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 aired 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) where she retired as Chief Science Research Specialist,  heading the Division which takes charge of STEM promotion, S&T human resources development and science education research, and the Management Information System or MIS of the Institute. During her tenure at the DOST-SEI, she served as the Science Consultant of Sineskwela, a curriculum-based science educational program on television produced by the ABS-CBN Foundation Inc., which aired for 14 years and viewed by public elementary school students in class.

She trained and practiced in various areas of science communication, science education, IT management, and S&T human resources research.

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 current President of the Science Communicators Philippines (SciCommPH) Inc. , the Vice-President of Probe Media Foundation Inc. (PMFI), the Public Relations Officer of the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs Inc. (PSYSC), and a member of the Philippines Communication Society (PCS).

Breech Asher Harani is a filmmaker and artist from the Davao Region of the Philippines, who writes, produces and directs films that tackle social, cultural and environmental stories in narrative, experimental, documentary and animation form. He is a recipient of the JCS International Young Creatives Award by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and a Forbes '30 Under 30' Lister for Arts in Asia. He graduated with a Degree in Arts majoring in Mass Communication at the Holy Cross of Davao College and is an alumnus of The Rockefeller Foundation's CNN Academy: Climate Storytelling Program in Abu Dhabi. He is a recipient of the Voices with Impact Short Film Grant, CCCL Film Festival Short Film Grant, CNN Reporting Grant, Financial Times Climate and Labour Film Grant and the Pulitzer Center's Impact Initiative Grant. 

Joseph currently serves as Supervising Science Research Specialist at the Space Education and Scholarships Division of the Philippine Space Agency. Prior to this role, he held various positions at the Department of Education, including Science Teacher, Science Department Head, and Supervising Education Program Specialist.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Adamson University and completed his MST in Physics at the University of Wyoming through a Fulbright Graduate Student Scholarship. In 2009, he also joined the 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.