Dr. Verene Shepherd, Professor of Social History, The University of the West Indies, Mona has been invited to become a member of the Steering Committee (STC) of The South - South Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS), funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Development Cooperation.  She attends a series of meetings, and a Sephis-organized Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan titled "Women and the Public Sphere” this week and will also be a part of the Conference taking place on June 18-20.

Established in 1994, the SEPHIS programme aims to encourage the formation of a South-South network directed towards comparative historical research on long-term processes of change. The comparative perspective is at the core of the SEPHIS programme. This means that it aims to stimulate the production and dissemination of historical information which transcends local discussions and is embedded in theoretical and/or comparative reflections.  SEPHIS acknowledges the existence of a variety of historical perspectives and encourages historians to reconsider the links between empirical research and methodological and conceptual issues.

The SEPHIS programme is governed by the STC which comprises senior academics working in Asia, Africa and the Americas.  STC members take policy decisions, visit SEPHIS-sponsored activities and in general support the programme. Once a year the STC meets somewhere in the South, during this meeting grant applications are selected, decisions are taken for the coming year and general policies are discussed. In principle, STC members serve for three years. 

Professor Shepherd will represent the Caribbean, as an STC member.  She was selected based on her knowledge and expertise in diasporic history, and her ability to add value and strengthen the STC in general, as well as its presence in the Caribbean.   Professor Shepherd was recently returned as president of the Association of Caribbean Historians (ACH), and is a Board Member of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora.