Dr. Arlette Saint Ville is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Head of the Department of Geography, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.  Her research looks at society-nature interactions that include: food and nutrition security, the interplay of social capital and innovation in Caribbean contexts, stakeholder engagement and institutional processes needed to promote sustainability, environmental management issues in small island developing states, and natural resource governance.

Currently, she is a co-investigator on two major projects. The first is a NIHR-funded project looking at sustainable food production systems and food security in islands of the Caribbean, South Pacific and Philippines. The second is an EU-funded project looking at mapping and enhancing research and innovation ecosystems for increased responsiveness to climate change and geo-hazards in three Caribbean islands (Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago).

One of her Post-Doctoral Research projects was undertaken at the Margaret A Gilliam Institute for Global Food Security, Department of Nutrition, McGill University, Canada. In this post, Dr. Saint Ville worked with the global NGO Care Canada, on two large projects funded by Global Affairs Canada, the Southern Africa Nutrition Initiative (SANI) and Growing Nutrition for Mothers and Children (GROW). She provided technical support to graduate researchers, conducted political economy analyses of stakeholder engagement on the projects and planned research capacity building initiatives for improving nutrition outcomes among women of reproductive age and children under five in four Sub-Saharan African countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia).

Dr. Saint Ville completed her PhD in Natural Resource Sciences from McGill University. Canada. Her doctoral research used mixed-methods to explain why scientific advances in agriculture, food and the environment have not translated into sustainable food and nutrition security outcomes for the Caribbean as part of the IDRC-funded McGill/UWI Caricom Project. She obtained a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University, Canada and a BA in Environmental Geography Hons (with Distinction) from Nipissing University, Canada.

For twelve years preceding her doctoral studies, she was an independent international development consultant, successfully undertaking high-level, short-term assignments for diverse agencies across the Caribbean region. Her publications appear in high quality peer reviewed journals such as Food Policy, Food Security, Rural Studies and Regional Environmental Change.