The Barbados Advocate ( Barbados )
19 March 2023 ( Page 6 )
The UWI confers Emeritus Professor titles on Copeland, Agard
THE UWI St. Augustine
Campus, Trinidad and
Tobago —The University of
the West Indies (The UWI)
has conferred ‘Emeritus
Professor’ titles on
Professors Brian Copeland
and John Agard, both of the
St. Augustine Campus in
Trinidad and Tobago. Both
conferrals are with immediate
effect.
The title of Emeritus
Professor (or, Emerita Professor,
for women) refers to retired professors
who are recognised and
honoured by their universities
for notable contributions to academia.
Aside from the special
title, an Emeritus status gives
distinguished professors extra
privileges at the University.
Emeritus Professor Brian
Copeland, Ph.D. served as the
Pro Vice-Chancellor and
Campus Principal of St.
Augustine from 2016-2022, the
last two years of which saw him
navigating the campus through
the COVID-19 global pandemic
lockdown.
During his tenure at The
UWI, he served as Professor in
Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Dean of the
Faculty of Engineering, and
Head of the Department of
Electrical and Computer
Engineering. His focus areas
have been in Digital Electronics
and Microprocessor Systems
Design and Control Systems.
As Coordinator of the Real
Time Systems Group, a UWI
unit for developing
university/industry liaison
through impactful R&D
Projects, Professor Copeland
was the project lead for design
and construction of the
Electronic Scoreboard at the
Queen’s Park Oval. He co-ordinates
the Steelpan Initiatives
Project which saw the development
and patenting of the GPan,
a re-engineered form of the
traditional steelpan, as well as
the Percussive Harmonic instrument
(P.H.I.), an electronic form
of the traditional steelpan.
Professor Copeland is Convener
of the Steelpan Research
Centre, UWI and is a former
Member of the Board of
Directors, CARIRI.
Professor Copeland is the
holder of many prestigious
awards. In 2008, he was the first
recipient of the Order of the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
and in 2007 he was joint recipient
of the Chaconia Medal Gold
as a member of the G-Pan development
team. He received the
Guardian Life Premium
Teaching Award in 2002, the
BP/AMOCO Fellowship Award
for Senior Academic Staff at The
UWI, 2001 and a
LASPAU/Fulbright scholarship
for his doctoral programme at
the University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, 1987
among others.
Emeritus Professor John
Agard, Ph.D. is Professor of
Tropical Island Ecology at the
Department of Life Sciences
in the Faculty of Science and
Technology at the St.Augustine
Campus. He also serves as the
Executive Director of the
University’s Global Institute for
Climate-Smart and Resilient
Development (GICSRD).
His research interest is in the
field of sustainability science especially
as it relates to mainstreaming
environmental considerations
such as biodiversity
and ecosystem services conservation,
climate change mitigation
and adaptation, and the development
of blue and circular
economy into the core of policy
and decision making.
Internationally, he has served
as an independent advisor on
environment and sustainability
policy to the Board of the Inter-
American Development Bank
(IDB) in Washington DC. He has
also been on the Scientific
Advisory Panel of UNEP for the
Global Environmental
Outlook (GEO6) and was previously
a Coordinating Lead
Author for the Scenarios chapter
in GEO4. He has also been a
Coordinating Lead Author of the
Intergovernmental (Science-
Policy) Panel on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services
(IPBES), first global assessment
chapter 5 ‘Pathways to a
Sustainable Future’ as well as
the Review Editor for Small
Islands in the current 6th assessment
of the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC).
Professor Agard has previously
served as a Lead Author in
IPCC’s previous 4 and 5th
Assessments.
Photo: Emeritus Professor John
Agard, Ph.D
Photo: Emeritus Professor Brian
Copeland, Ph.D.