Dr. Noelyn "Weng" Dano is an Environmental Specialist who has dedicated her career life mainly in the environment field, with over two decades of experience in on-ground implementation, management, and consultancy, involving sustainability-themed environment and development projects in Southeast and South Asia, as well as in Australia. Most of her project engagements were supported by multilateral and bilateral agencies, such as, UN FAO, EU, ACIAR-AusAID, SDC (Swiss), USAID, and Global Affairs Canada. She has worked on issues spanning protected areas (both terrestrial and marine), forestry, agroforestry, land & farming systems, energy-development nexus, urbanization, disasters, and climate change. 

Currently connected with the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP), Weng is the faculty lead in the 'Environment and Climate Solutions' pathway of the Master in Public Sector Innovations Program at the University’s Institute of Governance, Innovation and Sustainability. She is also a licensed Environmental Planner; wearing this hat, she led a multidisciplinary team in the master planning of a science and technology park of the University. 

Weng obtained her Master of Environmental Management and Development (with Merit), from the Australian National University (ANU) and her PhD in Environmental Studies specializing in Environmental Governance from the A.N.U.’s School of Politics and International Relations, in Canberra. She was also a recipient of the 2009 Marie Curie European PhD Winter School fellowship in which she studied ‘Earth System Governance’ at the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, with a masterclass on ‘Resilience’ by the Stockholm Resilience Centre. She was trained under the 2017 UN Environment Asia-Pacific Leadership Program on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (The UN SDGs) at Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, in Shanghai, China. Weng also holds degrees in Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy - magna cum laude) from Holy Name University, Juris Doctor from the University of San Carlos, and MSc. Social Development from the Ateneo de Manila University, with her thesis, "The Politics and Economy of the Value of Chocolate Hills".