The Principal’s Research Festival Awards were held from the 26th to the 28th of November, 2025. The theme for the 2025 Festival was Research Innovation for Present and Future. The Principal’s Research Awards celebrated the transformative research of The Campus, in addition to valuable work undertaken by members of the public via the Hurricane and Earthquake Alleviation Research Award.
Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine cuts the ribbon to officially open the Research Festival 2025 with the CEO of National Flour Mills, Mr Ian Mitchell. Looking on are members of the Campus Executive Management Team and Sponsors.
The full list of winners is published below:
| Principal’s Award for Best Researcher | |
| Professor Michelle Mycoo For research in Climate Change & Urban Planning for Sustainable Development |
Department of Geomatics Engineering & Land Management Faculty of Engineering |
| Professor Rohanie Maharaj For research in Food Quality and Safety, Postharvest Technology and Development of Sustainable Materials |
Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Engineering |
| Principal’s Award for Most Impactful Community Research | |
| Dr Benjamin Braithwaite Project: Deaf Caribbean Academic Network Research |
Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Faculty of Humanities and Education |
| Special Recognition for Most Impactful Community Research | |
| Dr Kenneth Charles Project: Action Research to Introduce Community Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation |
Paraclinical Sciences Faculty of Medical Sciences |
| Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan and CRC Team Project: Cocoa, Carbon, Community Impact Investment Research Project |
Cocoa Research Centre |
| Most Productive Research Department Award | |
| Department of Life Sciences Head of Department – Dr Mike Oatham / Dr Azad Mohammed |
Faculty of Science and Technology |
| Department of Food Production Head of Department – Dr Wendy Ann Isaac |
Faculty of Food and Agriculture |
| Most Productive Research Institute, Centre or Unit Award | |
| SALISES Director – Dr Sandra Sookram |
Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies |
| Most Promising Early Career Researcher Award | |
| Dr Kegan Jones Lecturer |
School of Veterinary Medicine Faculty of Medical Sciences |
| Most Outstanding Graduate Researcher & Mentorship Award | |
| Graduate Student: Dr Sunshine De Caries Supervisor: Professor Mark Wuddivira Thesis: Modelling Spatial and Temporal Trends of Soil Quality in Small Island Tropical Watersheds for Climate Change Resilience |
Faculty of Food and Agriculture |
| Graduate Student: Dr Nirmala Ramnarine Supervisor: Professor Jerome De Lisle Thesis: Validating INterpretations and uses of School Based Assessment in CSEC Public Examinations |
Faculty of Humanities and Education |
| Most Outstanding Faculty Researchers | |
| Professor Festus Olutoge Lecturer |
Faculty of Engineering Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering |
| Dr Oral Baley Lecturer |
Faculty of Food and Agriculture Department of Food Production |
| Dr Nicole Roberts Lecturer |
Faculty of Humanities and Education Centre for Language Learning |
| Dr Alicia Elias-Roberts Dean |
Faculty of Law |
| Dr Raveed Khan Lecturer |
Faculty of Medical Sciences Department of Para-clinical Sciences |
| Dr Amy Deacon Senior Lecturer |
Faculty of Science and Technology Department of Life Sciences |
| Dr Henry Bailey Senior Lecturer |
Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Economics |
| Most Outstanding Researcher of the Centre/Institute/Unit – Joint Award | |
| Dr Bephyer Parey Research Fellow |
Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies |
| Dr Letetia Addison Project Officer & Researcher |
University Office of Planning |
| Hurricane and Earthquake Alleviation Research (HEAR) Award – Joint Award | |
| Barataria Community Council – Ms June Rogers Project: Barataria Climate-Smart Hyrdroponic Edible Landscape Initiative: A Community-Led Model for Hurricane-Resilient Urban Food Security |
Barataria Community Council |
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Ms Karin Hatch, Dr Sarah Subhan, Mrs Dionne Brewster-Phillip, Dr Cherisse Rambarose ProjectBeyond The Waves Therapeutic Program: A Psychosocial Innovation for Health and Climate Resilience in Post-Hurricane Caribbean Communities |
Beyond the Waves Program |
| Award Committee’s Selection for Special Recognition – HEAR AWARD | |
| Dr Omardath Maharaj Lecturer Project: Operation FOOD: Farmers Opting to Overcome Disaster |
Faculty of Food and Agriculture |
| Award Committee’s Selection for Special Recognition – Best Team Research | |
| Mr Stokeley Smart and Team Project: The Smart Tables® Framework: Creating Complete Mortality Life Tables for CARICOM: The Cases of Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica and Constructing Complete Mortality Tables for the Employed Population of Trinidad and Tobago |
Department of Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science and Technology |
| Award Committee’s Selection for Special Recognition – Principal’s Special Innovation Award | |
| Dr Gloria Ramdeen-Mootoo Innovation: “The Angel App of Organ Donation Trinidad and Tobago” |
Faculty of Medical Sciences |
Best Oral Presentation
| Theme | Presentation / Topic | Author |
| Theme I: Agri-Food Technology and Policy | Production and Evaluation of Innovative Buttermilk Biscuits from Orange-Flesh Sweet Potato Flour | Ronnie Ramsaran and Vidya de Gannes |
Best Poster Presentation
| Theme | Presentation | Author |
| Theme I: Agri-Food Technology and Policy | Exploring Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Flavour Diversity in Trinidad | Naailah Ali et al. |