DOST confers Balik Scientist award to VSU biology faculty researcher

VSU’s fisheries and fish ecology expert from the Department of Biological Sciences (DBS) is a recipient of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik Scientist Program (BSP) award, a prestigious grant given to Filipino scientists to encourage them to serve in our country.

Dr. Donna M. Guarte-Valida received the Long-Term Balik Scientist engagement on January 16, 2024, hosted by VSU. She holds a doctorate in Marine Biology from Kochi University, Japan, specializing in fish early life history, fisheries ecology, and coastal resource management. 

BSP is the government’s initiative under the Republic Act 11035 to give better incentives and benefits to Filipinos who have studied abroad to return home, share their expertise in a particular host institution, and foster development in our country. 

This program aims to support Filipino scientists and technologists so they will no longer migrate to foreign nations for better employment opportunities. 

Dr. Guarte-Vaida’s two-year DOST-BSP engagement will focus on assessing and monitoring the early life stages of fish for fishery management in Leyte. Her tasks will also include mentoring undergraduate and graduate students through seminars, workshops, and training; developing biology and marine biology instructional materials; and crafting project proposals in collaboration with other academic institutions and local partners. 

As a faculty member of DBS, Dr. Guarte-Valida has been teaching various subjects in marine ecology. She actively works on research and extension activities to foster collaborative science by sharing her expertise with local stakeholders and the scientific community.

To name a few, she is a study leader of VSU-funded projects such as the “Spill-over Effect of FIshes from Marine Sanctuaries and Fish Catch Monitoring,” and the “Species Composition, Abundance and Succession of Fishes in Pagbanganan River and Nearby Coastal Zones in Baybay City, Leyte.” 

She also served as a resource speaker for international webinars with a recent stint on the “Coastal Resource Management Webinar Series” organized by the Philippines-Japan Association for the Kuroshio Science Promotion, Inc. last March 26, 2024.

As one of the few experts working on fish's early life history and fish aging in the country, she could greatly contribute to the proliferation of knowledge on larval taxonomy and fish aging for fisheries management in the Philippines.
 Dr. Guarte-Valida presented at the Coastal Resource Management Webinar Series “Women in Science” on March 26, 2024, with her topic entitled “Research Direction and Future Projects for Fisheries Management: Why Fish Early Life History Matters?”

Dr. Guarte-Valida aims to contribute to the pool of researchers working on larval taxonomy, fisheries biology, and ecology which support the priority areas of DOST – Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD).

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