The University of San Carlos sent six representatives to the 2nd UN Ocean Decade Regional Conference and 11th WESTPAC International Marine Science Conference on April 22–25, 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand. 

The USC Southeast Asia Marine Plastics (SEAMaP) project team was composed of the following researchers: Maria Kristina O. Paler, Ph.D., Francis Dave Siacor, D.Eng., Jeanie Orate (oral presenters), and former School of Engineering Dean Evelyn B. Taboada, Ph.D., Apple AJ Langcamon, and Shaira Kyle Tagalog (poster presenters).

Out of 580 competing papers at the conference, Langcamon was one of eight awardees and the only one from the Philippines who received the recognition. 

The three-day conference had a total of 1,400 participants from 40 countries, with 27 countries competing. 

According to its official website, the conference aims to bring “various ocean stakeholders, including governments, research communities/academia, private and business sectors, philanthropic foundations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society, to present the current status of ocean knowledge.” 

Its collective goal is to “identify future priorities, and continuously catalyze partnerships and concrete actions for transformative ocean-based solutions to sustainability challenges in this particular region, such as resource depletion, marine pollution, biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, climate change and ocean acidification, and natural hazards.”