Orendain, Dan Jezreel A.

Dan Orendain begins his four-year PhD training with Ghent University (FPPW) and UNU-CRIS with a FWO fundamental research fellowship. Under the supervision of Ine Lietaert, he will examine the interconnections of sustainable and inclusive urbanisation, internal displacement, and indigenous peoples through a sociocultural-spatial lens. He previously joined UNU-CRIS as a research intern, where he was able to explore return migration infrastructures in the Philippines, writing two Working Papers with other internal displacement colleagues. 

Prior to starting his PhD, Dan served as the Assistant to the AR6 Synthesis Report Technical Support Unit (AR6 SYR TSU) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also completed his Master of Sciences in Sustainability from the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) in Tokyo, Japan. His master’s thesis explored the intersection between internal displacement and urbanisation in the Philippines, publishing a paper in the Sustainability Science journal on the potential impacts of the COVID pandemic to internally displaced persons (IDPs).  

Professionally trained as an architect, Dan obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines Mindanao. His volunteer work with a community-led and urban poor focused non-government organisation (NGO) led to a shift of his interests from the object (buildings) to the users; understanding how cities and communities shape its people and vice versa.