Over 600 senior high, undergraduate, and postgraduate students, along with faculty researchers, were awarded for their innovative research contributions at Gawad Saliksik 2025, held at the Verdure, Henry Sy Sr. Hall, last February 5.
Led by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI), the event recognized individuals based on specific categories, namely whether they had published with local and international collaborators in Scopus, Web of Science, ASEAN Citation Index, or Andrew Gonzalez Philippine Citation Index Journal; whether they had accomplished an externally-funded project; and, for faculty members, their respective total accumulated Scopus-indexed papers and most-cited works in the said journal. The celebration also symbolized the University’s commitment to developing influential research studies, following the Research at DLSU’s core belief, “Quality Solutions Driving Global Change.”
Because of the awarded faculty members, the University was able to take in a cumulative total of 52 papers under its name. Among the student honorees, at least 40 came from the Senior High School Department.
In his opening address, University President Br. Bernard Oca FSC highlighted the inherent importance of advancing research with global impact and reiterated the University’s intent to pursue the “green research university” plan introduced in the previous academic year.
Oca also emphasized the administration’s goal of improving DLSU’s global standing until it is positioned within the second quartile of the Asian universities ranking.
When asked whether the rankings have influenced the University’s policies, Vice President of Research and Innovation Dr. Raymond Tan explained, “We do not want to overlook the fact that some students will be looking for jobs abroad and will need a strong name and proof of this,” and that the emphasis on research is a method of achieving that.
In line with leading research that drives global change and highlights social responsibility, Tan shared that he subscribes to the philosophy that “the ‘frontliners’ (researchers) are the ones who know best and that the only thing a proper university should do is to hold them to a high standard.”
He cited one of the University’s younger research units, the Evelyn D. Ang – Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Health Technologies, as an example of impactful research, given that they have earned millions of pesos in funding in just six years.
The benefits of publishing working and policy papers were also underscored by Carlos L. Tiu School of Economics Full Professor Dr. Angelo Unite in his keynote address, saying, “It will significantly help researchers in maximizing their impact beyond the academe.”
“Apparently, it is taking 20 percent of our funding, which is quite significant compared to the one percent before… that is how I view the research center… and if the researchers can have their own version of that (working and policy papers), [then] that is a way to communicate and make us well-known,” Unite shared.
He further emphasized the idea that “one’s greatness stems from small beginnings” and acknowledged how exceptional the changes were regarding the environment of global research; the University itself has managed to publish at least 800 Scopus-indexed papers in 2024, symbolizing a tremendous contribution to the advancement of research.
To support the University’s commitment to being recognized as a prime research institution, it was also announced during the open forum that Lasallians’ academic journals will be gradually transferred to the Animo Repository website, allowing students and faculty alike to have a centralized hub for their outputs.
This article was published in The LaSallian‘s March 2025 issue. To read more, visit bit.ly/TLSMarch2025.
