Dr. Berse has a multidisciplinary background in urban planning and development (Ph.D., University of Tokyo), environmental studies (MES, University of Tokyo), and public administration (BA, University of the Philippines).
He has also received advanced training in disaster risk management, sustainable and environmental leadership. Dr. Berse is an Associate Professor at the NCPAG.
He is also the Deputy Secretary General of the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA), Secretary General of the Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines (ASPAP) and a Board of Trustee member of the Philippine Academic Society for Climate and Disaster Resilience (PASCDR).
He was the former founding Director for Research and Creative Work of the UP Resilience Institute (UPRI) and was a core member of the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team.
In over 18 years of progressive professional experience that encompasses teaching, research, capacity building, and knowledge management, he has worked in areas broadly crisscrossing climate and disaster risk management, policy analysis and reform, and collaborative governance, with extensive publications in both academic and non-academic platforms.
Dr. Berse also currently holds the UP Diliman Rafael M. Salas Professorial Chair in Public Administration for his research on the policy-science interface of disaster governance in the Philippines.
Dr. Berse has received recognition for his research, the latest being the 2019 Virginia A. Miralao Excellence in Research Award conferred by the Philippine Social Science Council to promising young scholars in the social sciences.
In 2018, he was admitted to the Young Scientist program of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk and was awarded a competitive grant as Research Associate of the International Network for Government Science Advice.
