Bio
Sherma Roberts currently serves as Director (Ag.) for the School of Graduate Studies and Research (SGSR). She is also a faculty member within the Cave Hill School of Business and Management, formerly the Department of Management Studies, where she has worked hard to raise the profile of tourism education through innovative initiatives and industry collaboration. Some of her accomplishments include hosting the first UWI wide international tourism conference, creating the opportunity for students in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to pursue undergraduate tourism programmes at Cave Hill through articulation agreements, developing a suite of postgraduate tourism programmes that are relevant to the region, and collaborating closely with the local and regional industry for internships, projects and guest lectures.
In addition to teaching, she has also contributed to the public discourse on tourism as a speaker at various local and regional tourism fora and was instrumental in developing the participatory framework for the Tourism White Paper (2012-2021) in Barbados. Dr. Roberts was among the pioneers that developed the CAPE tourism syllabus and subsequently held the position of Chief Examiner for the subject from 2014-2016. One of her most important contributions to date was her appointment as the first Chairperson of the Tobago Tourism Agency (2017-2021) a position that was preceded by appointments as Chairperson of the Tourism Advisory Council in Barbados and Deputy Chair of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority.
She has four co-edited books, and recently published (November 2021) Managing Crises in Tourism- Resilience Strategies from the Caribbean. Sherma has written and presented papers in areas pertaining to community participation, corporate social responsibility, sustainable tourism, diaspora tourism, e-marketing and tourism entrepreneurship.
Dr. Roberts is an alumnus of Brunel University (PhD), University of Surrey ( MSc. Distinction Tourism Planning & Development) and The University of the West Indies ( BA History (Hons.) and Postgraduate Diploma, International Relations).
When she is not embedded in the work of the SGSR or preparing lectures, writing a paper or answering student emails, she spends her time walking on the beach, planning the next house ‘lime’, pottering around her garden and travelling.
Qualifications
PhD. (Brunel University),
MSc Distinction (Tourism Planning & Development) (University of Surrey)
BA History (Hons.) and Postgraduate Diploma, International Relations, UWI
Select Publications
- Wolf, F., Moncada, S., Surroop, D., Shah, K., Raghoo, P., Scherle, N., Reiser, D., Telesford. J., Roberts, S., Havea, P., Naidu, R. and Nguyeen, L. ( 2022) Small island developing states, tourism and climate change. Journal of Sustainable Tourism DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2022.2112203
Roberts, S. (2022) Socio-cultural sustainability and the small tourism enterprise. Tourism & Hospitality Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F14673584221093537
Roberts, S. (2022) Demand and supply perspectives on diaspora tourism: the case of Guyanese in Toronto. Anatolia, Published online on 2 March, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2022.2040912
Lewis- Cameron, A., Jordan-Miller, L., and Roberts, S. (eds.) (2021) Managing Crisis in Tourism: Resilience Strategies from the Caribbean. Switzerland: Palgrave- Macmillan.
Roberts, S., Best, M. and Cameron, A. (2015) Contemporary Caribbean Tourism: Concepts and Cases. Jamaica: Ian Randle.
Lewis-Cameron, A. and Roberts, S. (eds.) (2010) Marketing Island Destinations- Concepts and Cases. Burlington: Elseiver/Butterworth-Heinemann.
Roberts, S. (2011) An exploratory analysis of Factors Mediating Community Participation Outcomes in Tourism. Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society 42 (3) 377-391.
Roberts, S. and Tribe, J. (2008) Indicators of sustainability for Small Tourism Enterprises – An Exploratory Perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 16 (5), 575-594.
Daye, M. Chambers, D. and Roberts, S. (2008) New Perspectives In: New Perspectives in Caribbean Tourism. New York: Routledge.