Davao Unity Awards 2023 winners bared

The City Government of Davao has chosen six of the most innovative local undergraduate thesis studies published between 2019 to 2022.

The winners were awarded at the Ritz Hotel during the Davao Unity Awards 2023 ceremony on March 17.

The Davao Unity Awards is a thesis convention initiated by the city government in 2019 as part of the celebrations to the 86th Araw ng Dabaw. The event aims to find the most insightful thesis papers that may help in the improvement of the programs and services of the local government, all while promoting the discipline of academic research in the city

This year’s Davao Unity Awards has the theme: “Academic Research Towards Innovative Governance”.

To qualify, entries must be relevant to at least one of the 12-point priority agenda of the city mayor.

Four theses authored by Ateneo de Davao University undergradutes– Zaldy Pagaduan (Development of a Cacao Disease Identification and Management App using Deep Learning), Jan Adrian Duban (Proposed Development of the Overland Transport Terminal), Kezia Marie Invidiado (Chemical Recycling of PET Water Bottles to BIS Terephthalate Oligomers by Glycolysis), and Gwyneth Vasquez (Imaginaries of the Digital Divide in Mindanao)– won the awards for the Economy and Tourism Development, Infrastructure Development, Disaster Risk Management and Environmental Development, and ICT System for Governance and Development categories, respectively.

Keith Caballero and his colleagues (Skincure: An Android Based Skin Disease Image Clasifier Using CNN) from Jose Maria College Foundation were awarded the Davao Unity Awards for the Health Development category, while Chenie Joy Tan and her collegues (COVID-19: Preliminary Analysis in Davao City) from University of Mindanao won the award for Peace and Order Development.

The chosen studies were judged for their relevance, suitability, and potential for commercialization and application to policy.

“The City should recognize its best thinkers,” Mayor Sebastian Duterte said in his speech.

“The goal is to keep them in Davao City. There are a lot of private entities that are after them, but in this way, they might consider getting into public service,” he added.

The mayor said government needs young people with fresh perspective to introduce new ideas to public service, which is why the award is geared at recognizing the achievements of young academics in the city and to showcase the potential impact of their studies to policy and governance. CIO