THE Office of Administration at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Tres-Ann Kremer as the new Director of the University’s Institute of Criminal Justice & Security.
A senior democratic governance and political specialist, Dr. Kremer possesses over two decades of expertise in high-level multilateral and bilateral relations. She is a returning, proud UWI alumna, having earned her Bachelor of Science (double major) in both Sociology and International Relations from the Mona Campus (1999). She is also the holder of Master of Arts, in Diplomatic Studies (with distinction) from the University of Westminster in the UK (2001) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Criminology from the University of Kent in the UK (2010).
Dr. Kremer comes to The UWI from the Commonwealth Secretariat where she served as Head of the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Good Offices for Peace. She was also Lead Political Adviser for the Caribbean region. She served as Assistant Conference Secretary for the bi-annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) (2017-2021), and also as Assistant Conference Secretary for Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meetings (CFAMM) and the Commonwealth Ministerial Meetings on Belize and Guyana. She also previously served as Head of Office for the Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General (Political). She was elected as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Staff Association (2019 to 2021).
Dr Kremer also has significant high impact civil society engagement experience. She served as International Capacity Building and Accountability Coordinator for Amnesty International Secretariat (UK); Principal Consultant at The Point Research and Consulting, overseeing social cohesion capacity building with women and youth civil society organisations in Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina; Policy and Research Manager – Female Prisoners Welfare Project at Hibiscus Initiatives in the UK and as a former lecturer at University of Kent and University of Greenwich.
As a researcher, her publications include over a dozen technical papers and equally as many presentations. Her PhD research focussed on the experiences of the disproportionately high percentage of black, foreign women in prisons in England. It impacted the sentencing regime for foreign nationals in the United Kingdom and influenced prison reforms relating to the experience of foreign nationals in the UK.
She has a strong background in organisational development, building strategic partnerships, and project monitoring and evaluation. This is coupled with expertise in mediation and negotiation; crime and violence prevention, restorative and transitional justice; political engagement, elections, coalition governance; and gender equality.
Dr. Kremer’s appointment took effect on June 1, 2021. On behalf of the University community, the Office of Administration extends a warm welcome to Dr Kremer and best wishes in her new role.