Janet M. Arnado is a full-time professor and former chair of the Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences at De La Salle University, Manila. She held an ASIA fellowship at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore. For her research on women and migration, she received the 2010 Outstanding Young Scientist Award in the field of Sociology, given by the National Academy of Science and Technology. Janet studies social inequalities and mobilities among the marginalized, as well as the various topics in education, migration, work, urban agriculture, health, spirituality, and evaluation. She is the author of three books and several journal articles and book chapters. Her research appears in Current Sociology, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, International Migration, International Journal of Sociology of Education, Asian Journal of Women Studies, and Journal of International Women Studies, among others. Janet obtained her doctorate in Sociology from Virginia Tech.

Jerome V. Cleofas, PhD, RN is a registered nurse and health social scientist. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Far Eastern University where he graduated cum laude. He then pursued his MA degree in Nursing, major in clinical management at St. Paul University Manila, where he previously worked as a nursing faculty, senior research associate and university planning coordinator. He earned his PhD degree in Sociology, major in family, health and population dynamics from the Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences of the De La Salle University, where he is currently a full time associate professor and the graduate program coordinator. He handles social research and health subjects in the undergraduate and graduate levels. Jerome is also a member of the Research Capability Building Committee of the Metro Manila Health Research and Development Consortium, and a board member of the Philippine Sociological Society in 2023. His research interests include health social sciences, youth and emerging adulthood and family studies. He has published research in SCOPUS indexed journals. His 2021 publications focused on various facets of COVID-19 experiences of young undergraduates and non-traditional Filipino families. Dr. Jerome has been involved in international and nationally funded studies in the areas of tobacco marketing, disaster health and COVID-19 misinformation.

Dr. Diana Therese M. Veloso is an Associate Professor and the Master of Health Social Science Program Coordinator at the Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences of De La Salle University in the Philippines. She is also the coordinator of Gender and Multiculturalism, an interdisciplinary course offered by the College of Liberal Arts of the same university. She completed her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Sociology at Loyola University Chicago. She also completed graduate certificates in Community College Learning and Teaching and Advanced Study in Philanthropy. She has taken short courses in gender, theology, and social justice at the University of Roehampton-Catherine of Siena College in London. She undertook groundbreaking research on the experiences of women formerly on death row in the Philippines  She served as the lead researcher in two-government funded studies on serious and organized crime threats in the country. She was a consultant in the nationwide evaluation of the rehabilitation programs for children in conflict with the law (CICL) and the initiatives of government agencies to improve access to justice. She also conducted research on gender-based violence among internally displaced people in the cities of Zamboanga and Marawi, located in the southern Philippines. She served as a Guest Editor of the Philippine Sociological Review, Special Issue on Justice. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Philippine Office of Strategic Studies and Strategy Management Digest.

Leland Joseph R. Dela Cruz is an Associate Professor of Development Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University where he currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Social Development, Environment, and Community Engagement. Dr. Dela Cruz obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies and a Masters Degree in Economics from Ateneo de Manila University and his PhD in Sociology from University of the Philippines in Diliman where he wrote about the historical tensions faced by the university social research centers across the country using the social systems theory of Niklas Luhmann as his sensitizing framework. His research interests include the sociology of higher education, university social responsibility, policy sociology, organizational sociology, and social entrepreneurship.

Nina T. Castillo-Carandang’s career as a sociologist in the University of the Philippines began in the agricultural sciences campus (Los Baños) before she joined the health sciences campus (Manila) & went into the fields of health social science, clinical epidemiology, & global health. She has investigated sociocultural dimensions of health & health care — the perceptions of laypersons, patients, health care providers, policymakers, & how such can affect health-seeking behavior, clinical practice, as well as policy (clinical, public health). Her current work looks at different facets of quality of life, & the Filipinos’ search for Kagalingan (well-being, happiness, & health), & living well & being well amidst cardiovascular diseases, malaria, tuberculosis, & asthma & allergies on the lives of Filipino communities, families, & individuals. In addition to her work in academia, she has also been a Cross-Cultural/Diversity & Human Resources Development Consultant for various organizations. 

Dr. Castillo-Carandang has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology (University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines), a  Master of Arts major in Sociology degree (Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines), & a Master of Science in Design, Measurement & Evaluation (Clinical Epidemiology, Health Social Science) from McMaster University, Canada. Her PhD in Social Sciences & Global Health was from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Professor Nina T. Castillo-Carandang is a Professor of Health Sociology and Global Health in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila  (1990 – Present). To date, she is the only health sociologist to be given a full-time tenured position in the College of Medicine since its founding in 1905.

Her career as a sociologist in the University of the Philippines began in the agricultural sciences campus (Los Baños) before she joined the health sciences campus (Manila) and went into the fields of health social science, clinical epidemiology, and global health. She has looked into sociocultural dimensions of health and health care — the perceptions of laypersons, patients, health care providers, policymakers, and how such can affect health-seeking behavior, clinical practice, as well as policy (clinical, public health). Her current work looks at different facets of quality of life, and the Filipinos’ search for Kagalingan (well-being, happiness, and health), and living well and being well. She and her colleagues have studied the impact of cardiovascular diseases, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and asthma and allergies on the lives of Filipino communities, families, and individuals. 

Nina has also been a Cross-Cultural/Diversity and Human Resources Development Consultant for various organizations. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology (University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines), a Master of Arts  major in Sociology degree (Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines), and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology (McMaster University, Canada). Her PhD in Social Sciences and Global Health was from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Professor Nina Castillo-Carandang was a member of WHO’s Social Science Working Group for COVID-19; & the Philippines’ National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) for COVID-19 Vaccine; & is now a member of the Philippines’ Department of Health’s Scientific Advisory Group of Experts for Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases (EREID SAGE) where she is the lone social scientist in the group.

Wynne Josephine Gambe-Escol is an assistant professor who is serving as the chairperson and graduate studies coordinator of the Sociology-Anthropology Dept. at Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan. She has trained in sociology and psychology and has completed a doctorate degree in Sociology in 2020. She has 35 years of experience in teaching, mentoring, counseling, and evaluating students from various ethnic, gender, and social class backgrounds. Wynne’s research interests include marriage and family, gender relations, urban development, and water governance.

She currently serves as a consultant of the Manila City Jail and is working with officers and jail administrators in the refinement of a detainee Intervention-Needs Assessment tool for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. She is working in collaboration with other scholars of Prison Ethnography and Criminology in a few ongoing projects. Her latest publication is titled Doing Qualitative Research on Emotional Labor in a Philippine City Jail, a methodological analysis of doing ethnographic work on emotions in a highly bureaucratized and masculinized setting.

Jade Harley Bretaña is an academic and an advocate who earned his BA and MA in Sociology from Bukidnon State University and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, respectively. For almost a decade, he taught sociology at BukSU before volunteering for humanitarian groups. His research interests focus on youth and digital cultures, marginalized communities, and the sociology of emotions. As an academic, Harley co-authored an instructional material for college “The Contemporary World” which contextualizes globalization in Mindanao in partnership with Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan funded by CHED. He also presents his research papers at the annual PSS Conference. As an advocate, Harley is a board member of humanitarian groups such as BukidKnown and the US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights (USIDHR) – Philippines. The former is a social enterprise whose mission is to promote a sustainable cultural community and the latter promotes diplomacy, human rights, and community engagements. Currently, he is taking his Ph.D. in Sociology at MSU-IIT.