DIRECTOR
Czarina Saloma-Akpedonu
Dr. Saloma-Akpedonu, Associate Professor of Sociology and concurrently Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, obtained her doctorate in Sociology (2002) from Universitaet Bielefeld in Germany, her M.A. in Population Science (1994) from Peking University in the People's Republic of China, and her B.A. in Sociology (1991) from the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her professional responsibilities include being President of the Philippine Sociological Society and Secretary of the Board of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Science and Technology of the International Sociological Association. She was awarded the 2007 National Academy of Science and Technology "Outstanding Young Scientist" in the field of Sociology. She is the author of "Possible Worlds in Impossible Spaces: Globality, Gender, Knowledge and Information Technology in the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2006).
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR RESEARCH
Ma. Elizabeth Macapagal
Dr. Macapagal is Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology of
Ateneo de Manila University. She received her M.A. in Social Psychology from the
Claremont Graduate University and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the Ateneo de
Manila University. She has published books and articles on general psychology, people
power, peace and political psychology, and gender socialization. She was former chair of
the Ateneo Psychology Department and a former member of the Board of Directors of the
Psychological Association of the Philippines.
RESEARCH SCIENTIST
Mary Racelis
Dr. Racelis (formerly Hollnsteiner) is former IPC Director, as well as Senior Professorial
Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ateneo de Manila University. She has published extensively in the areas of poverty and well-being, urbanization, community
organizing and people's empowerment, civil society, gender, children and youth, education, and socio-cultural change. Her close interaction with community based NGOs and People's Organizations over many years and her service on several local and international NGO boards has given her the informal title of "activist social scientist." In 1975, De La Salle University awarded her a Doctorate in the Social Sciences, honoris causa, while the Ateneo de Manila University conferred on her the doctorate in humanities, honoris causa, in 2003. In 2004, the Consuelo Foundation gave her the Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
Angela Desiree M. Aguirre
A research associate of the IPC, Ms. Aguirre served as training director of the UNICEF-initiated capacity building of local communication task forces in 2006. The following year, she directed a UNICEF-commissioned special project on developing community-based communication materials on Bird Flu prevention intended for a national information campaign. Ms. Aguirre has been involved in a number of participatory researches on children and youth, people-centered health, agrarian reform, and natural resource management. Her academic training includes a fellowship at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, The Netherlands, where she obtained a diploma on Children, Youth and Development, and a master’s degree in Social Development from the Ateneo de Manila University. With Mary Racelis, she co-authored a participatory research-based publication “Making Philippine Cities Child-Friendly: Voices of Children in Poor Communities.
Erik Akpedonu
Erik Akpedonu studied Architecture at the Lippe University of Applied Sciences in Detmold, Germany, where he graduated in 1997 with a German MA equivalent. His professional work experience stretches over three continents, having worked since 1992 with reputable architectural firms in Germany, Ghana and Malaysia, where he participated in numerous small-, medium-, and large-scale projects located in those countries as well as in the Middle East. Since his arrival in the Philippines in 2006, Mr. Akpedonu has been working as a Research Associate with the Ateneo de Manila University’s Institute of Philippine Culture, conducting extensive surveys of Philippine historic architecture in Bohol (2006/2007) and currently in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces. He is co-author (with Czarina Saloma) of the book “Bohol Ancestral Houses” (Ateneo de Manila University Press, forthcoming).
Cynthia C. Veneracion
Jon Michael R. Villaseñor
Currently a part-time lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Ateneo de Manila University, Mr. Villaseñor was research associate and deputy director at the Ateneo Social Science Research Center of the Ateneo de Naga University from 2000-2008, where he had extensive experience in participatory research and social extension, particularly on child labor and youth issues and child-focused barangay development planning. Mr. Villaseñor also has extensive experience in the Gender and Development approach, having engaged in various researches and capacity-building activities on gender issues with local and international agencies. Out of his researches, he has written and presented papers on gender and youth issues to local and international audiences. He holds a master’s degree in Social Development from the Ateneo de Manila University.
Fernando Nakpil Zialcita
Dr. Zialcita has an M.A. in Philosophy from the Ateneo de Manila University, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Hawaii. He is Full Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University and heads the Cultural Heritage Studies Program at the same. Though from Manila, much of his field research took place among farming communites in the Ilocos, Northern Luzon. Lately, however, he has shifted his focus to street research because of his interest in urban heritage and regeneration. Indeed he is active in groups advocating the preservation of built heritage. Though interested in the Hispanic World, he has also explored the world of Southeast Asia. He thus writes on the interface between the Southeast Asian and the Hispanic worlds in domains of Filipino culture such as traditional architecture, cookery and popular Christianity. He is the Project Director of IPC 297 (Preserving and Protecting Philippine Heritage Architecture).
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Ma. Nenita Adan
Maria Cynthia Barriga
Justin Basco
Romeo Galang
Paolo Camacho
Mar Ticao
Diana Moraleda
Michael Pante
Michelle Ting
Richard Bautista
Popi Laudico
Aileen Tobias
Charles Tobias
OFFICE ASSISTANT
Joanna Blancaflor