Ateneo presents papers at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Sustainable Development in Higher Education

Last 27-28 October 2025, Dr Emmanuel D Delocado (AIS, Bio), Dr Ma Assunta C Cuyegkeng (AIS, GBSEALD), and Ms Abigail Marie T Favis (ES) presented papers at the 2^nd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Sustainable Development in Higher Education which took place in Singapore Management University, Singapore.

Dr Delocado, Director of AIS and Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology, delivered a talk entitled “Navigating towards sustainability: The case of Ateneo de Manila University” co-authored by Dr Cuyegkeng and Ms Favis. The presentation outlined the different phases of the sustainability journey of Ateneo de Manila, together with the corresponding context, drivers, and strategies for each phase. The presentation sets the tone for the other presentations from Ateneo.

Building from the landscape presentation, Dr Cuyegkeng, founding director of AIS and Executive Director of The Lily Ngochua Gokongwei Leadership Academy of GBSEALD, focused on how the academic curriculum is designed to promote sustainability and integral ecology. Co-authored by Dr Delocado and ms Favis, her talk entitled “Sustainable development in the Higher Education curriculum: The approach of the Ateneo de Manila University” dissected how the core, major, and non-academic curricula contribute to building an ecological mindset among college students.

Lastly, Ms Favis, Assistant Professor of the Department of Environmental Science and former Program Manager for Campus Sustainability at AIS, delivered a talk entitled “The Ateneo Wild: Community-based biodiversity conservation in an urban campus”. Her presentation, co-authored by Ms Maria Katrina Constantino, Instructor at the Department of Biology, talked about their initiatives on promoting ecological citizenship in an urban setting.

Organized by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and Singapore Management University, the conference gathered sustainability champions from different universities across six continents. The Ateneo contingent was able to explore possible partnerships with other presenters during the networking session.