Elizabeth II is head of state in nine independent Caribbean nations. The survival of the British monarchy in the region is remarkable, but there has been no sustained, comparative investigation into this continuity. This is the first study to place the political, legal and constitutional function of the Crown alongside cultural and popular perceptions of Elizabeth in each of her Caribbean 'realms'. When Elizabeth visits St Lucia, how is the 'Queen of St Lucia' received? What would a history of Elizabeth, Queen of Jamaica reveal? The project begins in 1952, with the accession of Elizabeth II, and ends at the present day. It moves from decolonisation and the achievement of independence, to constitutional reform efforts and current debates on the future of the Crown in the Caribbean. It thinks about monarchy as an institution, and about the embodiment of that institution in the person of Elizabeth. As such, the project seeks to better explain the durability of monarchy in the Caribbean since the end of empire. As the Queen's 68-year reign draws to a close, this timely project engages with important questions about the legacy of her reign, the relationship between Britain and its former Caribbean colonies - a relationship that has come under intense scrutiny following the Windrush scandal - and the future of the Crown elsewhere in the Commonwealth. The project, uniquely, addresses all nine Caribbean 'realms': Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines. It also considers the three countries that opted to become republics: Dominica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. The project brings together political historians, political scientists, cultural historians, and oral history practitioners. The political strand examines the Crown as a legal and constitutional entity, exploring how monarchy was conceptualised, and the role the Queen herself may have played, during critical episodes over the last 70 years. The cultural strand focusses on the visibility and performance of monarchy, emphasising the person of Elizabeth II. It investigates how the Queen has been represented: in portraiture, pageantry and regional literature. It highlights the tradition of the royal tour and will collate material related to every royal visit made to the Caribbean realms since 1952. Perceptions of the most recent visits will be captured through social media analysis, such as the #notmyprince thread in response to Prince Harry's 2016 tour. Finally, the project will generate original and highly valuable research data through a first-ever region-wide survey on popular attitudes to the Queen and monarchy, and targeted interviews with governors general, politicians, Palace officials, civil servants and a representative cross-section of the general public from across the region. Through excavating such a wide evidence base, the project will advance knowledge of the Queen and intervene in debates about the history and current state of monarchy in the Caribbean, and its possible futures. It will test assumptions about the survival of monarchy in the region - such as the idea that republicanism will inevitably prevail - and will unpack the complex nature of support and opposition. The project is distinctive for balancing hitherto dominant Palace and Whitehall-oriented accounts with overlooked Caribbean perspectives and sources. It departs from many studies of modern monarchy by bringing a long historical view to its analysis of queenship, empire and royal traditions. Academic and public audiences will be reached through the project's published outputs and dissemination activities organised with our project partners. These include policy briefings at Whitehall; training history teachers in collaboration with the Historical Association; public memory-sharing days; an exhibition; and a television documentary.

During 18-19 September, Category 5 Hurricane Maria devastated the small island developing state of Dominica. Sustained winds of 257 Km/h almost completely stripped the island of its forest cover and caused much destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Intense rainfall and uprooting of trees caused numerous landslides, debris flows and river floods. Debris carried by the floods jammed under bridges, exacerbating overbank flooding and damage to infrastructure. Coarse sediment and tree debris discharged to the sea were transported back onto the coastline by the storm surge, damaging shoreline infrastructure. The impact of Hurricane Maria upon the landscape of Dominica and the consequences for disaster risk reduction in Dominica are the focus of this research. This work is urgent because it must be completed before the landscape is further modified by intense rainfall events in the next hurricane season (June-November 2018). To understand how this either decreases or increases geomorphological hazards, as much survey work as possible needs to be done during the debris clearance phase of the recovery operations. We therefore aim to produce a detailed post-event survey, combining remote sensing and fieldwork, of the geomorphological changes caused by Hurricane Maria and an understanding of their effects on post-hurricane landscape instability, focusing on the damage done to critical infrastructure by flooding, debris flows and storm surge erosion. There are three phases to the project: 1) processing of satellite imagery (both optical and radar), evaluating the effectiveness of remote sensing for damage mapping; 2) Fieldwork and verification survey of slope instability features and damaged infrastructure; 3) Analysis of stakeholder perceptions of vulnerability and resilience, with collation of survey results into an assessment of future geohazards, with recommendations on improved disaster risk reduction and enhanced resilience. The project will have many applications: (i) providing a valuable baseline inventory of hurricane impacts in Dominica's landscape and the ensuing damage to infrastructure; (ii) enabling an accuracy assessment of the hurricane damage maps produced from inspection of satellite remote sensing imagery during the disaster response phase; (iii) enabling an examination of the interaction between hurricane-driven geomorphic processes and ensuing damage to critical infrastructure; (iv) improving our understanding of post-hurricane landscape instability and the DRR implications for reconstruction in Dominica.

Non communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are the leading causes of death in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Caribbean women, urban dwellers and the poor are more likely to have NCDs and a greater burden of NCD risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet. The recent control measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in many LMICs interfered with daily routines and food systems. While some control measures such as limiting sale of alcohol and closure of fast food restaurants might have potential benefits on NCDs, these may be counterbalanced by limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables and a tendency to consume unhealthy stored/preserved foods. Additionally, stress, working from home, increased screen time (computer and TV) and boredom also create a change in sleep, physical activity and other NCD related lifestyle practices. In this study we will examine how control measures used in 3 Caribbean islands affected the health and lifestyle practices of people living with NCDs, particularly women, the poor and those living in urban vs rural communities. By understanding the effects of COVID-19 control measures on NCD risk factors (lifestyle practices), mental health, metabolic health (blood sugar and cholesterol) and physical measurements (blood pressure and weight), LMIC governments can use their limited resources to better care for persons with NCDs during national crises and respond better to future COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreaks.

This project responds directly to Strand 4: Cultural Heritages, Interpretation, and Representation and the Translating Cultures and Care for the Future themes in its examination of the ways in which response to and recovery from future volcanic events on the Eastern Caribbean islands of St Vincent and Montserrat is shaped by the cultural memory and narratives developed through past experiences. The project is interdisciplinary in its conception and design, bringing literary studies together with volcanology, international development, and project partners responsible for future emergency response on the islands, to allow for a thorough investigation of the ways in which resident populations have responded historically to severe natural threat, how crises have been dealt with, and recovery undertaken. In this way the project explores the extent to which knowledge of disaster translates between cultural and scientific experiences of volcanic risk and the extent to which cultural experience of past risk shapes future response by offering a comparative analysis of the literary record, oral traditions and histories, songs, and other artistic expressions, and working with local populations to gain an understanding of the place of the volcano in the cultural imaginary. The PI, Co-Is, and Project Researcher will work closely with the Project Partners, combining our different sets of knowledge and expertise, research methodologies and practices in order to examine the ways that literary studies can be conducive to new models of scientific, social, and political development. The project will combine literary scholarship to explore the place of the volcano in Caribbean literature and oral culture, archival research to search out evidence of experiences of past eruptions that are hidden from the official colonial records, focus-groups and interviews with local communities on both St Vincent and Montserrat as well as the islands' diasporas in the UK, and a three day workshop in the Eastern Caribbean bringing together the Project Investigators and Researcher, the Project Partners, and other invited stakeholders from literary scholars, writers and performers, artistic figures, archivists and publishing houses, and civil and community groups where we will discuss our findings and explore the ways in which they can be put to the most use for the communities affected by volcanic risk.

This proposal identifies an opportunity to bring together leading international experts to consider the dispersal and impacts of volcanic ash. A key theme emerging from one of our existing research project (STREVA) is the role that volcanic ash plays in disrupting lives and livelihoods across all scales: from major disruption of international air traffic to the destruction of individual livelihoods via irreparable damage to crops and livestock or health problems. Another (VANAHEIM) is uncovering new insights into the ash loading and subsequent dispersal from eruptive columns. Globally other researchers have started to systematically examine the impacts of ash fall-out on critical infrastructure, buildings, communication, vegetation, soil and human or animal health However we currently do not fully understand several things: (i) localised variance in ash dispersal on the kilometre scale and regional (cross-border) dispersal; (ii) thresholds and timings of the ways in which soils and plants are impacted by ash concentrations; (iii) the impact of ash on human and animal health over both short and long time-scales; and (iv) the role that ash concentration plays in disrupting transportation and communication networks during an acute volcanic crisis. Even more importantly, the impact of these processes on communities affected by eruptions lies in their cumulative effects and interacting processes. We want to consider how to tackle this more effectively, by developing andapplying the very best scientific approaches. Through this International Opportunities Fund we will establish a new team of experts to start to tackle these problems with a multi-disciplinary approach which engages key stakeholders and end users, and paves the way for future long-term collaborations. We are taking a 'problem-based' approach to this issue and will focus on one particular island, but use it to consider general problems. This will help us to focus on the most critical scientific issues and provide a new group of researchers with a common problem on which to build an analysis of future research need. The information from the specific setting (St. Vincent) can be immediately applied in disaster planning and regional contingencies for ash disruption. The network built by this project intends to not only report on its findings relevant to St. Vincent but to use these to apply for research finding that enables a diverse group of experts to make real progress in understanding, anticipating and mitigating against the risks from ash fall.