The JaWIC project with objectives to connect women in coffee, to recognize women’s contributions to the industry, and to empower a sustainable future where women have equal access to resources and the benefits of their labour recently closed. Links to a YouTube feature and full length feature are shared below. The project was led by Dr. Rose-Ann Smith and Dr. Anne-Teresa Birthwright Department of Geography and Geology Lecturer and Graduate respectively.
https://youtu.be/ua3hUIu5Az0
https://www.mediafire.com/file/aeuumacxuh9utkt/Jawic.mov/file
Dr Donovan Campbell, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Geography and Geology at the Mona Campus and Dr Aidan Farrell, Senior Lecturer in Plant Physiology, Department of Life Sciences at the St Augustine Campus, are among a global network of researchers who have coauthored and published a Global Stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change.
Dr Donovan Campbell noted, “This is the first paper to systematically investigate whether we are on track to adapt sufficiently to climate change. This was a massive undertaking involving more than a hundred global scholars which meant that the analysis benefitted from a wide range of perspectives and experiences. We are encouraged by the range of adaptation actions across communities, nations, and sectors to respond to multiple climate hazards. However, most of these actions were found to be incremental and insufficient to deal with severe climate change impacts.”
Read more about the study here: Berrang-Ford, L., Siders, A.R., Lesnikowski, A. et al. A systematic global stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 989–1000 (2021). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01170-y
Report also featured here: https://www.mona.uwi.edu/fst/earth-today-researchers-advance-priority-ar...
Dr. Rose-Ann Smith was one of four membrs of staff of the Faculy of Science and Technology that included Andrea Goldson-Barnaby (Chemistry), Phillipa Bennett (Computing) and Mr. Barrington Brevitt (Physics) in Cohort 10 of graduates who were awarded Certificates in University Teaching and Learning (CUTL) at a graduation ceremony held on November 5, 2021.
Dr. Smith joins her colleague Dr. Thera Edwards of Cohort 9 as a graduate of the CUTL, a flagship development programme for faculty of The University of the West Indies.
See linked article https://www.mona.uwi.edu/fst/four-fst-staff-awarded-certificates-univers...
Gabrielle Gayle is a 2021 Geology Major graduate of the Department of Geography and Geology. BOOST Fellows, representing the best science and education graduates from The UWI, will be placed in high schools to teach STEM subjects in six successive cohorts. The Fellows will receive a scholarship equivalent to the cost of one year of their University tuition for each year they spend teaching in the programme, up to three years, with a further incentive payment for excellent performance. Fellows will also benefit from specially designed mentorship schemes, summer training and outreach programmes and networking opportunities.
BOOST is a “back-end incentivized scholarship scheme” developed by The UWI and the National Baking Company Foundation (NBCF) to respond to the urgent need for more quality STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) teachers in Jamaica’s classrooms. This need is highlighted by the 2017-2018 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, which ranked Jamaica at 73rd out of 137 countries in terms of the quality of science and math education.
Sarah started her MPhil programme in Geography in 2015 and upgraded to a Ph.D. Her thesis, ‘Determinants of Drought Risks and Adaptation Response Options in Farming Communities across Clarendon Jamaica’ focused on risks associated with water scarcity and adaptation practices among farmers in one of Jamaica’s breadbasket regions, Clarendon. This interdisciplinary research is one of the first in the Caribbean to use the IPCC’s Climate Risk Framework to characterize drought risks and impacts at multiple scales in a single study. The work was supported by The UWI Research and Publications Grant, UWI Postgraduate Scholarship and Geography Department. Her primary supervisor was Dr. Donovan Campbell.
Further details are available at https://www.mona.uwi.edu/fst/sarah-buckland-–-phd-geography-high-comme...
Postgraduate students of the Department of Geography and Geology copped seven of the 2021 UWI Postgraduate Scholarships. The Department extends heartiest congratulations to:
Kristinia Doughorty - Ph.D. Geography
Melissa Curtis -Ph.D. Geology
Lance Scott - Ph.D. Geography
Aleem Mahabir - M.Phil. Geography
Romario Anderson - M.Phil. Geography
Rajne Reynolds - M.Phil. Geography
Matthew Rahamut - M.Phil. Geology
These emerging scholars have made us all very proud.
Richard Robertson, volcanologist and a Department of Geography and Geology alumnus was promoted to the rank of Professor at UWI, St. Augustine. He delivered his inaugral professorial lecture on November 11, 2021.
The Anthony N Sabga, Caribbean Awards for Excellence podcast with Professor Richardson can be found at https://youtu.be/Trx72rStyaA and a feature in the Awards E-News Volume 16, Issue 5 on page 3 can be found at http://www.ansacaribbeanawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/E-News-Sep....
Abigail Jones a B.A. Geography graduate of the Department of Geography & Geology is the 2021 CCRIF Scholarship Awardee. Ms Jones is enrolled in the M.Sc. Natural Resource Management specializing in Disaster Risk Management offered at The UWI, Mona Campus. The Department extends its congratulations to Ms Jones.
Principal Investigator: Marisa Wilson, University of Edinburgh (UoE)
Co-Investigators: Katherine Crowley (UoE), Patricia Northover(UWI), Thera Edwards (UWI), Sylvia Mitchell (UWI), Nicole Plummer (UWI)
AWARD: 7995 GBP
Recipes for Resilience (RfR) will re-connect Caribbean youth to their elders through activities that encourage young people to reflect on their own food behaviours, how they may differ from older people, and why these changes matter in the context of climate adaptation, resilience, and justice for Caribbean peoples of African descent. This will be done through three workshops that draw from the PI's previous engagement work, using sensory methods, storytelling, games, role play, and song, and through youth-led research conducting sensory oral history interviews with their elders about eating, cooking, commensality and gardening. Outputs will include story maps, calypso, soca, reggae, rap and spoken word songs and a podcast recording, which will be shared publicly through an open educational resource.
RfR will broaden and deepen the work of our partners and co-creators, the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), a group of young people aged 14-31 from nineteen Caribbean countries. Since 2020 CYEN has been working with the UNDP and UNICEF to research youth perspectives on climate change in the Caribbean, culminating in a report to be presented to heads of governments at the COP26. In addition to broadening their networks, the project will deepen CYEN's work on climate change and agrifood systems. CYEN activities have largely centred on climate change, land use and agricultural production, while RfR centres on whole food system changes, with a particular emphasis on food cultures, behaviours and community resilience.
Linked Information: https://twitter.com/GeosciencesEd/status/1435581270302601224?s=20 AND https://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/news/school?item=1539
Project Lead: Arpita Mandal, Dept. of Geography & Geology, The UWI, Mona Campus
Co-Investigating Lead: Sudeshna Basu, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University College London
Award: 1000 GBP
Limestone is a common building stone in London, and while different types of limestone are used, the Portland Stone, a well-cemented oolitic variety, also used in the construction of UCL is the most common. In Kingston, Jamaica, limestone occurs in outcrops as White and Yellow Limestone groups and are used in the construction of different heritage sites and university buildings. It is important to understand the decay processes of limestone, influenced by observed and predicted climate change, in order to identify suitable interventions to minimize their deterioration. In the study, the suitability of the limestone as building materials will be investigated, taking into account their journey from the quarry to the construction site and focusing on any role of moisture in the degradation processes. Other collaborators are Drs. Y. D. Aktas and S. Orr (UCL) and Prof. Simon Mitchell (UWI-Mona) as well as students from both Universities.
Our 7 faculties and 12 professional schools offer more than 200 programmes to some 18,000 graduate, undergraduate and continuing studies students.
The UWI, Mona ranks first in Jamaica among accredited tertiary-level programmes. In 2012, the University was again one of Jamaica’s Top 100 Employers.
