Research

SALISES is heir to a rich and distinguished history of research inherited from the work of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), which was established at the birth of the University College of the West Indies in 1948. Among the outstanding scholars who were either affiliated to or worked closely with ISER were MG Smith, William Demas, Lloyd Braithwaite, RT Smith, George Cumper, Lloyd Best, CY Thomas, Kari Levitt and Havelock Brewster. Together and individually they were responsible for a range of theoretical interventions as well as empirical investigations that lay the foundations for contemporary social sciences in the Anglophone Caribbean. Further outstanding contributions to theory and research came from, among many others, Carleen O'Loughlin, Alister McIntyre, Joycelin Byrne (now Massiah), Vaughan Lewis, Norman Girvan, Eddie Green, Patrick Emmanuel (ISER Cave Hill), and Selwyn Ryan, Norma Abdullah and Jack Harewood (ISER St Augustine). The Institute is also the home of Social and Economic Studies, first published in 1953 and widely considered as among the leading academic journals of Caribbean research.

The aim of SALISES is to build on this rich heritage in order to generate a new corpus of ideas and appropriate data to address the myriad difficulties that the small states of the Caribbean face in the opening decades of the Twenty first Century. Arising out of the work in preparation for the watershed 2012 'Fifty-Fifty' conference, the decision was taken to carry forward the SALISES research agenda through a series of research clusters. The clusters serve to bring together scholars both at home and abroad around common research themes and projects as well as to include non-academic practitioners from both the local, regional and international communities. The clusters so far established include:

Sustainable Rural Agricultural Development Chair: Pat Northover patricia.northover@uwimona.edu.jm

Crime Prevention and Offender Management Chair: LESLIE,Dacia dacia.leslie@uwimona.edu.jm

Economic Development Chair: WILLIAMS,Kevin kevin.williams@uwimona.edu.jm

Social Policy: Chair: Aldrie Henry-Lee Aldrie.henry-lee@uwimona.edu.jm

Demography Chair: Godfrey St. Bernard gstbiser@gmail.com

Migration and Develeopment Chair:DIETRICH JONES,Natalie natalie.dietrichjones@uwimona.edu.jm