The University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB) is renowned as one of the leading educational institutions for agriculture and forestry in south east Asia. It is one of the six constituent universities of the University of the Philippines System. It started out as a College of Agriculture in 1909 and became a full-fledged university in 1972.

UPLB is recognized worldwide for its high educational standards and its commitment to academic excellence. It maintains linkage with 30 other universities and agencies from Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Nepal, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, United States, and Vietnam.

Research activities in UPLB are geared towards sustainable productivity and efficient resources utilization premised on ecological balance, optimal rural and urban development, appropriate technologies for processing industry, basic research and cutting-edge technologies, indigenous knowledge systems, and Philippine culture. The university's extension function complements not only its instruction and research programs, but also supports the extension functions of government and non-government agencies, particularly those related to agricultural and rural development.

Elvira Fernandez (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ph.D.) of the Department of Forest Products and Paper Science is UPLB's lead scientist assigned to the Bamboo Thematic Network project. Dr. Fernandez has thirty years of experience in non-timber forest products and is currently the project leader of an EU project on Forest Products Chemistry Non-Timber Forest Products. 

Other members of UPLB's team for the BTN project are Dr. Armando M. Palijon and Dr. Magadalena Y. Giron.

Armando Palijon (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ph.D.) is specialized in silviculture, urban forestry and landscaping and has 20 years of experience in bamboo and non-timber forest products.

Magdalena Giron (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ph.D.) has 25 years of forestry research experience and is the leader of the ACIAR project Wood, Non-Timber Forest Products Preservation.