NEWLY REELECTED National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) division chair and Artlets Prof. Joyce Arriola vowed to work to increase the appreciation for humanities to meet global research standards without compromising its “liberating” characteristics.
Arriola, the head of the UST Communications department, said one of her visions for her second term as NRCP Division XI (humanities) chair is to promote creative works as a legitimate research output in a landscape largely driven by scientific metrics.
“Scientific categories should not be the basis for quality in the humanities. The humanities are a category of its own. Not to respect its discursive, intersubjective and creative bent is to undermine its purposes, characteristics and means of operating,” Arriola told The Flame.
“What we need to address is how the humanities could measure up with the requirements of global bibliometrics without sacrificing the open, intersubjective, transformative and liberating aspects of humanistic scholarship,” she added.
Arriola took her oath as NRCP chair during the council’s 2025 Annual Scientific Conference and 92nd General Membership Assembly at the Philippine International Convention Center on March 13.
The Artlets professor first served her two-year term in 2023. As humanities division chair, she is tasked to advance humanities’ contributions to arts and cultural development and discern their interdisciplinary roles in social and hard sciences.
Arriola earned all her literature degrees at the University, finishing her undergraduate studies in 1988, master’s degree in 1995 and doctoral degree in 2003. She also obtained a master’s and a doctoral degree in Literature and Communication, respectively, from the University of the Philippines.
Having served the University for nearly three decades, Arriola was the founding director of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and Humanities and founding chair of the Department of Literature.
She is also a former associate editor of the UNITAS Journal, the oldest academic journal in the Philippines and assistant to the director for faculty development of the UST Educational Technology Center.
Among her notable achievements was receiving the UST Graduate School Outstanding Alumni Award in 2014 and the NRCP Achievement Award for the Humanities in 2018.
In 2021, she became the holder of the Teodoro F. Valencia Professorial Chair in Journalism, which was established by the Teodoro F. Valencia Foundation, Inc. and UST in 1988 to improve journalism in the country and to affirm UST’s commitment to supporting ethical journalism based on truth, justice and Catholic values.
In her vision statement, Arriola mentioned her goals to publish a dedicated humanities issue in the NRCP journal, align collaborative projects with national priorities, foster partnerships with the Commission on Higher Education and National Commission for Culture and the Arts to harmonize research agendas in creative industries and recognize creative works through collaborative initiatives with the academe.
In its LinkedIn account, the NRCP describes itself as a collegial body of highly-trained and productive scientists and researchers addressing the demand for knowledge, skills and innovations in the sciences and humanities to effectively and efficiently contribute to nation-building and improvement of the quality of life of Filipinos.
The council, which was established in 1933 under the Department of Science and Technology, promotes fundamental research, scientific collaboration, national advisory services and cultural cultivation through its 13 divisions. F — Christian Querol with reports from Mari Ymanuel Roxas
