Nymphmary Daphne J. Santiago is a doctoral student at the “Bioeconomy Economics” group, in the project: “Residue valorization for bio-based products in developing countries: bridging the gap between technical knowledge and socio-economic realities (ReValueD)”. Through the VLIR-UOS scholarship, Daphne obtained her master’s degree in International Master of Science in Rural Development from Ghent University in Belgium, Universidad de Cordoba in Spain, and Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral in Ecuador in 2022. Her master’s thesis focused on using a choice experiment to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay for brown and red rice with a health-benefit claim and geographical indication labels in Western Visayas, Philippines.

Prior to her graduate studies, she received her undergraduate diploma in Bachelor of Science in Economics from Visayas State University in the Philippines in 2018. Her thesis focused on estimating the recreational value of tourist destinations in the Camotes Islands using the travel cost method. She has also experienced working as a statistical analyst at the Philippine Statistics Authority, gaining knowledge about environmental accounting using the Systems of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).

With her life experiences and training in both undergraduate and graduate studies, her research interests are inclined toward development economics, particularly poverty and inequality, and ecological economics.