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University of the West Indies
Cave Hill Campus
Roy Marshall Lecture Theatre LT1
St. Michael, Saint Michael, BB0000
Barbados

The St. Leonard's School Boys' Choir

The St.Leonard’S 100 Boys’ Choir was formed in 2008 with the expressed purpose of developing choral singing and music on a whole in Barbados. This Barbadian Choir of national acclaim to date continues to play a prominent role of interpreter and champion of the still under-appreciated classical genre. The choir is praised for its distinctive choral textures, lush harmonic palette, lyrical melodic sense, juicy chord changes, sudden contrasts in volume and prodigious output. The choir continues to inspire and thrill audiences throughout Barbados. Thrusting through the songs, tunes and textures we sing are the most profound messages of brotherhood and hope. The fact that immense practice and painstaking effort are put into the preparations for the performances is clearly evident and unmistakeable. The choir’s vision continues to be to inspire a nation to greatness through its wonderful music with its translucent textures, lithe clarity and powerful transforming lyricism.

Anthony "Gabby" Carter

Gabby, a vocal Pan-Africanist, whose music never fails to demonstrate his active social and cultural conscience, is known for his satirical songs criticizing politicians and cultural trends. He has been writing and singing calypso music for over 40 years and has written over 1100 songs. He was awarded the Living Legend Award at the first ever Barbados Music Awards in January 2006. Gabby wrote Barbados’ first Independence song called Independence in 1966 winning the first Crop-Over road march title in 1979 with Burn Mr. Harding and again in 1982 with Jack (Dah Beach is Mine) Being the youngest calypsonian to win the calypso crown in Barbados at age 19 and went on to win the Calypso king title 6 more times during his career. His song, Emmerton is regarded as Barbados’ Song of the Decade and speaks to Gabby’s indelible influence on generations of lyricists, arrangers and musicians after him.

Donnya Piggott

Donnya Piggott is an LGBT+ rights activist living and working in Barbados. She founded Barbados – Gays, Lesbians and All-sexuals against Discrimination (B-GLAD) – a nationally recognised LGBT+ organisation in Barbados. With a focus on public and community activism in Donnya was named the National Focal Point for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS. In June 2015, she received the prestigious Queen’s Young Leader Award and was since then named a Gender Advocate for the Caribbean region by UNWOMEN.

Dr. Srinivasa Popuri

Srinivasa Popuri received his Masters degree in Physical Chemistry from Devi Ahilya University, India in 1999. In 2006, he was awarded a Ph.D in Adsorption technology & Membrane Pervaporation from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India for the research work rendered. After his doctoral studies, he did a Postdoctoral Fellowship at National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan from 2006 to 2008. Currently he is working as a Chemistry Faculty in the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. He published more than 40 research papers in international reputable journals and also a book in his research areas. He was awarded with Junior Scientist of the year 2008 from national environmental science academy, India, Young scientist award from Caribbean science academy and Principal’s award for excellence in research from UWI, Cave Hill Campus.

Firhaana Bulbulia

Firhaana Bulbulia is a graduate of the University of the West Indies with a First class honours degree in Psychology. She was awarded an Emerging Global Leaders Scholarship to complete part of her tertiary education at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is currently pursuing her Diploma in Education at Erdiston Teacher’s Training College in Barbados. Firhaana has spent the past 5 years teaching special needs children and has travelled to Kenya, through AIESEC’S Global Citizen programme to teach children with Dyslexia at the Rare Gem Talent School in Kitengala. She is passionate about education and women’s rights. In 2010, Firhaana founded the Barbados Association of Muslim Ladies to promote the holistic development of women and girls within the Muslim community of Barbados. Recently she was honoured with the Queen’s Young Leader award for 2016. She is the current Policy and Advocacy Vice-Chair for the Caribbean Regional Youth Council.

Gabriel Abed

Gabriel Abed began exploring cryptocurrencies, and their underlying Distributed Ledger Technology, during his undergraduate study as early as 2010. An alumnus of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology; he received a Bachelor of Information Technology majoring in Network Security. He capitalised on his 15 years of experience working in the software and technology field, founding BitEdge with its subsidiaries: Caridot (the largest and leading Caribbean domain name registrar) and Websites.bb (a leader in custom website designs). Bitt, his latest and most groundbreaking journey, is a FinTech company built around the twin pillars of global connection and financial inclusion. Gabriel believes that Bitt offers unprecedented solutions to disruptive regional issues from remittance payments to providing much-needed access to e-commerce solutions. Gabriel is now seen as the leading regional advocate and authority on digital currency.

Haajima Degia

Haajima Degia is a Barbadian sociologist with research interests in identity, race, ethnicity, migration, multiculturalism, diasporas and gender. She currently teaches Sociology at the Barbados Community College and is a part-time lecturer in Sociology at the UWI Cave Hill Campus. She holds an MA in International Studies and Development from Ohio University. She was a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in 2005 and in 2006 she was awarded the International Peace Scholarship for Women. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) from UWI Cave Hill in 2014. Her groundbreaking research focuses on identity construction among ethnic Gujarati Indians in Barbados. She continues to engage in research linked to ethnicity and the intersection of social class, race and gender and how these categories work in the construction and maintenance of social boundaries.

Ian McNeel

Ian McNeel is a social entrepreneur, impact investor, permaculturalist and responsible business leader. Always challenging the limits of what’s possible,Ian has most recently been leveraging his 21 years as an entrepreneur and successful international business executive to lead the transition of Walker’s Sand Quarry into Walker’s Reserve. Walkers Reserve strives for food security, resource protection and climate resilience for the Island and the Caribbean region. Ian’s lifelong passion for environmental stewardship, youth education, organic food and agriculture, led him to Slow Food International and subsequently to the co-founding of Slow Food Barbados. Slow Food Barbados is a not for profit organisation which is helping to facilitate a reconnection to “good, clean and fair” food on the Island through its farm to table events, which connect organic growers to chefs and consumers and school garden initiatives reminding the youth where food comes from and how it’s grown.

Janeil Odle

Janeil Odle is 21 years old and visually impaired. She lost her sight at the age of 6 as a result of an accident, and in spite of this, she has repeatedly overcome all obstacles in her way to success. She was the first person in Barbados to sit the Common Entrance Examination in braille, earning a position at the Combermere School. Janeil then moved on to the Community College, where she subsequently became the 2014 valedictorian and earned a Barbados Exhibition in the same year. In 2012 & 2014 Janeil represented Barbados in Panama and Grenada respectively as a member of the Youth advocacy group of the UN Population Fund. She was also chosen in 2015 to do the welcoming speech on the behalf of the youth of the Region at the Youth Symposium with His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. To date, Janeil is a proud member of the Barbados National Youth Parliament, and is currently in her second year as a law student at the University of the West Indies.

Janelle Chase-Mayers

Janelle Chase-Mayers has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Wrapped up in those degrees are her love for sports and fitness. Janelle is currently enrolled in her PHD program in Creative Systemic Studies in Marriage in Family Therapy, with an emphasis on how Health and Wellness Strategies can improve familial relations and promote growth to a larger community. She is the Head Coach/Owner of CrossFit 246 and a practicing Marriage and Family Therapist. Janelle has conducted several workshops around the island and Caribbean focusing on Improving Interpersonal Skills, Motivational Interviewing, Understanding Addictions in Families, Understanding emotional intelligence through the Iceberg Theory.

Miriam Alvarado

Originally from California, Miriam Alvarado is a mixed methods researcher with a focus on social determinants of health and health disparities. Miriam came to Barbados in 2013 as a Fulbright Fellow, studying women’s experiences with and perceptions around physical activity. She was later affiliated with the Chronic Disease Research Centre and has focused on understanding regional health disparities, population aging dynamics, and the effects of the recent sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Miriam is currently leading a project aimed at making physical activity more accessible to women across the island, called Get Women Moving. Before coming to Barbados, Miriam was a Post Bachelor Fellow at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation and focused on the Global Burden of Disease and social determinants of health. Miriam received her MPH from the University of Washington, and has a BA in Economics and Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Peter Wickham

Peter W. Wickham is a Political Consultant and the Principal Director of the leading Caribbean Political Research Company, Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES). This organisation conducts political polls and research and has worked with several major political parties and governments throughout the Caribbean. In his personal capacity, Peter has served as a consultant to organisations such as CPDC, UNICEF, the ILO, OAS, TIDCO and bp Trinidad and Tobago. Previously, Peter was a Lecturer in Political Science and Research Methods at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill’s Department of Government. He lectured courses in International Politics and was lead author of the monograph entitled “Elements of Regional Integration: The Way Forward” (CPDC/Ian Randle 1998) and has contributed to other books and select Caribbean Journals. In addition he writes a column each Sunday entitled “People and Things” in the major local newspaper in Barbados, the Nation.

Ricky Redman

Ricardo is currently the CEO and Chairman of Creative and Marketing company Acute Vision Incorporated and Director of Motion Picture Studios ‘Bajans In Motion Incorporated. He Graduated from Barbados Community College Most Outstanding Student in Graphics Associate degree. He was awarded the first of ten European Council/Barbados Design Centre Scholarships and went on to study Visual Communication at The University Of Central England in the U.K. Ricardo held the position of Creative Director of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership and its LIVE UP Campaign; managing and directing their branding and communications campaigns across 24 countries in the region. More recently, he is part of a three-person team that produced and released 3 full-length feature films in their first eighteen months. These films have been featured at festivals in North America, Europe and the Caribbean and the first two are already in distribution in stores, and online across North America.