2025 Customized Training for SEARCA Scholars
LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) will hold "Beyond the Journal Article: Scientific Writing for Policy and Wider Scholarly Engagement" on 27-31 July 2026 in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. The five-day, on-site event aims to strengthen the academic and professional capacities of SEARCA's graduate scholars.
Organized under SEARCA's Graduate on Time (GOT) Program, this training is designed to help master's and PhD students transform their graduate research into outputs that reach audiences beyond traditional academic journals. The program focuses on developing policy briefs and book chapter proposals, enabling scholars to communicate findings more effectively to policymakers, practitioners, and the public.
The initiative responds to the growing need for research to be more accessible, actionable, and relevant to real-world development concerns. While journal publications remain a cornerstone of scholarly communication, this program emphasizes that graduate research can also inform policy, support institutional learning, and contribute to public discourse when it is translated into formats tailored to diverse audiences.
This training aligns with SEARCA's 12th Five-Year Development Plan, "Sustainable Transformation of Agricultural Systems through Innovation in Southeast Asia" (SUSTAIN Southeast Asia). By equipping scholars to effectively engage decision-makers and the public, the program reinforces SEARCA's mission to empower future agricultural and rural development leaders to turn research into tangible action.
The program will be implemented in partnership with the College of Development Communication (CDC) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). Through interactive lectures, writing workshops, peer review sessions, and coaching, participants will learn to identify appropriate publication formats, analyze the conventions of policy briefs and book chapters, and craft audience-centered messages. Adopting a project-centered approach, the training will enable participants to refine their own research outputs throughout the week, culminating in a "World Café" session. In this final forum, scholars will pitch their policy briefs and book chapter concepts, participate in collaborative discussion, and receive constructive feedback on their arguments, evidence, and recommendations.