The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Halimah DeShong as the new University Director of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS). Dr. DeShong began her duties in September and is expected to serve a two-year term.
A proud alumna of The UWI, Dr. DeShong holds both a BA and an MPhil from The UWI Cave Hill Campus, and a PhD from the University of Manchester. She is an accomplished feminist researcher and Senior Lecturer, having previously served as Head of the IGDS’s Nita Barrow Unit at the Cave Hill Campus. Her research focuses on sexual and gender violence, feminist methodologies, anti-colonial feminisms, qualitative interviewing, and text and talk analysis.
Among her many publications are her co-edited books: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and the Caribbean, Volume 1: The State, Economy and Health; Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and the Caribbean, Volumes 2: Society, Education and Human Behaviour; and Methodologies in Caribbean Research on Gender & Sexuality. Her scholarly work appears in many peer-reviewed academic journals and books. She has also served as the single and joint editor of five special issues of refereed journals on topics including Feminist Methodologies, Men and Masculinities, Gender, Sexuality and Feminism in the Caribbean, and Anti-colonial Feminisms.
Dr. DeShong is committed to addressing enduring inequalities in the Caribbean through her teaching and research engagement with communities. She has advised Caribbean governments on policies and laws related to gender-based violence (GBV) and authored the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines National Gender-based Violence Action Plan. Additionally, she co-designed a GBV and Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curriculum for post-secondary students in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). She was the lead researcher and author of the qualitative component of the UN Women/CARICOM/Caribbean Development Bank Women's Health Survey on violence against women in Grenada.
Most recently, Dr. DeShong created guidelines, teaching tools, and a curriculum for gender-responsive comprehensive disaster management and climate resilience specifically for Caribbean civil society organisations and community-based organisations as part of the USAID PROSE project. She has also served as Chair of Barbados' National Advisory Council on Gender, The UWI Cave Hill Gender Task Force, and the Cave Hill Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures Implementation
Committee. Currently, she chairs the Gender Mainstreaming Committee responsible for implementing The UWI Gender Policy.
From December 2019 to December 2021, Dr. DeShong served as Ambassador and Second Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations. During the country’s two-year term on the United Nations Security Council, she acted as SVG's expert on Women, Peace and Security; Children and Armed Conflict; Youth, Peace and Security; and the Protection of Civilians. She also covered situations in Mali, Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, and the Sahel. Dr. DeShong is a former Vincentian Sports Woman of the Year, a national netball player and captain, and a recipient of the Commonwealth and Wellcome Trust scholarships.
The UWI community warmly welcomes Dr. DeShong in her new role and wishes her a successful tenure.