Dr. (Anthony) Shun Fung Chiu
PIE ASEAN Eng FAPIEMS
Conferred AY 2016-2017
Professional Profile:
Inspiration played an important role in my academic journey. I can still remember my first day in college in 1982 when I met my college mentor, Boholano Professor Dr. Alberto Campos, in my first math class. The kindred spirit of Prof. Campos had been a source of encouragement to me and many other bright scholars including Homer Co of MEM Department and Salvador Gonzales (MSc Cantab) of Math Department. His innovative (i.e. Campos Rule of Tabulation) and out-of-the-box approach made me realize I need to put in much hard work in the course of my study and in seeking knowledge through untraditional ways. “No pain, no gain” became my mantra. My younger self, Shun Fung as I was known then, excelled academically while at the same time being a student leader learning and embodying the La Sallian way at the Mechanical Engineering Society (MES) and Forensic Society.
Following my graduation in 1986, I joined my home Department Mechanical Engineering, which was then under the leadership of University Fellow Ricardo del Rosario. Aside from being a businessman; teaching as my passion, I hope, would lead me to the same path as my mentor, inspiring and nurturing young minds. My stint at the ME Department was brief. I was accepted at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) on scholarship to pursue higher education. Inspired by the introduction provided by VP Prof. Ricardo Pama on the Orientation Day at AIT, I gained a sense of camaraderie among colleagues and service to my country and also of the Asia Pacific region. Despite broadening my horizon, I returned home to DLSU where Bro. Andrew’s dream of a multiversity DLSU Research Team in the late 80s to early 90s is taking shape. I, together with a dozen AIT postgraduates whom I have invited, was privileged to initiate the research group that included Academician Prof. Dr. Alvin Culaba (ME) and Dr. Shih Liang Tu (ADB-GSBE). As I was taking on more responsibility and giving back to my community, a mature and determined ‘Anthony Chiu’ has emerged.
I regard sustainability of our planet as my personal goal. At the turn of the century, I had the opportunity to explore the world. During this time, the brand new discipline of Industrial Ecology was gaining traction. I took a leap of faith and joined various UN initiatives in this new concept. I experimented with Industrial Ecology in the Asian context and crossed continents to find enlightenment. In the process, I met and collaborated with American Ernest Lowe who introduced byproduct exchanges (BPX), European Suren Erkman who wrote the first book on Industrial Ecology in French (and later translated to Chinese), and Canadian Raymond Côté who diligently served industrial estate at the ground through eco-efficiency centre. Armed with the vast knowledge from European and American experiences in Industrial Ecology, I worked tirelessly to craft a working model for the Asia Pacific and see through its application in the region and later on to Latin America and Africa. At this point, I have come to realize the extent of possibilities for me, Dr. Anthony SF Chiu, in my work towards a global good.
My work has taken me to 120 cities and venues all over the world including the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York as an official delegate, participant, facilitator, consultant, negotiator, adjudicator, national representative and expert. But, I always keep coming back to the classroom, where my journey started. In my COE5200 class, I preach to my students what I call the essence of doing research, that is, re-search, to repeatedly conduct search. I pride myself in becoming a University Fellow, and cherish my role now as Prof. Dr. Chiu*. I hope that with nearly 200 published works to date in collaboration with local and international scholars across dozens of world class universities, I am able to inspire more students to become scholars, and let the world know that there is a university in the Philippines that produced a graduate with a heart to serve the international community – the De La Salle University.
What defines an “enterprise” scientific researcher?
At the dawn of my centennial Scopus publication count, I coined myself as an enterprise scientist. Centennial count is not something to brag about, as thousands of researchers outside the Philippines have published hundreds, if not thousands, of Scopus works. I feel it’s time to pause to look back and forward. The world today is technically border less by political (public) and networking (private) interlink; while knowledge and research have even been earlier defined as boundary less. Earlier scientists’ work were triggered by their individual curiosity and ability to find an answer through a logical flow of strategic moves, I called this “scientific method of research” that we use nowadays. However, no man is an island, and we saw scientists form their community and establish links to collaborate, compare, and assess bigger data-set of samplings for verification of scientific studies and results. Conferences and proceedings and publications followed to respond to this need.
I grew my research interest and capability, fortunately, through from a basic step of structured formal educational system at Asian Institute of Technology and De La Salle University. My real dip and then leaps and bounds into my current career and passion of sustainable development understanding, on the other hand, was my first involvement at the 1997 UNDP PRIME Project on Industrial Ecology. In short, my real research mentor is indeed the UN system that brings together the great ideas of the scientists and experts in the system. Over the past 24 years, my research interest was fondly bound by the collective direction of the groups of intellectuals and scientists in the UN system, and the initial direction of knowledge flow is often from UN (where research work place happens) to the research institutions; and not from research institution to the research workplace. This I acknowledge UN in my talks every time for my research standing today.
I fully believe that individual scientific works are worth commended, however, I find the collective scientific efforts more global, macro, and effective to deliver well-being of the people. I trust that SDGs, medical science, and IT tools continue to be the future research priorities for mankind.
*Prof. Dr. Chiu currently holds University Fellow, JM Reyes Professorial Chair, and Research Fellow A in Industrial Engineering, De La Salle University. Prof. Chiu served as United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Asia-Pacific Regional Executive for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Network (RECPNet). Prof. Chiu was designated Panel Member of the United Nations International Resource Panel in June 2016. Chiu served in major international, regional, and national professional organizations as founder, president, and senior executive.
Member, UN Environment International Resource Panel
http://www.resourcepanel.org/the-panel