The threat of a super typhoon was not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of organizers and participants of the ConTReNDS 2023 virtual research conference with the theme “Research and Innovations for the Better Normal.”
The conference was joined by 40 schools with over 200 abstract submissions. Close to 1,000 participants eagerly attended the plenary and parallel sessions covering studies on Education and Learning; Behavioral Health, Psychology, and Mental Healthcare; Governance, Human Rights, and Public Policy; Business, Management, Tourism, and Development Studies; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; Language and Communication Studies; Social Sciences and Humanities, and Environmental and Natural Resource Management.
“The overall experience is very liberating. It’s a window of many insights and perspectives. It’s a smorgasbord of intellectual quirks and divergences,” Dr. Jeffrey Lubang, one of the session moderators shared.
After the first day of the event, there were questions as to whether the conference would be postponed because of the expected entry of super typhoon Betty (international name: MAWAR) into the Philippine Area of Responsibility. Organizers and participants opted to push through with the schedule and jampacked parallel sessions for the morning and afternoon schedules attested to the participants’ enthusiasm for research and innovation.
“We were overwhelmed by the response of the people who would like to share their researches and findings that may help forge national development in the post-pandemic world. The topics were varied which shows the interests of people, literally from all fields. We are thankful to many people who supported the conference in their own small and big ways,” University Research Office Director Dr. Edwin Lineses said.
He added that he is hoping to replicate the success of ConTrends with a much more ambitious international event next year which is expected to be staged in multiple venues.
“We are expecting more challenges as it would be a logistic nightmare. Hence, we need to prepare long and well for this event. As a multi-venue event, we are also expecting more localized applications of the topics and strands in the conference. More opportunities for collaboration with different institutions and more participation to the conference,” he added.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Johnny Ching, DLSU-D Assistant Vice Chief Administrative Officer for Research, teased that next year’s event will be on-site and will happen simultaneously in different countries.
“Please save the date – March 2024. I hope to see you all again in the International Conference for Research Inclusivity and Sustainability or INCRIS 2024. This time it will be an on-site conference that will happen simultaneously in different venues, hopefully in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taipei, and the Philippines, here at DLSU-D. Therefore, you can choose where to go! Kaya ihanda na muli ang inyong mga pananaliksik at ibahagi sa INCRIS 2024!” he said.