The Second International Conference on Development Communication and 11th Scientific Meeting of the Association of Development Communication Educators in the Philippines (ADCEP) officially commenced yesterday, September 14, participated by several development communication practitioners and students, as well as government and non-governmental organizations all over the country at Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte.
With the theme “Science, Risk Communication, and Social Development”, day one of the event started with the welcome remarks of Dr. Ulderico Alviola, the president of ADCEP along with the host department, college, and the university.
Dr. Sarah Evanega, Founding Director of Alliance for Science and Director for Stakeholder Communication at Pairwise, United States, was the keynote speaker on Science and Risk Communication highlighting her study entitled "Delivering Consumer Benefits: The Story of Conscious Greens from Pairwise."
It was followed by a plenary talk on the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence to Education presented by Dr. Reginald Adrian D. Pugoy which tackled the importance of utilizing the power of AI for good.
In the afternoon, science communication experts presented papers for the Plenary Panel 1 conversations. They talked about the significance of science communication and the variables affecting it as well as the narratives of COVID-19 experiences among selected residents and the public engagement in the perspective of sustainability.
Further, Plenary Panel 2 focuses on the role of development communicators in climate change adaptation having Dr. Rotacio S. Gravoso, Dr. Winifredo B. Dagli, and Mr. Leo P. Cañeda as panel members. They discussed the challenges in communicating climate change and the effective approaches to studies related to it.
To cap off the first day of the event, an organizational assembly was held with the election of new ADCEP Officers along with the screening of student competition entries. Various activities will continue in a couple of days for a three-day event providing insights for the biggest gathering of development communicators in the country.