As I write this, the St Augustine campus is perhaps as busy as it has ever been. We recently concluded our three-day Graduation 2024 ceremonies (full coverage to come in our next issue). Next weekend, our St Augustine Academy of Sport will host The UWI SPEC International Half-Marathon and 5K, one of T&T’s most prominent sports/physical activity-related events. That same week we will also host the Principal’s Research Awards, the annual celebration of the research contributions of faculty members and students.
In this final week of October, the campus signed a memorandum of understanding with National Flour Mills (NFM) for what is being called “a significant partnership”. UWI will work with NFM to advance research into animal feed and nutrition for sustainable agriculture, support training programmes in a number of areas for the food/agriculture sector, commercialise campus-based research, and provide internship and training opportunities for students.
It’s a fabulous agreement, and the latest of many partnerships between the university and government, business, or both.
These activities, and many more, are happening while the campus has had an increased intake of students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level for 2024. The academic year is in full-swing. Researchers are engaged in exciting and promising work across all faculties. Viewed through the lens of a storyteller, UWI St Augustine has come roaring back with much- needed audacious energy after the disruptive effects of COVID-19. In this issue of UWI TODAY, we look at the university’s number one resource for these successes - people. We often use the term “campus community” as a short-hand for those currently at St Augustine, but I would argue that the campus community includes all graduates over the decades, all those who worked for and with the campus, and all close contributors to UWI St Augustine’s mission.
Seventeen of them were celebrated this past September by Trinidad and Tobago at the National Awards 2024. In fact, every year, UWI people are recognised for their contribution to the republic at this ceremony. Internally, in collaboration with the Guardian Group, the campus’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) honoured three of our educators for their work at The UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Awards.
In October, we hosted the official launch of The UWI/RBL World of Work (WOW) 2024, another of the campus’s important and long-standing partnership events. WOW is a comprehensive programme that prepares students for professional life and connects them to employers. This year’s launch was extra special because it included an appearance by NASA aerospace engineer Dr Camille Wardrop Alleyne.
Born in T&T, Dr Alleyne has reached the highest heights of rocket science in the US, and now heads her own consulting firm. The students benefitted from her professional wisdom and motivational energy. While she may not be a UWI graduate, we claim her as an honorary member of the campus community.
In this issue, we include profiles of some outstanding achievers in areas such as marine science, art and history, and music. They are very diverse in their professions but all share the drive for success and a commitment to causes beyond themselves – the environment, community, and culture.
Finally, we have a special report on an emerging type of international climate policy – border carbon adjustments (BCA) – and what they could mean for Trinidad and Tobago. BCAs apply a carbon emissions tariff to imported goods from foreign countries. As an exporter of products that produce considerable emissions (for example fertiliser), T&T could be subject to these tariffs, which would increase the cost of our exports and potentially hurt our competitiveness.
UWI was contacted by an international agency to produce a report on the impact of BCAs. This report, Border Carbon Adjustments: Trinidad and Tobago, is now complete and available for viewing at https:// www.iisd.org/publications/report/border-carbon- adjustments-trinidad-and-tobago.
This document is very important in understanding the future of international policy designed to mitigate climate change, how it can impact Trinidad and Tobago, and what we need to do as a hydrocarbon economy to prepare for tomorrow.
This space is usually reserved for the Campus Principal, so on this rare occasion that I can speak to our readers, I invite you to enjoy the latest issue and have a wonderful November.
