The Faculty congratulates Dr. Sherma Roberts for receiving the Principal’s Award for Excellence. Dr. Roberts was recognized for her outstanding contribution to research and university service. Dr. Roberts is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality Management in Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business and Management
A central feature of Dr. Roberts’ academic influence is her widely cited article, “Sustainability Indicators for Small Tourism Enterprises: An Exploratory Perspective,” which has received over 403 citations and remains a seminal reference point within the global tourism literature. She holds an H-index of 12 and an i10-index of 12, reflecting the sustained impact, quality, and reach of her scholarly output.
Dr. Roberts’ research portfolio is expansive and diverse, comprising 5 books, 15 peer-reviewed book chapters, 12 peer-reviewed journal articles, 18 conference papers and 3 case studies. Her publications appear in several highly ranked journals in tourism and hospitality management, further underscoring the relevance and rigour of her work. Her most recent co-edited works Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and the Caribbean Volumes 1 & 2 signals her commitment to advancing Caribbean scholarship and laying down significant knowledge markers for future generations.
University Service
Both as Deputy Dean Research and as Interim Director of the School for Graduate Studies and Research, Dr. Roberts demonstrated transformative leadership. At the School for Graduate Studies and Research, Dr. Roberts introduced key initiatives that aligned the School with the University of the West Indies’ Triple-A Strategy—Access, Alignment, and Agility. Through her transformational and hands-on leadership, she worked with her team to build student research capacity among students, strengthen administrative processes and systems, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and enhance research output among MPhil and PhD students.
Service Across the Region
Known for her engaging and evidence-based approach, Dr. Roberts is widely sought after by regional tourism agencies and professionals to facilitate workshops, strategic retreats, and policy dialogues. The highlight of this strategic engagement was her tenure as Chairman of the Tobago Tourism Agency up to 2022, during which she successfully pioneered, without precedent or blueprint, the island’s first dedicated tourism agency—an organization that has since earned multiple international awards. In January 2025, Dr. Roberts was invited to apply her expertise to the strategic visioning and tourism marketing retreat with the senior executive team of the St. Lucia Tourism Authority, guiding the creation of actionable strategies for sustainable tourism growth. Very recently she was engaged in mentoring Junior Ministers of Tourism in Barbados and leading a high-level workshop for the Inter-American Development Bank’s National Tourism Programme. View Dr. Roberts' staff profile»
