The Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Organic Agriculture of UPLB is calling all interested UPLB undergraduate students to apply for undergraduate thesis grant funded by Lifebank Microfinance Foundation, Inc (LBF).

GRANT AWARD:

1. PHP80,000 for thesis mainly involving field experiments and/ or laboratory analysis.
2. PHP50,000 for thesis mainly involving surveys, policy research, documentation and assessments.
3. PHP25,000 for special problem exclusively for BS Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship (BS ABME) student, mainly involving surveys, policy research, documentation and assessments.

GENERAL ELIGIBILITY: 

1. Must be enrolled in any BS course at UPLB at the time of the grant award.
2. Must have passed at least 38 units of course work.
3. Must not have a grade of “5”, “4” or “Inc.” in the semester immediately preceding the application. Must not have been held liable to any disciplinary action.
4. Is interested to pursue a thesis* in the basic, applied or interdisciplinary aspects of organic agriculture.

HOW TO APPLY: 

1. Fill out the online application form and upload the PDF document here.
2. Secure, scan and save the documents below following the sequence 1-6 as one PDF document labeled “OAThesisGrant_current Year_Surname_First Name” of the applicant.  For example: OAThesisGrant_2023_Dela Cruz, Juan. Please download the forms, do not  request for access.
   • UPLB Administered Application Form
   • Data Privacy Consent Form
   • Application letter to ASI-CAFS Director
3. True Copy of Grades and Total Number of Units earned from the semester immediately preceding the application.
4. Form 5 of the current semester at the time of application.
5. Thesis Concept Note approved and signed by the adviser (Please read the budget guidelines for clear guidance on budget-related matters)

DUE DATES FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

• On-going acceptance of application documents during the First and Second Semesters and the Mid-Year term
• Evaluation and Presentation of Thesis Concept Notes by student applicants are conducted every month

*SUGGESTED THESIS RESEARCH TOPICS RELATED TO ORGANIC AGRICULTURE:

• Socio-cultural aspects: Youth engagement and education, health and nutrition, gender issues, arts and culture, indigenous knowledge systems, development communication, community food systems, participatory community-based organizing and organizations, sustainable development, and other related topics

• Technological aspects: Organic crops, animals and fish production and integrated systems, agroforestry, soil and water management, pest management, organic soil amendments, post-harvest and  processing technologies, organic food science, organic natural products studies,  mechanization and labor-saving devices, information technology applications, modeling,  computer science, engineering, statistics, applied math and other related topics.

• Economic aspects: Agri-entrepreneurship, agribusiness, agricultural economics, supply and value chain studies, marketing studies, product development, consumer preferences, market development, product diversification, market positioning study, factors affecting technological/innovation acceptance, case studies, organic certification and guarantee systems, and other related topics.

• Environmental aspects: Agrobiodiversity, agroecology, agroforestry, sustainability issues, climate change adaptation and mitigation, resilience and vulnerability, soil and water conservation and other related topics.

• Policy-institutional aspects: Policy studies, governance, institutional building and strengthening, networks, linkages and support systems, multi-stakeholder engagement and other related topics.

RESEARCHABLE TOPICS:

Know more about Organic Agriculture the LBF Thesis Grant

E-Training on “Thesis Topics and Researchable Areas on  Organic Agriculture”

1. Overview of Organic Agriculture, Challenges and Opportunities
2. What is the Lifebank Microfinance Foundation, Inc. (LBF)
3. Writing Good Concept Notes: Basics and Tips

The LBF Thesis Grant is Co-managed by: 

• Agricultural Systems Institute, College of Agriculture and Food Science, UPLB
• Office of Scholarships and Grants, Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, UPLB
• UPLB Foundation, Inc.

For inquiries, please email: [email protected]