DOST-NRCP President gets seat in International Science Council statutory committee

The International Science Council (ISC) recently appointed Department of Science and Technology-National Research Council of the Philippines (DOST-NRCP) President and Mathematical Sciences Chair, Dr. Ma. Louise Antonette N. De Las Peñas, as a member of its Committee on Finance, Compliance, and Risk (CFCR), under the ISC Governing Board.

ISC brings together some 250 scientific organizations across the natural and social sciences, including international scientific unions and associations and national and regional science academies and research councils, as well as other scientific bodies. It is the world’s largest international non-governmental, broad-based science organization.

CFCR is one of two statutory committees of ISC, the other being the Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science. CFCR addresses issues of finance, compliance and risk management. It periodically reviews the rules of procedure and organizational policies of the Council, and is responsible for the dues scale and schedule, as well as related policies. The committee has 12 members, and is currently  chaired by Sawako Shirahase (Japan), ISC vice president (see https://council.science/about-us/governance/committees/committee-for-finance/). The current composition of the committee will serve until 2027.

De Las Peñas is a professor of mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU). She is recognized for her expertise in discrete geometry and mathematical crystallography, and technology in mathematics education. She holds a BS Mathematics, MS Mathematics (Actuarial Science) and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. A recipient of several research awards, including the NRCP Achievement Award in the Mathematical Sciences and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Republica National Research Award, her scholarly work appears in over a hundred indexed journals, book chapters, and international conference proceedings.

ISC cites DOST- NRCP as a pioneering member since 1933 through its forerunner, the International Council for Science (ICSU), prior to ICSU’s merger with the International Social Science Council (ISSC), which created the new ISC in 2018.

NRCP is a line agency that is attached to DOST, mandated to support basic research and provide scientific advice to the government. Its membership now consists of 7,000 researchers, artists, and specialists from across disciplines and regions in the Philippines, along with a Secretariat that implements the Council’s activities and strategic directions.

To learn more about ISC, visit https://council.science/. Visit the NRCP website via https://nrcp.dost.gov.ph/  (Office of the NRCP President, DOST-NRCP)