by Adriel Nisperos
PhilDev, through the Innovation for Social Impact Partnership (ISIP) project, is virtually deploying six international professors to the Philippines for this year’s Visiting Professors activity to support partner-universities in their technopreneurship programs and activities.
After PhilDev’s successful deployments in the previous years, the Visiting Professors remains to be one of the organization’s key activities in supporting Philippine higher education institutions, particularly in implementing their Technopreneurship 101 (T101) course and TechHub programs. The Visiting Professors activity brings in global perspectives and practices on entrepreneurship, and provides an avenue for local and international universities to forge long-term partnerships.
However, all deployments for this year will be completely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Professors will be supporting the Philippine universities through online lectures, workshops, and mentorship sessions with university-based startups and social enterprises.
For this batch of visiting professors, two are returning to share once again their expertise and experiences on entrepreneurship and innovation. Meike Siegner, a PhD candidate in Sustainable Management from the University of British Columbia in Canada who was also a visiting professor in 2019; and Dr. Esther Obonyo, an Associate Professor of Engineering Design and Architectural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in the United States who has been a long-time partner of PhilDev in previous deployments.
Here are the new international professors who will be part of this year’s deployments:
Dr. Rajat Panwar
Dr. Panwar is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Business Management and a Director of the Sustainable Business Management program at the Appalachian State University in North Carolina. He will be deployed this year to De La Salle University in Metro Manila.
Ms. Paula Mills
Ms. Mills is the Founder and CEO of Academy of Entrepreneurs, an entrepreneurial school and incubator based in Australia that empowers students to set up, launch, and scale their businesses. She will be deployed to two Philippine universities: Caraga State University in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte and Technological Institute in the Philippines in Metro Manila.
Mr. Russ Neu
Mr. Neu is the Founder and CEO of Social Collider, a collaborative, co-working, and co-innovation space based in Singapore supporting impact-driven organizations. He will be deployed also to two Philippine universities: Central Philippine University in Iloilo City and Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte.
Dr. Frank Koe
Dr. Koe is a Professor of Engineering Entrepreneurship at Pennsylvania State University. He helped develop the 18-credit intercollege minor in entrepreneurship at Penn State and the establishment of incubators on all campuses in the university. He will be deployed to Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City.
The Visiting Professors is one of the activities of the ISIP project, co-implemented by PhilDev and the United Nations Development Programme in the Philippines, with generous support from the Australian Embassy in the Philippines. Visit the ISIP website to learn more about the Visiting Professors activity and other programs.