IARSLCE APCoP Manila

The regional conference organized by the Asia-Pacific Community of Practice of IARSLCE took place from 15th to 18th, June, 2026, on the campus of the University of the Philippines – Diliman in Manila.  The president of the University of Philippines opened the conference. Dr. Grace Ngai, Head of the Service-Learning and Leadership Office at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,  also a member of IARSLCE Board of Directors, then gave the opening keynote.  At the end of the opening ceremony, participants were reminded of, and encouraged to attend, the IARSLCE main conference coming up in New Orleans, USA, in October. 

The conference attracted 272 submissions of abstracts, 196 of which were paper presentations, and 66 were posters. Eventually, out of the submissions, 75 papers and 43 posters were accepted for presentation, and 9 workshops were run at the conference.  

180 people registered for the conference, with 151 final attendees.  These numbers do not include the members of the conference committee, the dignitaries, and the APCoP executive committee, nor the volunteers from the University of Philippines.  Participants came from Australia, Austria, Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR of China, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, USA, and, of course, The Philippines. It is necessary to note that austerity measures in place throughout many countries in South-East Asia may have impacted the number of final attendees.

Several innovations were implemented at the conference, in particular, holding with the culture of the host country, a strong social media presence. The keynote and plenary sessions were livestreamed on Facebook. All presentations, most posters, and the workshops had their own Facebook post with a short description and several photographs, courtesy of the official photographers. Many people find these posts very useful for catching up with missed presentations, matching faces to names and papers, tracking people down, making new connections, etc. 

At the Closing ceremony, Dr. Dennis Quilala made a report of the statistics and other relevant matters related to the conference.  George Luc, a member of the IARSLCE Board, briefed the audience on IARSLCE, and particularly, what opportunities may be found in IARSLCE.  Dr. Stephen Chan, former member of the IARSLCE Board, briefed the audience on the history and purpose of the APCoP, and the possibility of a 3rd APCoP conference, time and place to be decided.  

For the record, the APCoP had its genesis at an online conversation among delegates from Asia-Pacific, in 2020.  Said conversation was initiated by the organisers of the virtual IARSLCE conference, which took place when the in-person IARSLCE conference was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.  Said conversation was followed by the creation of an emailing list, organization of webinars, and the first regional APCoP conference in Hong Kong in 2024.  The rest, as we say, is history.