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

GRANT AWARD:

1. PHP80,000.00 for thesis mainly involving field experiments and/ or laboratory analysis
2. PHP50,000.00 for thesis mainly involving surveys, policy research, documentation and assessments.
3. Free attendance to webinars on Capacity Enhancement for Thesis related topics

 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

 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

HOW TO APPLY: 

1. Fill out the online application form and upload the PDF document in this link: https://forms.gle/EmB3ZEB7a4EHBFCL9

2. Secure, scan and save the documents below following the sequence 1.1 to6 as one PDF document labeled “OAThesisGrant_current Year_Surname_First Name of the applicant.  For example: OAThesisGrant_2021_Dela Cruz_Juan

• UPLB Administered Application Form –                       https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kq9kJ_GRMBBcWUW48pA7CM17JBgTckch/view
•  Data Privacy Consent Form –  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W02vJUIq44cVrKxGS6bJy23xHKNQaVw4/view
• Application letter* addressed to the

• • The Director
    Agricultural Systems Institute-CAFS
    UP Los Banos
    Subject: LBF Thesis Grant

• Thesis Concept Note** approved and signed by the adviser
• True Copy of Grades and Total Number of Units earned from the semester immediately preceding the application.
• Form 5 of the current semester at the time of application.

SUGGESTED THESIS RESEARCH TOPICS RELATED TO ORGANIC AGRICULTURE:

1. 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
2. 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
3. Economic aspects: Agri-entrepreneurship, supply and value chain studies, marketing studies,  agribusiness, agricultural economics, organic certification and guarantee systems and  other related topics
4. Environmental aspects: Agrobiodiversity, agroecology, agroforestry, sustainability issues, climate change adaptation and mitigation, resilience and vulnerability, soil and water conservation and  other related topics.
5. Policy-institutional aspects: Policy studies, governance, institutional building and strengthening, networks, linkages and support systems, multi-stakeholder engagement and other related  topics

SUGGESTED CONCEPT NOTE FORMAT, BUDGET WORK PLAN and BUDGET GUIDELINES:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RRbx5jD1DYXejRyYP4gY-cem4N8x6fPf/view?usp=share_link

Know more about Organic Agriculture the LBF Thesis Grant: https://organic.uplb.edu.ph/2021/09/15/news-webinar-m1/

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

Overview of Organic Agriculture, Challenges and Opportunities
What is the Lifebank Microfinance Foundation, Inc. (LBF)
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.