Dr. Maria Cecilia T. Medina obtained a B.A in Sociology (Cum Laude)  in 1983 and M.A in Asian Studies in 1991 from the University of the Philippines. She holds a  PhD in Sociology from Xavier University in 2004 and in 2020 obtained an MA in Religious Studies from the Maryhill School of Theology. She is an Associate Professor  at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines, with research interests and publications on Southeast Asia, religions, disasters, indigenous peoples, and peace and development. At the UP Asian Center she had served as Assistant to the Dean for Administration, Cultural and Public Affairs, Coordinator and Head of the Secretariat of the Tri-College PhD Philippine Studies Program and Editor in Chief of Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives in Asia. She is currently an associate editor of Social Sciences Diliman: A Philippine Journal of Society and Change and a regular member of the National Research Council of the Philippines, International Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Gamma Mu. She had also served in the board of the Philippine Sociological Society, and is active in the Research Committee on Religion (RC 22) and Disasters (RC 39) of the International Sociological Association.