NATURAL PRODUCTS INSTITUTE
Dr. Rupika Delgoda, D.Phil. (Oxon), B.Sc. (Hons.) – Director
WORK OF THE INSTITUTE The academic year 2022–2023 saw the staff members of the Natural Products Institute (NPI) developing a new MPhil/PhD program in Pharmacognosy and Ethnobotany & Ethnobiology. We look forward to its launch in January 2024. The year also engaged NPI’s members in many activities towards the establishment of the Caribbean Centre for Research in Bioscience (CCRiB), into which NPI will be merged (and institutionalized) as of October 2023. Thus, we reflect over twenty years of activity and present here the last annual report under the NPI name. We mourned the passing of Dr. Trevor Yee in June this year, former Director of NPI, who had served from its inception. His stellar contribution to research and innovation, and wide knowledge of local biodiversity, will be fondly remembered and deeply missed. Staff and students of NPI continued their vibrant efforts at tackling several new research problems, and forging many new international collaborations (which are expected to be launched as MOUs or new projects). Our staff engaged in many international and local fora as speakers, panelists, experts and acted as reviewers and editors of well-cited, peer-reviewed journals, with Dr. Vandebroek being appointed as the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Economic Botany. We celebrated Dr. Francis getting an international grant from IAEA, her first. Four students (two PhDs, One MPhil and One MSc.) officially completed and/or received their research degrees under the supervision of NPI staff. This academic year saw the launch of the joint, monthly seminar series between NPI and Biotechnology Centre, for the benefit of graduate students. Multiple staff members won the Principal’s research awards, while our student Dr. Kimberly Foster was named runner-up in the Young Scientist Competition held by the Scientific Research Council of Jamaica.
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