I am Monica Edralin from Manila, Philippines. I am a researcher and an urban planner. I obtained my master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines and my bachelor’s degree in Development Studies from the Ateneo de Manila University. My work is focused in the field of disaster risk reduction and management, environmental management, international development, and development planning. My most recent engagement was with the German Development Cooperation for the Typhoon Yolanda effort on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into land use planning. My research interests include: cost-benefit analysis of disaster risk management alternatives, ecosystem values, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, probabilistic risk analysis, knowledge co-production, and participatory appraisal tools for disaster risk reduction. I have co-published a study on alternative approaches on emergency response focused on community-based initiatives, entitled: “The Local Emergency Assessment and Response Network: Capacity-building and Collaboration for Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response.” I believe that courses on development economics will teach me very useful tools in the field of international development and help better guide my research interests.