Visiting Researchers

Dr. Roperto S. Deluna, Jr. is an Associate Professor and the Dean of the College of Applied Economics at the University of Southeastern Philippines. He is also a leading researcher at the Socio-Economic Research and Data Analytics Center (SERDAC Mindanao), where he specializes in socio-economic research services. Dr. Deluna holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas.

His research spans three primary areas: impact evaluations, farm succession planning, and macroeconometrics. He conducts randomized control trials to assess the effects of land parcelization on beneficiaries of the Philippine agrarian reform program. He leads evaluations of the Philippine Seaweed Program and the Philippine Mallard Duck (ItikPinas) Program to measure stakeholder impact and provide recommendations for future development. Additionally, Dr. Deluna oversees a farm succession laboratory that explores farm succession across agricultural sub-sectors, including studies on farmers in Lantapan, Bukidnon, coffee farmers, and cacao farmers, to support the institutionalization of succession planning in the Philippines. His academic research also focuses on macroeconometrics, particularly the analysis of asymmetry in macroeconomic variables to better understand the effectiveness of policy responses to economic shocks.

Dr. Deluna served as a visiting researcher at the University of Passau in 2024, where he contributed to the ReValueD project through his work on “Farm Succession in the Philippines.”

Dr. Moises Neil V. Seriño is a professor of the Department of Economics, Visayas State University (VSU), Philippines and currently served as the Vice President for Planning and Development at VSU. He holds a doctorate degree in Economics from the University of Göttingen, Germany with Prof Stephan Klasen as his supervisor. He was a visiting research fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan. He was a John Dillon Fellow of the Australian Center for International and Agricultural Research, Australia and recipient of the USDA Scientific Exchange Fellow at Louisiana State University, USA. He served as a guest lecturer at the Universitas Negeri Malang (Indonesia), University Malaysia Terengganu (Malaysia) and King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Labkrabang (Thailand).

He is a board member of the Philippine Agriculture and Economic Development Association. He served as the national co-convenor of the Australia Alumni Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Community of Practice. He is a regular member of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP). In addition, Dr. Seriño has been appointed as one of the members of the Technical Panel for Economics of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Philippines in 2022.

Dr. Seriño served as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Passau in 2024, where he contributed to the ReValueD project related to behavioral experiments with coconut producers in the Philippines.

Dr. Germano Glufke Reis is a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Parana, School of Management, in Southern Brazil. He is also the coordinator of the SfoodLab (Sustainable Food Value Chains Laboratory). He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and was a visiting Ph.D. scholar at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK. He conducted postdoctoral research at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, in the Netherlands. Moreover, he was a visiting scholar at the Cellular Agriculture Research Group within the Ruralia Institute at the University of Helsinki, Finland. 

His research primarily focuses on sustainable food value chains, with a specific emphasis on the meat industry and the sector of meat alternatives. He has explored various facets of the value chains of cultivated meats (cell-based meat) and other alternative sources of proteins that possess the potential to significantly transform the conventional meat industry. These alternatives can alleviate pertinent environmental and animal ethics concerns associated with large-scale animal-based meat production. 

He will be a visiting researcher at the University of Passau as part of the Passau International Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies (PICAIS) fellowship program and will engage in collaboration with the Bioeconomy Economics research group. During his time in Passau, Dr. Reis will be involved in the project titled “Disruptive innovation and “hybrid” products: an economic perspective of the disruptive potential of different forms of cultivated (cell-based) meats”.

Dr. Peter Bilson Obour is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Resource Development at the University of Ghana, Legon. He holds an MSc in Agro-Environmental Management and a PhD in Agroecology (Soil Physics and Hydropedology) from Aarhus University, Denmark.

Dr. Obour’s research lies at the interface of the natural and social sciences, addressing sustainability challenges in agricultural systems. Over the past five years, his work has focused on three key areas: (i) soil management and the use of organic amendments for sustainable crop production, (ii) climate change impacts and adaptation in smallholder agriculture, and (iii) the development of resilient and sustainable farming systems.

Dr. Obour served as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Passau in 2025, where he contributed to the ReValueD project related to behavioral experiments with cashew producers in Ghana.

Prof. Dr. Angela Cristiane Santos Póvoa is a professor and researcher at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, affiliated with the Graduate Program in Administration (PPAD), in Southern Brazil, where she led the program for nine years. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, where she also earned her Master’s degree in Business Strategy, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. She also serves as a distinguished professor at Universidad de La Sabana and was a visiting professor at Osnabrück University in 2023.

Her research primarily focuses on behavioral economics, with a particular emphasis on experimental game theory applied to real-world social contexts. She has been actively engaged in international research collaborations, especially between Brazil and Colombia, with a focus on developing governance models for circular economy systems.

As part of her international engagement, she is associated with research activities at Universidade Lusófona and Université de Normandie. She is currently a visiting researcher at the University of Passau as part of the Passau International Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies fellowship program in 2026, where she contributes to advancing debates on sustainability, particularly at the intersection of bio-based materials and behavioral approaches.

Dr. Mercedes Montero-Vega is an Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Costa Rica (UCR). She holds a PhD in Environmental Economics and Rural Business Development from CATIE and an MSc in International Agribusiness and Rural Development from the University of Göttingen. She also conducted postdoctoral research on food loss and waste at the University of Hohenheim.

Her work on bioeconomy includes research on agricultural value chains and contributions to strategy and policy development. As a consultant, she contributed to the baseline study and development of bioeconomy strategies; she has supported the development of bioeconomy policy, methodologies for identifying opportunities in coffee value chains, and guidance for bioeconomy strategies and business opportunities.

Her current research centers on behavioral economics, with three main interests: how consumers perceive bio-based products and which attributes influence their choices; the behavioral factors underlying food waste; and the behavioral drivers and barriers to household waste management. She studies the decisions and everyday practices that contribute to waste, alongside ways to prevent it and recover value from organic materials, including energy generation. The behavioral waste management research agenda includes the analysis of incentives, cooperation and policy options for managing organic and recyclable waste in Costa Rica. It brings together household behavior, waste management services and interactions among households, businesses and local governments, considering the environmental and social implications of different management options.

During August and September 2026, Dr. Montero-Vega is a visiting researcher with the BioEcon research group at the University of Passau. The visit builds on their collaboration with local governments in Costa Rica on household waste sorting and the role of injunctive norms.