Tag: UniversityOfTheWestIndies

Editorial | The Gap Between Research And Policy

Against the backdrop of the usual noise associated with political campaigns, a serious message may have been missed this week when the GraceKennedy Foundation renewed its commitment to research work at the University of the West Indies. The foundation funds research activities through the Carlton Alexander Chair in Management Studies and the James Moss-Solomon Chair in Environmental Management.

Chief executive officer of GraceKennedy, Senator Don Wehby, said the UWI must be known as a centre for solutions and a leader in promoting innovation and innovative thinking.

Increasingly, society is looking to tertiary institutions, like the UWI, to use their enormous human resources to bend the curve of technology in the 21st Century and deliver greater opportunities for economic growth and development to future generations.

As Jamaica faces challenges in social justice, health, agriculture, climate change and other areas relevant to national development, it is imperative that new research be undertaken to find ways of mitigating the impact of these challenges on society. These decades-old obstacles throw up numerous opportunities for academics to demonstrate the reach and impact their work can have.

Research is an expensive business and will not flourish without appropriate and consistent funding. Most of the research in tertiary institutions comes from external sources, including philanthropic organisations and private-sector entities. For these investors, it is assumed that they would be keen to measure the success of their investment by effective outcomes.

The results of such research cannot just be displayed during exhibitions at a designated time each year. This new knowledge gathered through research must be used in policy development. The results of research are critical in influencing development of policy, helping to shape legislation, and even to alter behaviours that are found to be detrimental to the common good.

UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE

It may take some convincing to get politicians to understand the science behind the research work, and even harder to get new policy implemented. However, we now have a minister of science and technology in Dr Andrew Wheatley, who has qualifications in biochemistry and chemistry and is a research scientist.

It may, therefore, be left to him to work with the scientific community to convey the idea of research-based evidence by demonstrating to his parliamentary colleagues how the findings were tested, debated and reviewed before achieving consensus.

Recent pronouncements by Dr Wheatley that Jamaica is not lagging in scientific research have been challenged by a letter writer to The Gleaner. The reader, who describes himself as a Jamaican with a scientific background, who has left the island to pursue opportunities overseas, decried the fact that “large-scale investment in scientific research is lacking”.

He suggested that there needs to be a scientific research culture in Jamaica. He lamented the lack of funding as one reason why persons passionate about science have become discouraged.

CRITICAL STEPS

It is indeed a fact that for the country’s research to serve the community well and command global attention funding, it is critical to provide qualified academics and procure equipment and infrastructure to facilitate their work.

Traditionally, policymakers tend to be heavily influenced by what is popular rather than evidence-based research, and this is why research-informed evidence is not assigned the place of importance it deserves in policymaking. It is time to bridge that substantial gap between research and policy.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20161126/editorial-gap-between-research-and-policy

GOOD COMES FROM FLANKER

Inner-city youth balances work & study, earns bursary

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Odain Murray collects his University of the West Indies Development and Endowment Fund (UWIDEF) bursary cheque from Margarita Morris, administrator and data officer, UWIDEF.

Final year student of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona, and UWI Development and Endowment Fund (UWIDEF) bursary recipient Odain Murray stands as proof that Flanker — a tough inner-city community in St James — can produce good, educated and hard-working young people.

Murray — who has been on the Dean’s List for the last two years in the Faculty of Social Sciences and now holds a grade point average (GPA) of 3.31 — says while growing up he never gave in to the negative forces in his community, but instead used them as motivation for advancement.

“From seeing what was happening around me and not wanting what was happening around me in my life back then was what motivated me to work hard to get an education,” Murray, 27, told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

Murray aced the Grade Six Achievement Test and was placed at Cornwall College. He successfully completed high school and, in 2007, was accepted to pursue a bachelor’s degree in history at The UWI. He moved to Kingston, but the unpredictable happened — his father died suddenly and he had to put his tertiary pursuits on hold.

“After my father died, I started having some challenges, financially and otherwise, and I had to apply for a leave of absence from UWI in 2009. Then I started working in the performing arts industry,” Murray said.

While working, he realised that there was a huge demand for professionals to strategically market plays in Jamaica. So, he returned to The UWI in 2013 as a part-time student, this time pursuing marketing. UWIDEF has assisted him to continue his studies by awarding him a bursary of $100,000.

“I heard about the bursary while I was at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts. Then I went on the Student Services section on UWI’s website, applied for the UWIDEF Performing Arts Bursary, and I was successful. Being a recipient of this bursary is a good thing for me, especially for someone from the performing arts, because you hardly find this being offered in Jamaica,” Murray said.

“I chose marketing because I realised that the theatre needs proper management with regards to marketing. The new recreational activities most members of our society are drawn to involve parties and not theatre shows. I want to change this. That’s the reason I did not choose music or drama. I chose marketing to get the Jamaican theatre industry out there to a wider audience,” Murray explained.

For nearly two years, Murray has been working as a student assistant in the Marketing, Recruitment and Communications Office on campus, as well as in the performing arts industry.

When asked how he balances his work responsibilities and his school work, he said: “It is a major challenge, but I try to structure my time based on my timetable and when I don’t have rehearsal, I prioritise. I work when I don’t have classes. When it is that assignments are to be completed, I miss one or two rehearsals and try not to stay too late at work. That’s how I balance.”

Murray says he wants to become “a better human being” and when he graduates from The UWI in 2017, he has set his sights on a job with the Ministry of Culture or the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).

He is particularly interested in the areas of policy and business development as it relates to the performing arts.

“The ministry can lobby for new policies and developmental strategies and JCDC has been around facilitating cultural retention for decades, and I could market aspects of our culture which needs promotion,” said Murray.

The young man believes in giving back. Already UWIDEF, his benefactor, has become a beneficiary of his generous spirit. In April, Murray assisted with arranging a benefit performance of Dahlia Harris’

Same Difference, which helped raise approximately $100,000 to provide meals for needy students at the university.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Good-comes-from-Flanker_80282

 

GraceKennedy awards $17.5 m in scholarships

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Former head boy of Charlemont High School in St Catherine Avaughn Prendergast has won the GraceKennedy/Jamaica Scholarship for 2016, while Stephan Pitterson, formerly of Campion College, has copped the Douglas Orane award.

Both Prendergast and Pitterson are students of The University of the West Indies (UWI) where the former is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in actuarial science, while the former is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in bio chemistry.

Prendergast obtained nine grade ones in the recent CSEC examinations and completed 12 units of CAPE with 11 grade ones and one grade two. He is passionate about maths and represented Jamaica at the Math Olympiad in Nicaragua earlier this year. Pitterson, meanwhile, has eight CSEC subjects, with seven grade ones and one grade two. He has eight units of CAPE, including seven grade ones and one grade two.

The two are among over 75 students who were presented with scholarships and bursaries at GraceKennedy Foundation’s inaugural Scholars Awards Ceremony on October 20. Seven scholarships were presented to first-time recipients, while existing scholars who maintained at least a ‘B’ average, had their awards renewed. The entire package totalled $17.5 million.

Former GraceKennedy Chairman and CEO, Raf Diaz, was on hand to present a scholarship, named in his honour, to Shanike Josephs, a first-year accounting student at UWI. Her extra-curricular involvements include membership with the Jamaica Automobile Association, United Nations Club, Girls Guides and Interact (VP). Shanike has nine CSEC subjects, eight with grade ones and one grade two. She also completed eight units of CAPE, including seven grade ones and one grade two.

Other scholarships presented include the GraceKennedy/University of Technology Jamaica Scholarship, which went to Shanika Spencer; the Edna Manley College Scholarship, which went to School of Drama student Waldane Walker; and the Bruce Rickards Scholarship, specifically for former Kingston College students, went to Kadeem Campbell and Mark Lewis.

Final year student Withney DaCosta received the GraceKennedy/Caribbean Maritime Institute Bursary. The GraceKennedy Foundation also awarded several other bursaries to students attending UWI, UTech, Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts, and Northern Caribbean University.

The scholarship applications open May 1 to July 15 each year.

At the awards ceremony, Grace Burnett, CEO of GK Financial Group, spoke of GraceKennedy’s investment in education through its two foundations which she said was aimed at bringing about a change for Jamaica’s future.

“All of our scholars are exceptional students with most coming from low income households and would not have been able to afford university education without assistance,” she said.

“Education is a very important area of focus for GraceKennedy, which is why our two foundations, the Grace & Staff Community Development Foundation and the GraceKennedy Foundation invest so heavily in our children. We want to be the game changer- changing the structures in inner city communities, from dons to doctors or engineers or accountants and the many other professions, developing a strong workforce for Jamaica’s future,” she added.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/GraceKennedy-awards–17-5-m-in-scholarships_78753