Department of Economics organizes webinar series

Aiming to elevate its research profile, the School of Social Sciences' Department of Economics launched a seminar series featuring well-known speakers in the field.

Headed by Dr Majah Leah Ravago, the department's research committee arranged the webinar series inviting prominent economists, including those from different countries. 

Ravago said, "When I became the Research Committee Head of the department, this was one of the initiatives that I introduced because we were trying to raise the profile of research at the Economics department." Bringing her experience from her doctoral studies in Hawaii, Ravago wanted to create a regular avenue where researchers and students can share their knowledge and network. Thus, the seminar series emerged, a development of the former one-time seminars hosted by the department. 

The webinar series aligns with the Education Reform and Transformation of AMDG 2030 Goals by increasing scholar contribution and production of research. Holding a webinar for the Ateneo community makes new economics studies and knowledge more accessible to faculties and students, especially those who cannot attend conferences. In addition, the series allows academicians and students to be exposed to the economic trends and frontiers that colleagues outside the Ateneo are doing.

The seminar series' first installment was held on campus on 5 February 2020. Granting colleagues' requests from Thailand who expressed their interest in joining the seminar, the second part of the first season was live-streamed on Facebook. The transition to an online platform was not difficult since the seminar series was already available even before the lockdown. In July of the same year, the seminar series resumed through Zoom and Facebook. Recordings of the seminars are also posted on the University’s YouTube channel as a playlist. 

With the convenience of teleconferencing, inviting speakers from different countries has become more accessible, resulting in a geographically dispersed discourse with perspectives from various contexts. Furthermore, since the topics to be tackled in each webinar depend on the speakers' choice, the scope of the series is also broad, encompassing multiple scholastic ideas. Ravago added that chosen topics usually tackle technical-economic research or a more policy-oriented research -majority of which have yet to be published. The webinar not only allows participants to learn from the speakers' presentation, but the speakers can also gather other insights from the participants' feedback, which can help improve their paper before submitting it to publishers. 

With the online setup, the webinar is within easy reach of more participants, including those from abroad. Ravago proudly shared that the number of registrants typically surpasses the 100 participants limit of the department's Zoom subscription. These attendees are usually composed of economists, economics students, faculty, and others who are interested in the topic.

Announcements about the seminars are posted on the Ateneo Blueboard and LinkedIn. It can also be found on the department’s various social media channels: Facebook and Twitter.

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