Left to right: Dr. Bagtasa, Dr. Racoma, Mr. Revilla, and Mr. Ducusin.
Faculty members and students from the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM), University of the Philippines, Diliman, represented the Institute at the 3rd National Conference of the Philippine Academic Society for Climate and Disaster Resilience (PASCDR) held on October 8-10, 2025, at De La Salle University, Manila.
The conference, with the theme “Localizing Science-Based and Creative Innovations for Climate Change Action and Disaster Risk Reduction Through Partnership and Collaboration” brought together researchers and practitioners across the country to share studies and experiences addressing climate change and disaster resilience in the Philippines.
In the session on “Data-Driven Insights on Tropical Cyclone Behaviour in the Philippines”, IESM Faculty members Dr. Bernard Alan Racoma and Dr. Gerry Bagtasa presented their latest work on tropical cyclone behaviour and machine learning-based prediction models. Their studies focused on characterizing regional and temporal patterns of tropical cyclones around landfall, and on the use of the Random Forest algorithms to forecast tropical cyclone rainfall.
IESM PhD Meteorology student Miguel Revilla also presented his research, “Tropical Cyclones Maintaining or Intensifying Post-Landfall in the Philippines: a Spatio-temporal Analysis using the IBTrACS and ERA5 Datasets.” Meanwhile, Mark Joseph Wiliam Ducusin, now pursuing a Master’s degress in Meteorology at IESM, presented his undergraduate thesis from the National Institute of Physics (NIP) titled “Access Disparities to Evacuation Centers in the Philippines,” under the session on Resilient Planning and Infrastructure Design.
The Philippine Academic Society for Climate and Disaster Resilience (PASCDR) is a professional organization that fosters collaboration among academics, researchers, and practitioners working on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. The 3rd National PASCDR Conference continues until October 10, 2025, featuring presentations on resilience, sustainability, and disaster management across disciplines.
Photos: Mark Ducusin, Text: written by BBR with assistance from ChatGPT. The text has been reviewed and verified by the author who takes full responsibility for its content.
