Maria Carmen (Ica) Fernandez is a spatial planner and researcher who has spent the last decade working on the implementation and evaluation of political processes and socio-economic programs related to violence, vulnerability, social cohesion, and open governance in the Philippines. She has a keen interest in interdisciplinary action research, including the use of visual art, music, and community activities for participatory engagement and policy reform. Ica is one of the founding convenors of UrbanisMO.ph, an informal collective of urban practitioners working on difficult questions in Philippine cities.
Ica holds an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines and an MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a DOST-British Council Newton Agham PhD scholar at the University of Cambridge, where she is studying the relationship of internal displacement and urbanisation.
