National University, together with Computing Society of the Philippines-Special Interest Group on Natural Language Processing (CSP SIG-NLP) and Bicol University, successfully organized the 15^th National Natural Language Processing Symposium (NNLPRS) held last March 8-9, 2019 at the Bicol University, Legazpi City, Albay.

One of the main objectives of NNLPRS is to establish and provide a mechanism for leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP) research in academic institutions. With its theme, “Indigenous Languages”, the symposium also served as an avenue to discuss the various challenges and opportunities that researchers face in addressing issues and in integrating human language technology to document and process Philippine languages.

The two-day event was graced by more than 100 attendees from Bicol region and other universities in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Invited to speak in the event were Dr. Tod Allman from the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics and Dr. Robert Roxas of UP Cebu.

Meanwhile, National U’s VP for Academic and Development Research Dr. Rachel Editha Roxas and NU RaIN’s Assistant Director for Research Nathaniel Oco served as board members of CSP SIG-NLP. “As co-organizer, it helps build NU’s academic reputation. In the past years, it has also served as a venue for our research results to be disseminated.” Oco said.

After the successful staging of this year’s symposium, it was announced that the 16th National Natural Language Processing Research Symposium will be hosted by UP Cebu in 2020.

Photo fr: Chicco Sy