IGRD holds writing boot camp for UPLB-CBSUA PhD students

The Institute for Governance and Rural Development (IGRD) organized the Dissertation Proposal Writing Bootcamp on Jul. 18-29 for the PhD Development Studies (DVST) students under the UPLB-Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) cohort program. Held at CPAf and online, the event was participated on-site by 17 DVST students who are writing their thesis proposals.

IGRD, the academic unit of the College of Public Affairs and Development, houses PhD DVST, a transdisciplinary program of the UPLB Graduate School. The writing boot camp has been part of the student services of IGRD since 2017.

Although initially intended for DVST students of the CBSUA cohort program, other PhD students of the College who will present their proposals this year also attended the 2022 boot camp. They joined the lectures and output presentations via virtual conferencing.

“We are hopeful that the two-week dissertation writing boot camp will equip our participants with the competencies needed to navigate more effectively and efficiently the proposal writing stage of their dissertation,” said Dr. Evelie P. Serrano, IGRD director and chair of the DVST Graduate Program Management Committee.

The boot camp was packed with various learning activities, including lectures, library work, consultation sessions with their advisers, and output presentations.

The lectures delivered by CPAf faculty and librarian Mary Ruth O. Rasco focused on the scientific writing process and on the available library materials and services, respectively. Dr. Monica H. Walet, a CPAf faculty member, talked about managing stress and anxiety during dissertation writing. CPAf alumnus Dr. Ernesto L. Bastida, Jr., also shared his dissertation writing experiences with the participants.

Among the resource persons were Dr. Jomar F. Rabajante, dean of the Graduate School, who gave tips on appreciating research writing; Dr. Mark Oliver S. Llangco of the Department of Social Science of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS-DSS) and Dr. Francis Peddie of Nagoya University who talked about research ethics; Dr. Irene R. Tanzo, also a DSS faculty member who discussed qualitative research; and Dr. Edmund G. Centeno, a faculty member at the College of Development Communication, who discussed designing effective research presentations.

“With the knowledge, values, and stories of the PhD journey of our resource speakers, I appreciated more the relevance of various phases of the process,” said Karen B. Perez, one of the DVST students.

At the end of the boot camp, all on-site participants presented their draft proposals and received feedback from their advisory committee chair. They will then continue to work on their thesis proposals and defend them this coming semester. Under the PhD DVST cohort program with CBSUA, students are expected to graduate within the Academic Year (AY) 2022-2023. UPLB and CBSUA started the PhD DVST cohort program in the second semester of AY 2019-2020.


First published by UPLB at https://uplb.edu.ph/academic/igrd-holds-writing-boot-camp-for-uplb-cbsua-phd-students/.

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Maria Luz Malabayabas
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University Researcher at CPAf