The Global Undergraduate Awards
The Undergraduate Awards (UA) is touted as the world’s largest international academic awards program for "high-potential undergraduates", and recognizes their achievements and original work in the sciences, humanities, business, or creative arts. The competition is described as extremely tough, and only the very best papers make it through the judging process.
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In 2018, Kimberly Quililan was declared REGIONAL WINNER FOR ASIA (LIFE SCIENCES CATEGORY) at The Global Undergraduate Awards in Dublin, Ireland. Kim received the award for her thesis entitled "Reciprocal regulation of the putative ceRNAs PIK3CA and ZNF148 through miR-506 in colorectal cancer". She joined 3 other Life Sciences regional winners from Europe, the Island of Ireland and US & Canada. There were no winners declared for Oceania & Australia, Latin America, and Africa & the Middle East. There were 4887 entries for the awards in 2018.
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In 2019, Joelle Noriko Galang was included in the "Highly Commended List" (Life Sciences) alongside semi-finalists from the UK, Ireland, Canada, Sweeden and Singapore. For her thesis work entitled "Preliminary Investigations on Metabolic Perturbations Induced by Canonical and Novel KRAS Mutations", Nori received a Certificate of Recognition. As well, her submission is now included in the archives of "The Undergraduate Library"
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In 2023, Andrei Phillip David was also included in the "Highly Commended List" (Life Sciences) alongside students from Brown, Columbia, Karolinska, ANU, and Dundee, among others. This is for his thesis work entitled "Functional characterization of the novel RRAS R78W and E63D mutants identified in Filipino young-onset colorectal cancer patients".
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Falling Walls (Berlin) Competition
In 2019, Kimberly Quililan was the winner of the Falling Walls Lab Competition for Young Innovators and Creative Thinkers in the Philippines. Kim pitched her research work and bested other contestants from UP, Ateneo, Silliman and other universities, as well as young working professionals from industry. As part of her prize, Kim went to Berlin for the opportunity to pitch in front of Nobel laureates and other luminaries at the International Conference on Future Breakthroughs in Science and Society. The prestigious competition and conference has attracted high-profile members of the jury in the past, including: Claudie Haignere MD PhD, astronaut and Senior Adviser to the European Space Agency; Prof. Mauro Ferrari, President Designate of the European Research Council; Prof. Dr. Carl-Henrik Heldin, Chairman of the Board - Nobel Foundation; and Prof. Dr. Margaret Wintermantel, President of DAAD.