Microbial oceanographer Deo Florence Onda rose to global attention in March 2021, when he became one of the first two people to descend into Emden Deep, a section of the Philippine Trench more than 10,000m below sea level. Currently the youngest faculty member of the Marine Science Institute at the University of the Philippines, he was previously chief scientist of Protect WPS, investigating the environmental condition of the Spratly Islands.