Liza Gabriela Lansang-Espinoza, PhD Candidate
Senior Lecturer
lflansang@up.edu.ph
Liza Lansang-Espinoza is Senior Lecturer of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman. She has been teaching at the department since 1999. She was an Assistant Professor from 1999-2011.
Senior Lecturer Lansang-Espinoza obtained her bachelor’s degree in political science from the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in 1994 and her master’s degree in international relations from the University of Amsterdam in 1998. She was a visiting researcher and lecturer at the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University, Japan in 2002. She obtained her second master’s in philosophy from VU University Amsterdam in 2012. From 2012-2013 she was junior researcher at the Scientific Research and Documentation Centre (wodc.nl) of the Ministry of Security and Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2018, she was research support officer at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at TU Delft, Netherlands. She is currently pursuing a doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities from VU University Amsterdam.
She has taught a variety of subjects in political science since 1999. These include International Relations, Comparative Politics, Social, Economic, and Political Thought, Ancient and Medieval Thought, and Special Topics in Political Thought and Methodology (Worldviews and Politics). Her research interests include Reformational philosophy, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs) and their advocacy work to influence environmental and energy policies, migration policy and bioethical policies. She has been involved in various research projects on the following themes: large-scale mining, renewable energy, cultural exchange (au-pair programs) and euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Her recent publications revolved around the liberal state and ethics of citizenship in the political public sphere in bioethical debates such as artificial contraceptives in the Philippines, abortion in the United States, and euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands.
Education
- Master’s Degree in Christian Studies of Science and Society, VU University Amsterdam, 2011-2012
Thesis: “Christians in a Pluralist Society and the Search for a Christian Imperative” - Master’s Degree in International Relations, University of Amsterdam, 1994-1999
Thesis: “A Class in Their Own: NGOs, Policy Advocacy and the Campaign Against the Liberalisation of the Mining Industry in the Philippines” - Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, University of the Philippines, Diliman, 1990-1994
Research Interests
Environmental and Energy Politics and Discourse; Civil Society and Policy Advocacy; Reformational Philosophy and Ethics of Citizenship; Bioethics.
Recent Publications
- Public and Faithful: On the Liberal State and Ethics of Citizenship Philosophia Reformata, April 8 2025, De Gruyter Brill https://brill.com/view/journals/phir/aop/article-10.1163-23528230-bja10104/article-10.1163-23528230-bja10104.xml
- “Conversion to Conversation”: The Search for a Christian Imperative in the Public Sphere and the Discourse on Artificial Contraceptives in the Philippines”, Philippine Political Science Journal, Vol.40, No.3 2019. https://brill.com/view/journals/ppsj/40/3/article-p262_3.xml
- Commissie-Schnable-voltooid leven” (‘Schnabel Committee- completed life’). In Joanne van Beusekom, Joop Buker and Alex van Vuuren, eds., Barmhatigheid Anno 2018, Euthanasie en voltooid leven in Nederland Schreeuw om Leven 2018 (Mercy in 2018 Euthanasia and completed life in the Netherlands Scream for Life), Mohn Media, 31-34.
- “Au pairs in Nederland: Culturele uitwisseling of arbeidsmigratie?” (Au pairs in the Netherlands: Cultural Exchange or labor migration?) WetenschappelijkOnderzoek en Documentatiecentrum Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie (Scientific Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Security and Justice) Cahier 2014-2
- “Philippines: mobilizations civiles pour une politique extractive durable et equitable” (Philippines: Civil Mobilizations for a Sustainable and Equitable Extractive Policy) Alternatives Sud (Southern Alternatives) Volume 20-2013/2
- “NGOs, Coalition-Building and the Campaign for a Minerals Management Policy in the Philippines” Philippine Political Science Journal 32 (55) 2011, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01154451.2011.9723534
Courses Taught
- POLSC 180 (Introduction to International Relations)
- POLSC 122 (Ancient and Medieval Thought)
- POLSC 197 (Worldviews and Politics)
- POLSC 172 (Government and Politics of Selected European States)
- Soc Sci 2 (Social, Economic, and Political Thought)