Dr. Chona Camille VinceCruz-Abeledo is a scientist, teacher, science communicator and entrepreneur from the Philippines. She leads a team of brilliant researchers who develop innovations that help fishers and farmers produce more with less, and the technologies they create are at the nexus of molecular biology, genetics, ecology, big data, machine learning, and information technology. She is also the creator the science channel SHE-ensya, fueled by her advocacy in the improvement of communications between the scientific community and other sectors of society. She believes that the world needs more scientists and science fans, and for more than 15 years, she has worked tirelessly as a faculty of the Department of Biology of the De La Salle University.

A recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Asian Science Diplomat award and honored as one of 2021’s Southeast Asian Women Science Leaders, she has a diversified background in research rooted in a Bachelor of Science Degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of the Philippines – Diliman, which is complemented by a Master of Environment and Natural Resources Management degree from the UP Open University. Her dissertation work on the molecular and morphological characteristics on Scylla species in the Philippines celebrates the synergy between genetics and ecology, as she completed it from the De La Salle University, with a Fulbright dissertation grant to the University of Washington in Seattle. Innovations from this dissertation won her the DOST-PCIEERD’s 2015 Outstanding Research and Development Award for Emerging Technologies.

Right now, she is actively engaged in citizen science projects on the impacts of climate change in the conditions of coastal communities, and the assessment of plastic pollution in different ecosystems. She is also the founder of CrabTECH, an aquatech startup company who won the Women in Ocean Food Innovation Studio 2022 pitch competition for their Crabifier and Alinmango technologies. They’re hoping to scale up CrabTECH to be able to commercialize their technologies to help improve the efficiency of mangrove crab farms in the Philippines and increase sustainability.