ASOG holds the TPC PDF Second Research Workshop

On 14 October 2024, the Ateneo Policy Center’s Tobacco Control and Governance held the Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy Development Fellowship’s (TPC PDF) Second Research Workshop in the Pacifico Ortiz Hall of Ateneo de Manila University. The half-day workshop serves as an important event for the program to evaluate its Fellows’ current progress in their respective research activities and to seek recommendations and feedback from different stakeholders critical in improving their current research plans. Partners from the Department of Health – Health Promotion Bureau (DOH-HPB) and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DOH-DPCB), Vital Strategies, TPC PDF Advisory Board members, and representatives from tobacco control allies were in attendance.

The Second Research Workshop is part of a series of events lined up for the TPC PDF, an 8-month long fellowship program that launched last July 2024 to support the evidence-generation activities of the Philippines’ National Tobacco Prevention and Control Strategy 2030 (NTPCS 2030). Two Fellows, Mr Veincent Christian Pepito and Dr Veronica Prasad, were selected amongst multiple participants for their excellent policy research proposals and have since been making steady progress on their research plans. During the Second Research Workshop, they presented their current progress to attendees and sought feedback and support for their next steps in the data collection phase.

Various stakeholders and representatives from allied organizations shared their thoughts and feedback on the current state of their research plans, providing insight and support necessary for the use of high-quality data in their respective studies. Attendees were greatly impressed with the Fellows’ policy research, looking forward to the results of their eventual data analysis. The workshop concluded with the promise of further collaborative efforts to maximize the potential impact of their policy research projects on future tobacco control policies.