Dr. Sonia Peters
Executive Director, Biocultural Education and Research Programme, Barbados
Executive Director, Biocultural Education and Research Programme, Barbados
Sonia Peter is a Natural Product Chemist and Executive Director of the Biocultural Education and Research Programme, Founding Director of Heritage Teas Barbados, and Director of Bioscience Barbados Ltd. After years of lecturing in chemical education she retired as Head of the Department of Chemistry, Division of Natural Sciences, Barbados Community College, in 2017 and established the non-profit organization B.E.R.P. to communicate with the public on issues of biodiversity through a platform of science engagement. She initiated the development of educational tools including workshops, courses, and symposia to arm the public with the knowledge that would create investment in the conservation of plant resources and embedded traditional knowledge. The biennial symposium, Plants and Planting for the Future, brings together scientists and the public for exchange in the matters of food security and health. Her publications include papers in peer reviewed journals, and conference proceedings, on the discovery of natural products, the book Seed Under the Leaf on biocultural traditions for health and the activity book Yabisi Guada designed to reconnect youth and adults to local floral of traditional value as mitigation for the loss of biodiversity and traditional knowledge. The science engagement platform being offered by B.E.R.P. has been recognized as one of the noted programmes in 2020 by the Falling Walls Engagement Foundation in Berlin, Germany, and has been placed on their World Engagement Map. Dr. Peter was recently awarded first prize for development of a health intervention by Export Barbados and has produced the documentary Healing Roots in collaboration with Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery.Â