Speaker Bios - Dr. Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts

 

Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts has been engaged for over 15 years in research and policy development in relation to Caribbean integration and issues affecting children and youth, including child labour, youth unemployment, juvenile justice and youth participation. A former Commonwealth Scholar, she completed her doctoral research in Politics with a focus on the evolution of sovereignty and regional governance in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Her academic research and professional experience, including as a Development Officer with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), member of the board of directors of the National Youth Service of Jamaica, a CARICOM Youth Ambassador and CARICOM Commissioner for Youth Development, have reinforced her interests in the political aspects of regional development with regard to the building of shared institutions which reflect the identity, connect the lives and meet the development goals of Caribbean people.

Terri-Ann is currently a Research Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at the University of the West Indies where she chairs the “50/50 Youth” Research Cluster and participates in the cluster on Regional Integration. She also serves as a Youth Empowerment Expert for the United Nations Development Programme and as an ad hoc Member of the CARICOM Technical Working Group on Youth Development.

She is the author of “The Politics of Integration: Caribbean Sovereignty Revisited”, Ian Randle, 2013 and Editor of “Youthscapes’ of Development in the Caribbean and Latin America”, a 2014 Special Issue of the journal Social and Economic Studies (63:3&4). Her current work involves activist research around the ideational foundations of governance in the Caribbean and the visions and aspirations of young Caribbean leaders.