Maria Esmeralda Palaganas

About

Overview

Esme Palaganas (Maria Esmeralda Palaganas) is a PhD student in Management at Bayes Business School’s Technology and Innovation Group. She is a 2025 Bayes Studentship recipient, as well as a 2021 Chevening Scholar supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Her academic journey combines design and innovation management to inform her doctoral research. She examines how AI reshapes agency and socio-technical systems within creative work, focusing on the evolving relationship between human and technological actors.

Prior to academia, Esme worked across entrepreneurship, design, and public policy. She founded a design studio and e-commerce business with partnerships with L'Oréal and Melissa, co-founded an incubator retail programme in the Philippines, and advised regional brands on growth and intellectual property strategy, leading cross-functional work with Manila- and Tokyo-based creative teams and a top Philippine law firm. As an educator and commentator, she has designed curricula across design and business faculties, delivered guest lectures at Ateneo de Manila University and University College London, and written on technology, culture, and creative industries policy for Vogue Philippines and The Philippine Star. Her creative background has informed her multi-department digital transformation work as the innovation lead for a national government agency, applying design thinking methodologies across regulatory and financial services.

Esme presented her paper, “Agency in Creative Agencies,” at the 42nd EGOS Colloquium and participated in a paper development workshop at the LSE Theorising Data and AI Conference. At the Institute of Creativity and AI, she contributes to research and community-building initiatives—co-authoring work in Technovation and chairing the Responsible AI, Trust, and Policy Engagement panel at the 2026 Bayes AI Global Forum.

Qualifications

• PhD in Management, Bayes Business School, United Kingdom, 2025 - 2029
• AI Governance, BlueDot Impact, United Kingdom, 2025
• CopyrightX via University of Turin, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 2025
• Intellectual Property in Business, (ASEAN) Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Indonesia, 2024
• Masters in Innovation - Creativity, Innovation, and Leadership, Bayes Business School, United Kingdom, 2021 - 2022
• Bachelor of Arts - Fashion Design and Merchandising, De La Salle - College of St Benilde, Philippines, 2010 - 2014

Employment

• Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, SoFA Design Insitute, Philippines, 2024
• Lecturer - Creative Industries Management, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Philippines, 2023
• Innovation Consultant and Design Thinking Specialist, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippines, 2023 - 2025
• Lecturer - Marketing and Management, Art Direction and Advertising Visualisation, De La Salle University, Philippines, 2022 - 2023
• Strategy Specialist, Bayes Business School, United Kingdom, 2022 - 2023
• Chairperson - Policy & Planning Committee, Philippine Fashion Coalition, Philippines, 2021 - 2025
• Chairperson - Special Projects, Philippine Fashion Coalition, Philippines, 2020 - 2021

Fellowships

• Culture, Arts and Society Program (Art and AI Governance), Salzburg Global, 2024 - present

Memberships of professional organisations

• UNCTAD eTrade for Women, July 2020 - present

Languages

English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken) and Filipino; Pilipino (can read, write, speak, understand spoken)

Research students

1^stsupervisor

• Dr Sara Jones, Reader in Creative Interactive System Design

2^ndsupervisor

• Professor Feng Li FBAM FAcSS, Associate Dean, Research and Innovation

Publications