I am a political economist by training, having obtained my combined BA-MA degree in Political Economy from the University of Asia and the Pacific. I am also a human ecologist by profession, serving as an Assistant Professor of Human Ecology and Political Economy at the Department of Social Development Services, College of Human Ecology, and being a member of the Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Water of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. In 2022, I was elected as Internal Vice President of the Human Ecology Institute of the Philippines, Inc. (HUMEIN) – the professional organisation of human ecologists in the country.

I have almost 10 years of development experience working in the areas of environmental policy (mining, forestry, and natural resources development), climate change adaptation, disaster risk management, and the intersectionality of death and disaster. I have served as consultant, project staff, study leader and project leader in more than 25 research and technical projects funded by EGAP, UNICEF, Asian Development Bank, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Seoul National University, Ahmad Dahlan University, NEDA, among others. My most recent collaborative research project funded by the UAD Institute of Research and Community Service (Indonesia), sought to unpack the academic and practical knowledge on death and disasters in Indonesia and the Philippines.