OFFICIALS from the University of Santo Tomas recently won international and national research prizes for their doctoral projects in Australian universities.

Research Center for Social Sciences and Education Director Jeremaiah M. Opiniano won the 2024 Dissertation Award from the Mixed Methods International Research Association at The University of Adelaide.

Opiniano was recognized for his project titled “Overseas Remittances and Rural Hometown Investing: Towards an Understanding of the Migration-and-Local Development Nexus.”

UST said the project had already won the John Lewis Medal of Excellence for Outstanding Doctoral Research in Geography from the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia.

Meanwhile, RCSSED Assistant Director Pia Patricia P. Tenedero will receive this year’s Virginia A. Miralao Excellence in Research Award (VAMERA) from the Philippine Social Science Council.

“She got the award for her book ‘Communication that Counts: Language Practice and Ideology in Globalized Accounting’ based on her PhD thesis at Macquarie University. The book was published by Multilingual Matters,” UST said.

VAMERA honors Dr. Virginia Miralao by encouraging researchers under 45 to pursue original work. Tenedero, a research fellow at Macquarie, will receive a trophy by artist Toym Leon Imao.

Both awardees are from the Faculty of Arts and Letters. Drs. Yan Tan and Dianne Marie Rudd advised Opiniano, while Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller and Dr. Loy Lising supervised Tenedero.

These honors align with RCSSED receiving the Outstanding Research Institution Award from the National Research Council of the Philippines last March.