BOGOR, Indonesia – The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) awarded a travel grant to Ms. Jennet E. Razo, PhD in Environmental Science student at UPLB, for her participation in a summer program at Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Indonesia. The UC allocates funds each year to qualified lecturers or graduate students for travel to another participating UC member university.

Ms. Razo participated in the 12th International Summer Course Program for Agriculture and Ecosystem Resilience to Environmental Disaster toward Regional Sustainability on 2-10 September 2018. The event was organized by the Graduate School and the Center for Disaster Studies of IPB, the University of Rukyus, and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

The program was arranged to understand regional sustainability by means of multifaceted research of disaster prevention and agriculture and ecosystem resilience from disaster and social-technology disruption. It involved plenary lectures and students' presentation on their research, field practice, technical tours, and group discussion toward regional sustainability. The issues covered specific to general aspects of technological implementation, research and development, organization and management, finance, government policy aspect, and human resources.

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) serves as UC Secretariat. The UC provides travel grants for students to go to another participating UC member to do research, present oral or poster papers, take courses for credit, and participate in trainings or workshops. The participating UC members are IPB, Universitas Gadjah Mada, and Universitas Brawijaya in Indonesia; Universiti Putra Malaysia; Kasetsart University in Thailand; UPLB; and Tokyo University of Agriculture in Japan.