Pamela Cajilig
Biography
Pamela Cajilig is a design anthropologist with a career spanning more than 20 years of experience in qualitative research and consulting at the junctures of disaster recovery, architecture, community health, women’s rights and education, and strategic communications. She is the Co-Founding President of Curiosity Design Research, a Manila-based design research firm that works with the private sector, civic society, and the public sector in developing context-responsive products and services. She is presently a PhD Candidate at the Humanitarian Architecture Research Bureau within the RMIT University School of Architecture and Urban Design in Melbourne. Her doctoral research project examines how Philippine artisanal fisherfolk in an estuarine island improvise upon their dwelling to thrive and survive in the face of climate extremes and limited political power. Pamela has organised and implemented numerous training sessions (with a strong focus on community resilience and participation) for disaster management professionals in Southeast and South Asia through her engagements as a Global Fellow of the Brown University Humanitarian Innovation Initiative and as an Associate of the Environment and Disaster Management Programme of the World Wildlife Fund USA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Architecture and Design at School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University. Pamela is also the Co-Founder and Executive Research Direcetor of Curiosity, an independent research-based design consulting firm that works with the private sector, civic society, and the government in designing more useful and meaningful products and services. Pamela is a global partner of the newly founded Displacement Studies Research Network, a platform based in Plymouth University in the UK that aims to provide avenues for displaced populations to be recognized and heard. She holds an MA in Anthropology and a BA in Communication Research from the University of the Philippines.