director for Technical Operations, gave the opening remarks for the activity. She emphasized the need to increase the number of NRCP members in the Visayas Regions to be at par with the number of National Capital Region (NCR)-based members.

In addition, Ms. Kim Glaiza Wong from NRCP gave an orientation on NRCP membership wherein she discussed the benefits and requirements in detail. Following the orientation is a workshop wherein each participant was guided on how to fill out their applications on NRCP’s Shared Knowledge Management System (SKMS).

On the second day, a research forum was conducted. Two (2) NSTEP-funded researches were presented. The first research presented was entitled, “Characterization of Biological, Geomorphological/Hydrological, and Anthropogenic Activities of Fish Nurseries in the Riverine Estuary of Bago River Systems” by Ms. Jessica Oñate-Pacalioga from the University of St. La Salle. The second research presented was entitled, “Exploring Ethnoscience in Hablon Weaving of Miagao as Context for Culturally Relevant Science Education” by Dr. Edsel Coronado of Iloilo Science and Technology University – Miagao Campus.

NSTEP is one of DOST NRCP’s many initiatives that aims to enhance the capability of the regions in research, innovation, and policy-making.