23Jaime Manalo IV, a Filipino scholar of the Australian Leadership Awards, said that his Master in Communication (Communication for Social Change) degree at the University of Queensland opened a lot of doors for him. Prior to his acceptance at UQ, Mr. Manalo has never been overseas. A year after applying for the said degree, Mr. Manalo was travelling to different parts of the world. He was able to go to London to present his research paper on e-readiness assessment of five top rice-producing provinces of the Philippines at the International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D).There, he had the rare opportunity to meet his hero, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web.
His paper, “Theorising ICT4D in Philippine Agriculture: Deriving from trends, setting directions”, was a finalist in the Best Paper competition during the 24th National Rice Research and Development Conference in the Philippines. The same paper was also highly commended when it was presented in the “Regional Conference on New Media for ASEAN Development” held at the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in Thailand.
His degree at the UQ also enabled him to go to Central Vietnam to conduct his practicum with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. According to Mr. Manalo, the internship in Vietnam was very challenging but he has learned so much from it. It gave him new perspectives and skills in cross cultural communication and every assignment challenged him to learn and grow.
Mr. Manalo, who is now working at the Philippine Rice Research Institute, returned to Brisbane on 20 July for his graduation. He plans to complete his PhD at UQ so he can attain his dream of teaching at the University of the Philippines.
The Master of Communication (Communication for Social Change) is convened by the Centre for Communication and Social Change, the only centre in Australia that specializes in Communication for Social Change through collaborative research, postgraduate programs, consultancies, professional development courses, and an annual award.
Source: University of Queensland
