Maria Carmen (Ica) Fernandez is an environmental planner and applied researcher working with spatial data for decision-making in transitional and post-crisis situations. She has served as consultant and evaluator for various international development organizations, national agencies, local governments, and civil society networks. As a land specialist, she contributed to the work of the GPH-MILF Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission and its workstream on marginalization through land dispossession. Her various research interests generally focus on addressing the root causes of violence, supporting citizen power, and increasing social cohesion.
Ica holds an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines Diliman and an MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge Department of Land Economy studying the relationship between protracted internal displacement, land governance, and urbanization.
She is one of the founding convenors of UrbanisMO.ph, an informal collective of development practitioners working on difficult questions in Philippine cities.
Notes from the Field 