Dr. Emmanuel Ryan C. de Chavez is an Associate Professor 7 at the Animal Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and the curator for mollusks at the UPLB Museum of Natural History. He took his BS Biology, Major in Zoology (cum laude) and MS Zoology degrees at the UPLB, and his PhD in Life Sciences at the Tohoku University in Sendai City, Japan. He was a recipient of the outstanding junior faculty award of the College of Arts and Sciences, UPLB in 2009, and has been a country representative, and a fellow at the 2016 Hope Meeting with Nobel Prize Laureates in Tsukuba, Japan. Dr. de Chavez is a member of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau’s roster of experts and is involved with the Technical Working Group for Invertebrates of the Philippine Red List Committee for Wild Fauna. Also, he is the current president of the Malacological Society of the Philippines.

As influenced by his undergraduate adviser, Dr. de Chavez pursued the career in academia upon graduation. His research expertise is on tropical malacology, community ecology, evolutionary biology, and developmental ecotoxicology. He delves into studies focused on land mollusks to explain how a species and communities vary, adapt, and evolve in rainforest and karst ecosystems. He also conducts researches using freshwater mollusks as models to determine the effects of various heavy metals, microplastics, and organic pollutants. Dr. de Chavez has written, and has reviewed several scientific articles in various local and international journals. He has completed several projects funded by the UPLB, UP System, Commission of Higher Education, DOST-Grants-In-Aid, and Malacological Society of Australasia. Dr. de Chavez is also active in training students, teachers, researchers, and enthusiasts from different parts of the country on various malacological techniques.