Some of the brightest minds in academia locally, regionally and internationally have been engaged to share their wealth of knowledge with the wider Jamaican society through The UWI Mona/VM Group Distinguished Lecture Series.

The lecture series, which was launched on Friday, August 18, will be hosted by The University of the West Indies, Mona, in partnership with the VM Group and is geared towards engaging the public on critical issues to influence policies and decision-making.

Newly appointed principal of the UWI, Mona, Professor Densil A. Williams, who was speaking at the launch of the lecture series on Friday, said that the initiative is aimed at promoting knowledge sharing so as to enable ordinary citizens to make informed decisions.

“The general idea behind our series is to say how are we going to get the persons within the community who are actually engaged in scholarly scientific research to bring that knowledge to the public and to bring it to the public at a cost less effort basically,” Williams said.

The newly minted principal said that the university will invite local, regional and international academics to the Mona campus to share their wealth of knowledge with the Jamaican society.

“I think these are very important critical engagements because we are living in an age now where the idea of science and the idea of truth and the idea of rigorous interaction with information, data and analysis, those things are under serious threat and if we are going to make sure that we make an informed decision and make proper decisions about how we are going to shape society going forward,” he said.

President and chief executive officer of the VM Group, Courtney Campbell, praised the initiative as a meaningful contribution towards the transformation of lives and industries locally, regionally and internationally.

“This partnership between the UWI Mona campus and the VM Group reflects the collaboration between academia and the industry experts that is needed to both interrogate the status quo and devise real-world improvements that will lead to better outcomes across sectors, borders and populations,” Campbell said.

He further commended the leaders of The UWI for their commitment to thought leadership.

The first lecture is set to commence on Wednesday, September 13, at The UWI, Mona campus.

The regional university is to release additional details on how members of the public can become part of the lecture series.

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