ALIYA S. PELEO, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Asian Center, UP Diliman

Dr. Aliya Peleo earned her Ph.D. from the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She has an MA in International Development from the Graduate School of International Relations at the International University of Japan in Niigata, Japan. She has worked on a number of development projects in Central Asia with UNESCO, the Peace Corps/Kazakhstan, USAID, and ADB. Her research interests include biopolitics, cultural symbolism and identity, regionalism, international norms and development, and agriculture.

RONALD A. PERNIA, PH.D.
Assistant Professor, Ateneo de Manila University

Dr. Ronald A. Pernia is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ateneo de Manila University whose research explores the intersection of comparative politics and political psychology. An award-winning scholar, he earned his Ph.D. from National Sun Yat-sen University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, focusing on how threat perception influences political trust and democratic resilience. His extensive body of work is featured in prestigious international journals such as Democratization and the Journal of East Asian Studies, and he is currently finalizing a book with Routledge titled How Threat Perception Strengthens Governments and Authoritarian Alternatives: From Trust to Power. Utilizing mixed methods—ranging from survey analysis to computational text analysis—Dr. Pernia provides critical insights into authoritarian values and governance across the Philippines and the broader Asian region.

AARON JED RABENA, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Asian Center, UP Diliman

Dr. Aaron Jed Rabena is an Assistant Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations from Shandong University in China. Dr. Rabena has written extensively on his areas of interest, namely, Strategic Studies, Greater East Asian Geopolitics and Multilateral Politics, Political Risk, and Chinese Politics and Foreign Policy.