The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in collaboration with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is implementing a 6-year program on Capacity Building for Higher Education and establishment of UPLB Agricultural Genomics Center. The program includes opportunities to earn a doctoral degree from Korean universities, a national internship program opportunity at IRRI, and an MS sandwich research program at IRRI targeting incoming and continuing qualified Filipino MS students enrolled at UPLB. This is a full-time MS scholarship program that will run for the period 2022-2027 and will award research scholarships based on the following criteria:
Successful applicants will join advanced cross-cutting research activities in bioinformatics, genomics, computer science, and other related areas – such as molecular physiology, biotechnology, marker-assisted breeding – in the Rice Breeding Innovation, Sustainable Impact In Rice-based Systems, Integrative Research Support, and other research platforms.
On the part of the university or agency from which the participants will come, this is a very good opportunity to build networks for future collaborative research activities. To ensure that each participating intern will benefit academically from the internship, the program may be divided into two parts. For students, the first part will be done in the university and may be tied with the conduct of their thesis or academic courses and for early career professionals, with their organizations and support their current tasks. In such a case, the participants with their respective adviser or supervisors should clearly indicate which portion of the work will be conducted at IRRI and its corresponding relevance and benefit to their activities as a student and as a professional.