ADNU Psychologist participates
in the Young Scientists Program 2008 in Berlin

Dr. Rufino Llagas Ramos III is one of the 51 scholars and the only Filipino who participated in the Young Scientists Program (YSP) of the XXIX International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2008) held at the International Congress Centrum in Berlin, Germany last July 20-25, 2008.
 
The YSP only accepts young scientists under the age of 35 who have already obtained their Ph.D. degrees and have been very active in a specific area in psychology.  The program aims to (a) enhance communication between young scientists from different countries and diverse cultural backgrounds; (b) promote an exchange of knowledge between senior and younger scientists; and (c) help younger scientists acquire insights into special areas of psychology and into psychology in general.  Hence, activities within the YSP include the “Networking Market”, “Panel Discussion”, and “Meet Your Favorite Scholar” activity.  The “Networking Market” is where YSP scholars are given the opportunity to exchange ideas and build up longer-term contacts among the other participating young scientists through poster presentations of their research area and research questions during the event.   The “Panel Discussion” addresses pressing issues on career opportunities of psychologists.   Panelists include scientists from diverse research settings from all over the world.   Lastly, the “Meet Your Favorite Scholar” activity is where YSP scholars are given the opportunity to get acquainted with and exchange ideas with eminent scientists in the field of psychology.   Renowned psychologists talk about their visions on doing research, and important insights they have gathered over the years or difficult research questions that keep them busy at the moment.

The YSP is integrated in the XXIX ICP 2008 as part of the latter’s scientific program.    The ICP is held every four years and it is conducted to gather the best intellectual scholars in the field through various activities i.e., symposia, invited addresses, controversial debates and individual paper sessions covering relevant issues and topics in the field of psychology.  For this year, the ICP was attended by more than 9,000 participants from more than 100 countries.  The scientific program included 75 invited addresses with speakers from 44 countries, more than 160 invited symposia with conveners from over 60 countries, 298 symposia, 4,180 poster presentations, and 4,400 oral presentations.

Two of Dr. Ramos’ papers were accepted for poster presentation during the event.   Specifically, his research outputs with the titles “Predictors of Subjective Well-Being among Filipino Adolescents” and “In the Eye of the Beholder: Implicit Theories of Happiness Among Filipino Adolescents” were exhibited for poster presentations during the ICP in Berlin.   Furthermore, the abstracts of these two scientific papers were published in the June/August 2008 Issue of the International Journal of Psychology, the journal of the International Union of Psychological Science.

As a practitioner-scholar in the field of counseling psychology, Dr. Ramos has conducted studies on client and counselor characteristics, counseling practice, counseling supervision, and subjective well-being (SWB).   He is one of the scholars in the Philippines who conducted seminal works on SWB among Filipino adolescents as a response to the thrusts of the positive psychology movement.  He has presented papers in national and international conferences and has published research articles in the Philippine Journal of Counseling Psychology.  He earnestly desires to contribute in the development of counseling psychology discipline in the Philippines and hopes to conduct studies in the future that will contribute to the development of an indigenous and uniquely Filipino counseling Philosophy.

Dr. Ramos is an alumnus of the Ateneo de Naga University where he graduated High School in 1992, obtained his bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1995 and his Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology in 2000.   He completed his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology with specialization in Clinical Counseling at the De La Salle University – Manila in 2005 where he received Gold Medals for graduating “With High Distinction” (for obtaining a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.00 out of a possible 4.00, the highest grade attainable) and for receiving the “Outstanding Graduate Dissertation Award.”

At present, aside from being the Director of the Ateneo de Naga University’s College Guidance Center, Dr. Ramos is a senior member of the University Research Council (URC), the Program Director of the University’s Graduate School and at the same time one of its Associate Professors.  Dr. Ramos is also active in professional organizations in the Philippines.  Presently, he holds responsible positions as a Board Member in the Executive Council of Philippine Association for Counselor Education, Research, and Supervision (PACERS); one of the country’s representatives to the Association of Psychological and Educational Counselors of Asia-Pacific (APECA) Board, and one of the Technical Experts of the Regional Quality Assessment Team of the Commission on Higher Education Region V for Psychology Program.

Dr. Ramos’ travel to Germany is supported by the ICP 2008 through the generous support of the Jacobs Foundation in Zürich, Switzerland, the Office of the ADNU President, and the University Research Council.