"One UWI, One Alumni Family"
Dr. Cherisse Francis returns to the UWI for a special visit
Dr. Cherisse Francis, proud Barbadian and UWI Pelican also visited the Director, UWI Alumni Relations when she participated in a conference held at the UWI Regional Headquarters recently. She now considers herself to be an educator and researcher, however she began her career as a legal professional having graduated from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and the University of Aberdeen with a Master of Laws (Distinction). While at UWI, Cherisse served as a UWI STAT Ambassador and was the VP of Alumni Relations 2014-2015. As an Alumni Ambassador Cherisse has contributed to training present and incoming ambassadors as well interviewing prospective ambassadors.
Cherisse also attended the Hugh Wooding Law School where she completed her Legal Education Certificate on the Principal's Honour Roll and was subsequently called to the Barbadian legal bar in 2018. Throughout her educational pursuits, Cherisse remained committed to the pursuit of human rights through academia and her volunteering activities. After her LLM, Cherisse spent a short time as an intern at the United Nations Office for Barbados and the OECS before accepting a position with the Human Trafficking Institute (HTI). From 2019 to 2020 Cherisse was employed by the HTI as Judicial Research Assistant to the designated Trafficking in Persons Judge in the Belizean High Court. In this role she was involved in legal writing and research as well as training activities for state and non-state actors both in Belize and across the Caribbean. These experiences led Cherisse to pursue her PhD studies examining the culture, history, discourses and law surrounding anti-trafficking in the Anglophone Caribbean at the University of Warwick, UK which she completed in 2024. Since becoming a part of the regional anti-trafficking field Cherisse has also been involved in numerous consultancies, training sessions, and workshops as a facilitator and scholar.
At present, Cherisse is a Senior Lecturer (Law) at St. Mary's University, Twickenham in England where she has taught among other things a course on Organised Crime, Trafficking and Contemporary slavery as well as International Human Rights Law. She also continues to be engaged in research and serves as a trustee for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (London Office) and a Caribbean Advisor for the Young Feminist Fund (FRIDA).
