‘If I have one message to the business community here [the Philippines], it is this: Stop just replicating and franchising foreign discoveries; invest in research.”
This was the message of British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad that highlights the importance of research in science and technology to the development of a country. Ahmad gave the message at the recent announcement of the recipients of the Newton Agham (Science) Programme. Ahmad recognizes the growing research industry in the country but says “it could grow a lot more.” He said the challenges are not about the talents, because the Philippines has a huge talent pool.
To harness such talents, the British government, together with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), awarded over £4 million (approximately P274 million) worth of grants to the recipients of the Newton Agham (Science) Programme. Now on its second year, the program promotes economic development and social welfare of partner-countries, recognizing that science, technology and innovation capability are essential to drive sustainable growth and develop technologies to benefit the society’s most vulnerable. During the announcement at the British ambassador’s residence on Wednesday, Ahmad said: “It’s not just the UK providing the funding and the partners, it’s the Philippine government matching our funding and linking research, universities, institutes…[to] identify programs, identify people, and get people to travel and do their work in the UK.”
“These grants demonstrate the collaboration between science and innovation-funding agencies, and the new links made between the UK and Philippine researchers. We look forward to the innovations that emerge from these partnerships, and the application of expert knowledge to improve the lives of people in the Philippines,” he added. From the Newton Fund launched in April 2014, the program is now rebranded to Newton Agham (Science) Programme to highlight the growing collaboration between the two countries in science, research and innovation. It was also announced that the program will be extended to 2021. From the current £75 million per year, the fund will be doubled to £150 million per year by 2021.
Science Secretary Mario G. Montejo expressed his full support to the Newton Agham Programme, saying, “This partnership with the UK government, through the Newton Agham initiative, will help us further build our country’s S&T-based Innovation Ecosystem…another milestone in our continuous pursuit for a technology self-reliant Philippines.”
Awardees
In addition to the first year’s seven institutional and 18 individual grants, for the second year the program will support six three-year research collaborations on the surveillance, diagnostics and characterization of infectious diseases, including malaria, dengue and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
The UK’s Medical Research Council will provide around £2.27 million for these projects, plus £1.45 million from the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department. Included in this UK-Philippines Joint Health Research is Emmanuel S. Baja, PhD, from the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila, with his research “HIV GET [Gaming, Engaging and Testing] Project” at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
He said the research aims to “use gaming to help increase the uptake of HIV testing.” It is through “serious gaming” that they aim to get into the culture of their target population, he said.
Baja told the BusinessMirror that this will initially be available to health facilities for free to monitor if it will encourage people, particularly the youth, to have themselves tested and not be hindered by the stigma associated with the disease. Awardees Cecilia C. Carlos, PhD, from the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, is set to complete the research topic “See and Sequence—Genomic Surveillance and High-Risk Pathogenic Clones Within the Philippines,” at Welcome Trust Sanger Institution; Ricky B. Nellas, PhD, UP Diliman, “Structure Elucidation and Characterization of the Venus Kinase Receptors of a Philippine Isolate of Schistosoma japonicum,” at Imperial College London;
Raul V. Destura, MD, UP Manila National Institutes of Health, “Triple-D Targets: The UK-Philippines Dengue Diagnostic and Drug Targets Research Consortium,” University of Bristol; Fe Esperanza C.J. Espino, PhD, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, “Ensure: Enhanced Surveillance for Control and Elimination of Malaria in the Philippines,” London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and Charles Y. Yu, PhD, De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, “Impact Assessment of Diagnostic Tools for Multidrug-Resistant and Drug-Sensitive Tuberculosis in the Philippines,” Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Meanwhile, Angelo Aquino, Charlie Lavilla Jr., Gene Fe Palencia and Shieldon Nino Uy will complete a three-year PhD program on different areas of expertise.
For the Leaders in Innovation fellowship, 15 Filipino scientists and business-development specialists will be attending a 10-day training program in the UK this month. They are Abundio Balgos, Proceso Fernandez Jr., Lilia Fernando, Michael Gragasin, Maria Leonora Guico, Mary Beth Manungas, Cecilia Nelia Maramba-Lazarte, PhD, Joey Ocon, Giannina Paola Santos, Giovanni Tapang, Nestor Michael Tiglao, Ravelina Velasco, Nelia Elisa Florendo, Rosemarie Garcia and Girlie Millo.
Krista Danielle Yu from the De La Salle University will go to University of Derby for two months to work on climate-change-resilient supply-chain network. Special to the BusinessMirror