TO CULTIVATE a culture of research and provide a forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the latest studies and best practices – these are the main objectives of the 3rd Madayaw International Multidisciplinary Virtual Research Conference.
The recently concluded San Pedro College (SPC)-led research conference happened on October 1 and 2 and was participated by 1,406 individuals from 72 institutions nationwide and outside of the country.
“We pulled it off successfully. We can say that because this year we were able to surpass our target of just 400 participants, we ended up gathering over 1,400 of them,” Madayaw 3.0 vice-chair and Director of Research, Publication, and Innovation Center of SPC Jasmen S. Pasia, MSMT said in an online interview.
She added participants were able to experience a “scholarly exchange of the latest research ideas, methods, results and share experiences, best practices, on all theoretical, experimental and applied aspects of multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary sciences in the light of the current health crisis.”
Madayaw 3.0 centered on the theme: Shaping the Future of Research Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Another highlight for this year’s edition is its strengthened international linkage with foreign collaborators.
Madayaw 3.0 vice-chair and Director of the Internationalization and Linkages Office of SPC Dr. Erwin M. Faller, for his part, said the conference was graced by international collaborators: Monash University, Malaysia; National Sun Yat-sen University of Taiwan, Taiwan; University of Melbourne, Australia; Daffodil International University, Bangladesh, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, USA.
This year’s conference is in partnership with the Regional Development Council XI, C & E Publishing, and Quipper.
This year was also the launching of their first e-Poster competition.
Pasia also said that this is also to promote their multidisciplinary refereed journal which is published annually.
“This is also a way to invite our presenters to publish their papers to our Madayaw Journal,” she said.
Madayaw is a Dabawnon word which means anything good, beautiful, valuable, and productive – a familiar feeling when one accomplishes a research work.
Pasia emphasized that cultivating a culture of research among educators is important as it is one of their primary functions.
“Aside from teaching and participating in community extensions, the faculty should also be not just consumers but also producers of knowledge that should effect change in the community,” she said.
Faller also said that researches produced should always respond to the needs of the community’s concerns.
“Serving the people – this should be the endpoint of what we are doing. This is actually research for the people, on how we mitigate the disease and other emerging Covid-19 issues,” he shared.
Meanwhile, Pasia shared with excitement that they are currently preparing for the fourth edition of the conference. She said they plan to make it anew as an accredited activity of Kadayawan festival next year.
“This year’s conference must be that engaging and enriching as we already received a couple of emails inquiring about Madayaw next year. Rest assured that we will make it bigger and better next year,” she said.