Filipino wins 2008 SHINE International Student Award of UK, cited for international work

Press Release
April 22, 2008

Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, a third year PhD student at Cardiff University has been chosen by the British Council as one of the 2008 SHINE International Student Awardees of the United Kingdom.  SHINE is an annual competition of foreign students studying in the United Kingdom that recognizes their exceptional work.  Don is the very first Filipino to receive this award.  According to the British Council, there are 270,000 foreigners studying at British universities making UK the second most popular destination after the US.

Don, whose PhD research is on the vulnerability of seafarers to HIV/AIDS is a Nippon Foundation Fellow at the Seafarers International Research Center of Cardiff University.  He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Catholic University of Santos in Brazil where he is conducting his fieldwork among the bars of the port city of Santos.  Don is recognized for his academic work and advocacy for the health and welfare of global seafarers and shipbreakers, his support for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through the establishment of the Balud Project, his work on international science promotion and his various involvements at Cardiff University.

Doing a PhD is no ordinary task especially in a highly-ranked research university which won the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 2007.  Despite the rigorous demand of academic work, he is able to find time working on one of his passions, international health.  He has a special interest in the area of health and welfare of the global seafarers and shipbreakers.  He advocated for the improvement of the lives of seafarers and shipbreakers through presentations in conferences.  Within the three years of PhD, he traveled to present papers in the USA, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Panama, Brazil, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada.  He pushed for a social insurance fund for the maritime industry in Panama City.  He advocated for more maritime AIDS programs in Toronto.  He preached the perils of alcohol and drug use among seafarers in Mumbai.  He presented the plight of shipbreakers in Milan, Rio de Janeiro and Washington DC.  He co-authored the International Medical Guide for Ships published by the World Health Organization, which came out in February 2008.  He has been actively involved in various international working groups and organizations in the areas of maritime health and occupational health.

His work with the Balud Project also caught the attention of the jurors.  This project started as a simple renovation of a poor school in the island of Samar in rural Philippines.  In a span of three years, the project has grown into a global project.  Don was able to drum up support from foreigners and international organizations.  Dutch, Australians, British and Japanese have visited the school.  The Balud Project has secured funds from The Netherlands, USA, Finland, and UK among other countries.  Lasten Tulevaisuus of Helsinki provided them a grant for a library building.  Imperial College London has been sending their students to teach at Balud School.  Ddock, a big design and architectural company in Amsterdam volunteered to design the new school buildings.  They launched the ‘new campus’ before the donors in a big event on 20 March 2008.  De La Salle University in Manila has sponsored the books of the library.  American donors provided new furniture, books and school materials.  Given the generous support from all corners of the world, the Balud Project has spun off into a bigger community project benefiting the whole village.  Don sees this project as a humble contribution in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.  To replicate the project in other countries, Balud Project launched Balud Global.  The latter involves more young people in supporting the fast tracking of the MDGs especially in the areas of childhood education and health.

Don is an academic and a medical doctor who believes in the role of science in human development.  It is not surprising that his enthusiastic support in science promotion especially among young students was also recognized in the SHINE Award.  He has the distinction of being the only Filipino who has been invited annually since 2002 by the Intel Corporation to judge at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held every year in the USA. Don has been invited as a speaker at the prestigious Intel Educators Academy.  He is an active member of a number of international scientific organizations like the World Academy of Young Scientists and three international honor societies.  He used to sit in the Intel Philippine Science Advisory Board.  He conceptualized the Balud International Development Award (BIDA), a prize given annually at the Intel Philippine Science Fair to recognize young Filipinos whose science projects address the needs of rural communities.  During the early part of his PhD, Don won the research competition of the World Science Forum in Hungary in 2005.  His work was published the following year.

The SHINE Award also looks into the involvement of the student in university activities.  Don’s work in establishing the Filipino Society of Cardiff University was also recognized.  The organization involves itself in the local Filipino community.  He noticed that there has been no Filipino organization in the history of the university despite the number of Filipinos enrolled.  So he started gathering them and formally organized the group.  Since then they have been holding many activities.  During his first year, Don sat in two university committees, the Postgraduate Committees of the Student Union and the Academic Committee of the School of Social Sciences. He represented the students in committee meetings and raised issues on their behalf.  Organizing is not something new to him.  He organized Estudyanteng  Pinoy sa Netherlands (EsPiN) while a master student in Amsterdam back in 2002 making him the Founding President.

“I am extremely happy with the award as I have made a very good name for my university and my country, the Philippines. Had it not been for Cardiff University and my fellowship from the Nippon Foundation, I would not have received this accolade,” commented Don.  Just like his exceptional works, Don’s life is considered another extraordinary story.  He was born to a poor family in Leyte.  His mother worked hard to keep the family surviving.  All the children had to go to public schools.  Summers would be spent in rural Samar with his grandparents in a place that has not been reached by electricity.   When back in the city of Tacloban, he remembers watching the neighbour’s television all the time since they did not have one.   Don’s first trip outside his islands was at the age of 17 when he had to represent the region at the Fifth National Population Quiz Show in Manila.  He won in the competition, which was shown live on national television.  This first trip outside gave him a lasting impression of the wider world.

Knowing how it is to be poor, Don saw to it that he should finish his education as a way out.  He was always a conscientious student who balanced academics and extracurricular activities.  He graduated Salutatorian in both elementary and high school.  His knack for leadership started to show at a very young age.  He excelled in many activities especially in the areas of writing, drawing and sports.  He ended every school year in the honour roll and was always judged as the Model Student of the Year.  His tenacity to want for a better education brought him to study at the University of the Philippines where he finished his Bachelor of Science in Psychology and where he graduated cum laude.  Back then the tuition of UP was 1,000 pesos per semester.  He entered UP’s College of Medicine with a scholarship under the STUFAP program.  He breezed through medical school without paying tuition fees.  He ended up studying a Master of Public Health in Amsterdam under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme before pursuing a PhD.

Commenting on the award, Don said, “I have been privileged to get accepted at Cardiff University which is considered one of the best in the world. I come from humble beginnings.  I was born to a poor family in the Philippines.  I was raised by a single parent together with three other siblings.  Growing up was always hard because of economic difficulties.  There were days that we barely had food on the table.  These life realities made me the person of who I am now.  Thus, the reason for my interest in poverty and health.  I never imagined that I would go this far. Had the university not offered me a fellowship, I would not have made it.  I feel very blessed.”