PaCE team
Prof. Dr. Denise Margaret S. Matias
Professor, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Germany
Prof. Dr. Denise Margaret Matias is a Professor at the Department of Forest, Wood, and Environment at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. Denise previously held research and postdoctoral positions in projects focusing on grasslands sustainability in Mongolia, climate change adaptation, and indigenous forestry livelihoods in the Philippines. In 2024, she was recognised as one of six Planet Earth Awardeesby the Alliance of World Scientists (AWS) for her outreach work with Indigenous communities in the Philippines and was also given the Kalayaan Award from the Philippine Embassy in Berlin. She is also currently a Senior Fellow of the Manila Observatory, a Fellow of the Samdhana Institute, and a member of Scientific Advisory Panel of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development. (Photo ©Florian Reischauer)
Dr. Aisa O. Manlosa-Kirk
Assistant Professor, Leiden University College, The Netherlands
Dr. Aisa O. Manlosa-Kirk is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs - Leiden University College, Leiden University. Her work on sustainable livelihoods and gender equity aims to shed light on the importance of human well-being and complex social contexts in transformations to sustainability. She applies social-ecological systems framework in place-based sustainability research. She has examined gender transformative change in aquatic food systems in various parts of the Philippines, the intersection of food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia, and aquatic food system transformations in northern Philippines, with a focus on people's livelihoods and equity.
Associate Professor, National Taiwan Ocean University
Dr. Ting-Chun Kuo
Dr. Ting-Chun Kuo is an Associate Professor at National Taiwan Ocean University’s Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management. Her research spans from fisheries ecology, multi-species and mixed fisheries, environmental policy, to coastal resource management. In recent years, she is particularly interested in socio-ecological system interactions, factors of fishers' behaviour changes and decision-making, and stakeholder engagement to support sustainable and equitable ocean governance. Ting-Chun also serves as an IUCN SSC Seahorse, Pipefish & Seadragon Specialist, member of Future Earth Taipei Ocean Group, and scientist representative of Taiwan for multiple regional fisheries management organisations.
Lea Ivy Manzanero
Researcher, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Germany
Lea Ivy Manzanero is a researcher interested in how communities, biodiversity, and ecological systems withstand and recover from climate disasters and conflict. She wrote about civil-military coordination in disaster contexts and small island resilience, but her work remains anchored in the stories and survival strategies of communities she works alongside--women, fisherfolk, and farming families. Lea’s other areas of interest include the intersection of ethics, climate change, and meat production as well as peace and human rights education, environmental education for sea turtles, anticipatory action for dugong conservation, and wetland preservation, recognising that safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems is inseparable from protecting people. (Photo ©Daniel S. Torres)
Regina Therese Bacalso
Researcher, National Taiwan Ocean University
Dr. Regina Therese Bacalso is a quantitative fisheries scientist and socio-ecological systems researcher with over 15 years of experience working at the science-policy interface in the Philippines. She specializes in understanding the dynamic interactions among marine ecosystems, resource use, and human systems, with particular expertise in fish stock assessment, ecosystem-based fisheries management, ecosystem modelling.
Her research sits at the intersection of biodiversity conservation, livelihoods, and resource governance, with a strong emphasis on translating scientific knowledge into practical approaches for sustainable fisheries management. She has extensively engaged with fishing communities, local government units, and national government agencies in the Philippines to generate and apply scientific evidence in support of science-based fisheries management and resource governance. Her work increasingly adopts interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches that integrate stakeholder engagement, knowledge co-production, and science-policy dialogue to address complex marine resource challenges.
Former team members
Bryan Joel S. Mariano
Researcher, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Germany
Bryan Joel Mariano is a researcher at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. His research explores biodiversity conservation, human-wildlife relations, and more-than-human politics, with a particular focus on the critically endangered Philippine pangolin in Palawan Biosphere Reserve. He uses transdisciplinary and social-ecological approaches to examine interactions among communities, institutions, knowledge systems, and wildlife. Before moving to Germany, he served as a senior lecturer in science communication and knowledge management at the University of the Philippines, and worked in the forest conservation sector for both government and non-profit organisations in the Philippines.