A group of University of the West Indies (UWI) faculty and students are back home followng a series of outstanding presentations at the 10th Third World Academy of Sciences Regional Office for Latin America & the Caribbean Young Students Conference in Tobago.

It was the first time that the meeting, which ran from December 7 to 9, was being held in the Caribbean. It is traditionally held in Brazil.

Professor Ishenkumba Kahwa, UWI Mona’s dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, was presented with the 2011 Caricom Science Award at the event, which also recognised scientists from Chilé (educational materials), Mexico (earth sciences), Brazil (mathematics), and Cuba (physics).

The conference was addressed by Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada and minister responsible for science and technology in Caricom; Fazal Karim, minister of science and technology and tertiary education in Trinidad and Tobago; and Professor Manuel Limonta, founder and former director general of the Center for Biological Research and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Cuba and a key architect of Cuba’s advance in biotechnology. Limonta is also currently regional director of TWAS-ROLAC and based in Mexico.

Updates were presented on the state of science in Chilé by Rafael Vicuna; in Venezuela by Benjamin Scharifker and in the Caribbean by Kahwa.

Recently promoted Professor Terrence Seemungal (St Augustine) and Professor Sean McDowell (Cave Hill) delivered exemplary lectures, respectively, on “Evolution in the Thinking about Chronic Obstructive Disease — a Chronic Non-Communicable Disease” and “Non-Covalent Interactions in Molecular Complexes” displaying the importance of basic concepts and approaches in highly applied research and the possibilities for application of highly theoretical basic research.

UWI graduate students or recent graduates made 12 of 18 oral presentations and showcased five of eight posters at the conference.