December 13, 2019 – The second day of SPUP’s 4th International Interdisciplinary Research Conference (IIRC) highlighted breakthroughs in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
The first plenary session featured the discussion of Dr. Samuel Bernal (Professor, University of California in Los Angeles and a former Associate Professor in Medicine, Harvard University) on the “Breakthroughs in Healthcare in the 4th Industrial Revolution.” In his presentation, Dr. Bernal initially contrasted the 20th and 21st century thinking on health education and healthcare, emphasizing prevention and no longer the treatment of the disease as the present overarching goal.
Accordingly, empirical and randomized clinical trials may lead to wrong treatment. He then stated that the solution is a targeted molecular and cellular therapy which is individual-based treatment. Consequently, Dr. Bernal advocated for enabling technology like biomarkers and computers as part of quality healthcare provisions. He then challenged the participants to be agile in order to respond to any challenges.
In the afternoon session, Dr. Federico Macaranas (Professor, Asian Institute of Management) lectured on “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) 2030: Becoming a Sustainable Global Community.” He emphasized the role of the SGD’s in undertaking the 4th Industrial Revolution towards a more humanitarian revolution. Furthermore, he expounded the necessity of collaboration in the present generation.
He expounded that to be a sustainable global community, one should not think of his own and on what could be done in the service of few, but rather an altruistic service for all. He reminded the participants that living in the same planet connotes living as one.
Dr. Macaranas also encouraged everyone to become a wise decision-maker in a more technologically driven environment, where mental health is not being understood by many as a serious concern. Relevant to this, he accentuated that only when human beings think of a shared and a common humanity, that we could break barriers and build bridges towards understanding.
The plenary Resource Speakers fostered interaction as they went their way to ask questions and exhort the participants to raise queries, express their insights and give their reflection on the topics they discussed.
With the plenary discussions, Kathlene Mae L. Sabado, (Participant from Alicia National High School) claimed that the conference offered her new insights and knowledge that will help her grow professionally. According to her, the presentations in the plenary today provided her of ideas she had never thought of and heard from others as they were very informative and interdisciplinary.
In the second day, parallel sessions were held in the morning and in the afternoon. More that 40 local and international researches in various disciplines aligned with the theme of the conference were presented. An open forum closed the discussion of each area of study.
