UST holds first Diplomats’ Lecture, inks agreement with Catholic University of Lille

On April 16th, the first Diplomats’ Lecture Series with a theme “Climate Change,” was held at Bl. Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. (BGPOP) Building. Attended by 200 participants from UST and nearby universities, the said lecture was provided by Mr. Laurent Le Godec, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of France in the Philippines. His lecture focused on “The Efforts of France towards COP21: Commitment to Fight Climate Change.”

After the lecture, Rev. Fr. Herminio Dagohoy signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Santo Tomas and the Catholic University of Lille (CUL, France). The aim of this agreement is to develop cooperative activities in the fields of business, humanities, science and engineering.  As an initial project between UST and CUL, more than 10 Thomasian students will be attending the European Summer Program in Lille this coming term break.

Also held on this momentous event, two researchers of UST shared their works related to the event’s theme.  RCCESSI Director, Prof. Arlen A. Ancheta, delivered updates on her CHED-PHERNet-funded project entitled, “Localizing Climate Change: City of Manila as Context.”  Asst. Prof. Rey Donne Papa of RCNAS, shared his research on “Long-term Limnological Research and Palaeolimnology as tools to determine climate and human-induced changes in the Philippine Lakes: The UST experience.”  The work of Dr. Papa’s group was funded by BIO-ASIA France, and CHED-PHERNet.

Faculty members, researchers, and students from College of Science, College of Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Letters, College of Fine Arts and Design, and Creative Writing Center participated in the parallel event — Multidisciplinary Poster Presentations on Climate Change.  The exhibit, located at the lobby of BGPOP Bldg., was open to the public from April 16 to 24.