Dr Suzette Haughton, from the Department of Government, has advanced work to alleviate crime through her contributions to areas such as transnational crime, national security, security threats affecting nation-states, drug trafficking, border security, border disputes and Theories of security.

Dr Herbert Gayle from the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, has been doing critical and path-breaking research relating to crime and violence, providing evidence-based and practical policy recommendations on these challenges. Dr Gayle also continues his work on male gender issues and has recently launched his book Males and Tertiary Education in Jamaica which examines the relationship between men and tertiary education.

Dr Gillian Mason, from the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work focuses on violence against women, especially intimate partner violence in adult and adolescent relationships.

The demography sub-unit within the Department of Sociology, Psychology, and Social Work, continues to build on the work of its predecessors, Professors George Roberts, Chukwudum Uche and Patricia Anderson, at the national level, conducting research that brings attention to population-related issues. Recognizing that quality data is needed for decision-making, the unit was able to successfully convert an individual consultancy on Data Appreciation in the Dutch and English-Speaking Caribbean to an Implementing Partner Agreement (IPA) between UWI and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This project is spearheaded by Dr Samantha John-Aloye with Mr Colin Williams and Drs. Michael Yee-Shui and Julian Devonish.

Dr Sharon Priestley, and Dr Kerry Lee (formerly a Social Work student) within the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work are now working to uncover the links between adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and mental and behavioural outcomes among women, seeking to highlight the need for intervention aimed at addressing childhood adversity to disrupt negative outcomes among Jamaican women.

Collaboration with Professor Patricia Anderson (retired Prof. of Applied Sociology) serves to ensure the continuation of empirical work on men. Prof. Anderson and Dr Julian Devonish recently prepared for publication the Development of a scale to measure fathering identity in Jamaica. This also builds on previous work with Drs. Marina Ramkissoon, Junior Hopwood, Garth Lipps and Sharon Priestley on a scale measuring masculinity.

Mr Colin Williams and Dr Heather Ricketts continue to research ‘time use’ which represents an empirical approach towards the measurement of unpaid work in Jamaica.

Dr Dacia Leslie, a Research Fellow within the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) is currently focused on research that concentrates on recidivism, the lived experiences of inmates, ex-prisoners, removed migrants and their child dependents. Under the leadership of Professor Aldrie Henry-Lee, also from SALISES, Dr Leslie is currently supporting the design of a Monitoring and Evaluation framework for the Social Inclusion and Social Protection Strategy for the OECS Region.

Through the Crime Prevention and Offender Management (CPOM), SALISES research cluster, which Dr Leslie chairs, new partnerships continue to be forged and existing ones strengthened towards realising the Caribbean Region desired by 2030. The most recent CPOM-led public event Successfully Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Prison: The Experiences of Caribbean SIDS was recently held in collaboration with the University of Prince Edward Island, Institute of Island Studies.