UWI, CCRIF back first climate‑attribution postdoctoral fellowship

Dr Jhordanne Jones has become the first recipient of a new postdoctoral fellowship created by The University of the West Indies (UWI) through its Climate Studies Group Mona (CSGM), in partnership with CCRIF SPC, the region’s parametric insurance facility.

The fellowship, worth US$50,000 ($8 million), marks CCRIF’s first direct grant for postdoctoral research and aims to strengthen regional expertise in tropical-cyclone modelling and climate-change attribution.

Jones, a UWI graduate, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate and Global Change Fellow, and lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will produce high-resolution hurricane simulations, loss-and-damage assessments and public-engagement initiatives, bolstering The UWI’s ambition to position the Caribbean as a leader in climate-attribution science.

“This fellowship is an important investment that will help The UWI produce the human capital needed to guide policy decisions informed by rigorous science, ensuring our societies build back better,” said Professor Densil A. Williams, principal of The UWI Mona Campus.

Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology and co-director of CSGM, Professor Michael Taylor, called CCRIF’s support “visionary”. “By supporting research that directly links extreme weather to climate change, CCRIF is helping to place Caribbean science at the centre of global climate justice efforts,” he said.

Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox

Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters.

The fellowship extends a long-running partnership between The UWI and CCRIF, which has provided more than US$1.8 million ($288 million) in scholarships, internships and project funding since 2010. The two institutions continue to push Caribbean leadership in climate science, resilience financing and the wider struggle for climate justice.