As the University of the Philippines Open University(UPOU) aims to develop a system of continuing education for sustaining professional growth, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA), in partnership with the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS), conducted a Research Conversation on 15 November 2018 at the Audiovisual Room, DICT, UP Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Tackling innovative ideas and creativity, the Research Conversation featured Dr. Sue Denham, from the School of Psychology Faculty of Health and Human Science at the University of Plymouth. In her topic entitled “Where do new ideas come from? Cognitive innovation and multidisciplinary research training,” Dr. Denham expounded the role of creativity in generating fresh ideas and how sociological and psychological aspects merge to define, refine, and magnify one’s creativity. Innovative projects called Off The Lip (OTL) and ColLaboratoire (CL) were introduced, where experts from various fields or area of expertise collaborate to construct and integrate ingenious research topics and tools.
Dr. Denham elicited active participation from the audience by encouraging questions and comments. Faculty members and students from Philippine campuses, such as UPOU, UP Diliman and Ateneo De Manila University among others, eagerly expressed their inquiries and impressions. Notably, Dr. Diego Maranan, Assistant Professor of FICS and a former advisee of Dr. Denham, enthusiastically introduced the speaker, facilitated the discussion during open forum, and communicated his first-hand experience of working on a multidisciplinary research project.
Dr. Denham ended the talk by stating that she looks forward to offering scholarships to interested students from the Philippines. Their team also plans to hold the OTL and CL projects here in the country in 2020, and hopes to engage in more future research conversations in partnership with UPOU. (ECruz)
