Michael Sutherland

Professor

University of The West Indies

St. Augustine

Trinidad and Tobago

Telephone: 868-662-2002 Ext. 82108
868-662-2002 Ext. 83313

Email: Michael.Sutherland@sta.uwi.edu

Michael Sutherland holds an M.Sc.E. and Ph.D. in Geomatics Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada specializing in land information management and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He is currently a Professor in Land and Marine Spatial Administration Systems in the Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management, Faculty of Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Michael was also Head of that department from 2017 to 2023. He previously held a post-doctoral position at the University of Ottawa, Canada where he did GIS research in relation to multi-criteria decision analysis supporting socioeconomic and environmental phenomena. He is a member of the Institute of Surveyors of Trinidad and Tobago, and is an elected member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In 2011 Michael was appointed as an Honorary Fellow, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Between 2012 and 2017 he served as Deputy Dean (Undergraduate Affairs), Faculty of Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. In 2012 he was appointed as an adjunct professor in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick. Michael was also Chair (2011-2014), Commission 4 (Hydrography), International Federation of Surveyors.

Qualification

Ph.D. (Geomatics: Land Information Management and GIS), University of New Brunswick, Canada
Diploma (University Teaching) University of New Brunswick
M.Sc.E. (Geomatics: Land Information Management), University of New Brunswick, Canada
Diploma (Surveying Engineering), University of New Brunswick, Canada
Diploma (Computer Studies) (Hons), College of Arts Science and Technology, Jamaica

Fellowships and Training

Honorary Fellow, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, UWI, St.Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Research Interests

The Role of Blue Carbon in Climate Change Mitigation and Carbon Stock Conservation
Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
Spatial Data Infrastructure
Marine Cadastre
3D Cadastre
Development of Public Participatory GIS for Caribbean coastal communities
Managing Adaption to Coastal Environmental Change due to climate change impacts

Professional Experience

2023-Present: Professor, Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago
2012-2020: Adjunct Professor, Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, UNB, Canada
2007: Course Director and Tutor, Survey Law II, York University, Canada
2005-2006: Part-time Instructor, Cadastral systems and Survey Law, Ryerson University, Canada
1998-2000: Part-time Lecturer, Land Administration I and Land Administration II, University of New Brunswick, Canada

Featured Work

Hilmi N, Sutherland M, Farahmand S, Haraldsson G, van Doorn E, Ernst E, Wisz MS, Claudel Rusin A, Elsler LG and Levin LA (2023). Deep sea nature-based solutions to climate change. Front. Clim. 5:1169665. doi: 10.3389/fclim.2023.1169665
Melville, T., Wuddivira, M. & Sutherland, M. Geospatial modelling of rainfall erosivity in the humid tropics using remotely sensed data. Earth Science Informatics (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-022-00773-z. Impact Factor = 2.82. [Cited by 1]
Hilmi N, Chami R, Sutherland MD et al., (2021) The Role of Blue Carbon in Climate Change Mitigation and Carbon Stock Conservation. (Frontiers in Climate) Front. Clim. 3:710546. doi: 10.3389/fclim.2021.710546. Cite Score = 2.1 [Cited by 46+]
Sekac, T., SK Jana, M Sutherland, and S Samanta (2021). “Spatio -Temporal Assessments of Rainfall Variability and Trends in the Highlands to Coastal Regions of Papua New Guinea”. Journal of Geoinformatics, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 23-38.
Cassandra Nanlal, Keith Miller, Dexter Davis & Michael Sutherland (2021). An Assessment of Methods used for Establishing Vertical Control in Caribbean Island Territories”. In Surveying and Land Information Science, 80 (1), 2021, pp 5-15.
Cassandra Nanlal, Keith Miller, Dexter Davis & Michael Sutherland (2020) Establishing Vertical Separation Models for Vulnerable Coastlines in Developing Territories, Marine Geodesy, DOI: 10.1080/01490419.2020.1844825. Impact Factor = 1.322.
Collins, Matthew, (Coordinating Lead Author), Michael Sutherland (Coordinating Lead Author), et al. (2019). “Extremes, Abrupt Changes and Managing Risks”. In: IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing. Cited by 242+
Griffith-Charles, C. and M. Sutherland (2019). “3D cadastres for densely occupied informal situations: Necessity and possibility”. In Land Use Policy, 104372, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104372, in press [Cited by 12+].
Ramlal, Craig, Arvind Singh, Sean Rocke and Michael Sutherland (2019). “Decentralized Fuzzy-Iterative Learning LFC with time-varying communication delays and parametric uncertainties”. In IEEE Transactions on Power Systems [Cited by 20+].
Daniel, Desiree, Michael Sutherland and Chinwe Speranza (2019). “The Role of Tenure Documents for Livelihood Resilience in Trinidad and Tobago”. In Land Use Policy 87, 104008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.05.027. [Cited by 12+].

UWI Service

2017-2023: Head of The Department of Geomatics Engineering & Land Management
2022-2023: Chair, Campus Committee on Examinations
2017-2020: Chair, Campus Committee on Examinations
2012-2017: Deputy Dean (Undergraduate Students Affairs), Faculty of Engineering, UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
2016-2019: Residence Manager, Milner Hall of Residence
2012-2016: Chair, Academic Board Sub-Committee on Student Matters
2011-2012: Vice President, West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT)
2011-2013: Programme Coordinator, Land Management B.Sc. Programme, University of The West Indies
2010-2011: Programme Coordinator, Geomatics B.Sc. Programme, University of the West Indies
2007- 2009: Programme Coordinator, Land Management B.Sc. Programme, University of The West Indies

Courses Taught

GEOM2010, GEOM2045
GEOM3010, GEOM3035
GEOM3040, GEOM3050
GINF6100, GINF6021
PLAN6024
LAND5004
LMGV1000, LMGV3004
LMGV3002, LMGV3003