SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER, 2016 – UWI TODAY
15
CAMPUS EVENT
Martin Franklin is the honouree
at this year’s Conference
on the Economy (COTE) hosted by the Department of
Economics, UWI St Augustine where he has served as an
educator for the past thirty-nine years.
During his time at The University of the West Indies
he has served in many capacities including Senior Lecturer,
Head of Department (2009-2014), Deputy Dean of Distance
and Outreach (2006-2009) and Acting Dean for Faculty of
Social Sciences on many occasions during the 2012-2014
periods.
Franklin, however, will bemost known and remembered
bymany of his students as the strict lecturer for Introductory
Statistics, Economic Statistics, Statistical Methods and
Mathematical Methods at the Department of Economics.
While his serious demeanour would frighten most new
comers to his courses, it is this seriousness and intent of
purpose that has been most appreciated by his students
along with his compassionate nature, easy sense of humor
and willingness to assist any student who wanted to learn.
Martin Franklin has been instrumental in enforcing
some academic and administrative processes to improve
the rigour of the programme of Economics. For example,
the introduction of the Mathematics Proficiency Test
and Remedial Mathematics course to all BSc Economics
students. Additionally, he has championed the networking
of students of the department by successfully introducing
internships forMSc Economics Students that would be used
in lieu of Research Projects. Franklin also served on various
committees and boards including but not limited to Public
Celebrating the
Legacy of Martin Franklin
B Y T e n n i l l e F a n o v i c h & R o x a n n e B r i z a n - S t . M a r t i n
Service Commission, the National Carnival Commission
and the Turtle Village Trust. He has also assisted in
the design of the MSc in Leadership and Management
programme and has served as Honorary Research Fellow
of SALISES from 2011-2012 while being very active on
Academic and Examination Boards of The UWI.
Franklin has also served as journal referee for theWest
Indian Journal of Engineering, the Journal of Business,
Finance Economics and Emerging Economies among others
and serves as editor for the Journal of Mathematical Finance
since 2011. He has published in areas such as international
trade, education, health, ICTs and other areas associatedwith
Caribbean economic development. In 2014, he co-authored
a book:
Informal Commercial Importers in CARICOM(2014)
with Dr Roger Hosein which is one of the first books to
examine the various dimensions of informal commercial
importing from an aggregate CARICOMperspective given
that the informal economy has become a persistent feature
of the region’s economic landscape. Some of these areas
will be explored as possibilities for diversification in the
Caribbean during this year’s conference.
COTE 2016 will be held on October 13–14 at The
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus under
the theme,
Managing Development in a Volatile Economic
Environment: Addressing Diversification Challenges
. One of
the thematic areas of the conference deals with Education
and Human Resource Development, which resonates well
with the persona of Martin Franklin.
Perennial flooding may soon
be a thing of the
past if a new project by The Department of Food
Production of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture
is successful. In the project, farmers will have
the opportunity to test experimental seedling
transplanter technology which allows them to
cultivate steep slopes without contributing to
landslips and flooding.
Apart from the environmental benefits of
this technology, it will eliminate the need for
back-breaking hand tilling in areas inaccessible to
tractors. This will make farming less laborious for
our aging farmer base and will hopefully attract a
younger generation of farmers weary of spending
long hours in the sun.
The project entitled Conservation Agriculture
for Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean is
being supportedby theCaribbeanCatastropheRisk
Insurance Facility (SPC) which was established
in 2007 as a Caribbean-wide catastrophe relief
fund to limit the economic impact of hurricanes
and other natural disasters. Thus, the long-term
hope is that after initial testing in Trinidad and
Tobago, this technology will be rolled-out in the
other member states which include: Anguilla,
Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize,
Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada,
Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St.
Vincent & the Grenadines, Turks &Caicos Islands
and Nicaragua.
The project is the brain-child of Dr Mark
Wuddivira, Senior Lecturer in Soil Science of
The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine
and Renaldo Belfon of the University of Guelph,
Canada. However, additional project team
members are being sought from a wide range
of backgrounds including economics, farming,
environmental conservation and extension and
communication.
Cognisant of the call for more impactful
research coming out of the The UWI, this
interdisciplinary approachwill help ensure that the
project produces tangible results and contributes
to regional food security. “We were not interested
in another project aimed at just producing more
scientific papers. To engage in a practical project
that enhances productivity and people’s livelihoods
was the overall goal. We also wanted to give an
opportunity to a good graduate student who
could bring even more value to the project while
completing their thesis work.” says Dr Wuddivira.
A field trial of the technology is being
planned at the new UWI Field Station at Orange
Grove, while a number of training sessions and
workshops will be held for farmers and extension
officers starting early next year. For updates on
the project check the projects Facebook page at
. Farmers
and other stakeholders interested in participating
in the project should contact Dr Wuddivra at:
and Renaldo Belfon
at:
Conservation
Agriculture
Taking Farming to
NewHeights
Martin Franklin
