Grace Mirandilla, ICT4D researcher from the Philippines, has been a frequent face at LIRNEasia’s capacity building programs since 2005.
Currently an Economic Policy Associate at the Policy Reform Program (PRP) of The Asia Foundation – Philippines, Grace’s research interests include community telecenters, ICT applications for rural areas, and policy reform in general. Her commitment to making an impact on the policy process has paid off significantly. Through consistent effort, she has established herself as a high-quality policy researcher.
Grace exemplifies the success of LIRNEasia’s capacity building efforts. She too feels that the interactions with LIRNEasia have contributed to her personal and professional development.
Her first interactions with LIRNEasia were at the 10th LIRNE.NET Course on Telecom Reform, ‘Catalyzing Change: Strategies to Achieve Connectivity and Convergence’, conducted by LIRNEasia in Singapore, from September 25-30, 2005. She attended on an IDRC scholarship. She was an active participant, fuelling the dialogue with a number of thoughtful comments and questions.
Grace also participated at LIRNEasia’s ICT Research Networking Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, from October 1-3, 2005 and was subsequently hired by Lorraine Carlos Salazar, PhD as her research associate on the Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) of 2006, which was a significant component of LIRNEasia’s six-country multi-component study. She helped Lorraine collect data for the Philippine telecom regulatory environment study.
She was selected to participate as a Young Scholar at the inaugural Communication Policy Research south conference (CPRsouth1) ‘Research for Improving ICT governance in the Asia-Pacific’ in Manila, Philippines in January 2007. At the recently concluded CPRsouth2 conference ‘Empowering rural communities through ICT policy and research’, held in Chennai, India in December 2007, Grace presented a paper, entitled ‘Achieving Universal Access through liberalization, regulation, and deregulation: The case of the Philippine telecommunications and ICT sector’. The paper won high praise from senior academics who reviewed and commented on her work.
On her growing successes, Grace says “[I am] glad to be a product/success story of the CPRsouth1 training course. My gratitude to you [Prof. Samarajiva], LIRNE[asia] and Jaime, my mentor here in Manila, for helping me hone my skills”. She looks forward to developing her skills further through future CPRsouth and LIRNEasia events.
Please visit this page to learn more about LIRNEasia training courses, including the 12th Executive Course on Telecom Reform held in Singapore from 10-14 June 2008.
1 Comment
Grace
Wow! Thanks for this feature. I’m flattered and honored. LIRNEasia has played a major role in my development as a young researcher. It has opened windows of opportunities for people like me not only to learn from and engage in high-caliber research but also to interact with senior researchers, practioners, and various stakeholders of ICT from all over the world. More power to LIRNEasia!