Dr. Sherma Roberts (University of West Indies) Barbados

Dr. Sherma Roberts is a Lecturer at the University of West Indies, Barbados. She obtained her PhD on Sustainable Development with an emphasis on Tourism, Brunel University, UK. Sherma joined the Department of Management Studies at Cave Hill in 2005, after having taught in the UK at Manchester Metropolitan University and Buckinghamshire New University. Upon joining the Department, Sherma assumed the position of Coordinator of the M.Sc.  Tourism & Hospitality Management programme and has since grown postgraduate offerings to a suite focusing upon Events, Sport, Marketing and Project Management. Dr. Roberts has worked hard to raise the profile of tourism education at Cave Hill and some of her accomplishments include creating the opportunity for students in the OECS countries to pursue undergraduate tourism programmes at Cave Hill through articulation initiatives, developing a suite of postgraduate tourism programmes that are relevant to the region, collaborating closely with the local and regional industry for internships and guest lectures, sharing of research findings, and hosting the  1st  International  Tourism Conference at Cave Hill in 2009. In addition to teaching, she contributes to the public discourse on tourism as Chair of the Tourism Advisory Council (2010-2015) and  as a speaker at various  local and regional tourism and business fora.  Dr. Roberts has been instrumental in developing the participation framework for the development of the Tourism White Paper (2012-2021) in Barbados. Recently, she served as a panelist for the Caribbean Examinations Council developing the recently launched CAPE tourism syllabus, and was also the Chief Examiner for the subject. Dr. Sherma has three co-edited books, and recently published Contemporary Caribbean Tourism: Concept and Cases- which will be used by tourism students throughout the Caribbean archipelago and beyond.  Sherma has written and presented papers in areas pertaining to community participation, corporate social responsibility, sustainable tourism, diaspora tourism, e-marketing and tourism entrepreneurship. She is passionate about tourism and envisions the Caribbean region becoming  the ‘Silicone  Valley of Tourism’  when it comes to knowledge production, service and product quality and product innovation.