The Philippines
Pre-Jury

Dr. Ruby Roan-Cristobal is currently a Senior Lecturer at the College of Development Communication of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and the Executive Producer and Program Anchor of a science and technology radio program broadcasted nationwide on national radio, cable television, and social media. She is also actively helping organizations and academic institutions in crafting policy papers, training programs, and strategic communication plans and strategies.

She previously worked for the Science Education Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-SEI) as Chief Science Research Specialist, heading the Division which takes charge of STEM promotion, research in S&T human resources development and science education, and the Management Information System or MIS of the Institute. She trained and practiced in various areas of science communication, science education, and S&T human resources research. Her advocacy includes research in climate change communication to wards inclusive climate policy and action, and promotion of STEM careers for students.

She obtained her PhD degree in Communication from the University of the Philippines, her Master of Professional Studies in Development Communication from the University of the Philippines Open University, and her BS Biology degree from the University of the Philippines. She was a Fellow of the Australia Award in Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia in 2014.

She is the incoming President of the Science Communicators Philippines (SciCommPH) Inc. the Vice-President of Probe Media Foundation Inc. , and the Public Relations Officer of the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs. She has been part of the Science Film Festival in various capacities since 2010 through Goethe- Institut Philippines.

Joseph Gutierrez is currently the Supervising Science Research Specialist at the Space Education and Scholarship Division of the Philippine Space Agency. He has also worked at the Department of Education in various capacities: as a Science Teacher, Science Department Head and as a Supervising Education Program Specialist. He finished his bachelor’s degree from Adamson University, and MST-Physics from the University of Wyoming on a Fulbright Graduate Student Scholarship. He also participated in the 2009 International Leaders in Education Program at Montana State University-Bozeman.

While at DepEd, he led the team which developed the Science Shaping Paper and the MATATAG Science Curriculum.

He owns several small telescopes which he uses to propagate community-based astronomy education.