UWI Five Islands Campus Calls for Papers and Offers Special Rates for its 2025 Caribbean AI Conference

By Cory Wayland

[email protected]

Press Statement

The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica W.I. Tuesday, May 6, 2025— The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Five Islands Campus in Antigua will host the second installation of its 5IR Artificial Intelligence (AI) Annual Research Conference from June 23-24, 2025. Building on the success of the inaugural conference held last July, this edition will explore the theme ‘Bridging Digital Frontiers: AI For Caribbean Sustainability.

The annual conference serves as a hub for AI experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to present cutting-edge research, propose transformative ideas, and explore AI’s revolutionary role in shaping the Caribbean’s future. It creates an important space for high-level policy discussions on how Caribbean nations can shape AI policy to support economic growth, ethical governance, educational transformation, and digital innovation in the public sector while emphasising regional cooperation, workforce development, and responsible AI adoption.

Researchers and innovators interested in presenting at the conference should submit abstracts by the May 15, 2025, deadline at https://fiveislandsaiconference.com/, the official conference website.

Registration is also now open via the conference website for the university network and the wider regional and international community. Special rates are available for international attendees – USD 300; local attendees – USD 250; academic presenters – USD 250; one-day access – USD 150; and students – USD 100.

The conference is scheduled to start with an opening reception, including welcome remarks from UWI Vice Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, The Honourable Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and Professor Justin Robinson, Campus Principal of The UWI Five Islands.

Day One will begin with a keynote by Mr. Tianze Zhang, founder of the AI for Developing Countries Forum (AIFORD). His address, AI for Sustainable Development: The Chinese Perspective, will explore AI-driven strategies for economic diversification, sustainable resource management and enhancing climate resilience, highlighting opportunities for policy-driven AI adoption.

Other conference speakers across the two-day conference will include Mr. Ray Quintana, CEO Envviron – a French wealth management company that leverages Web3 Technology; Dr. Chris Jones, former Executive Director, Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub; Dr. Dale Alexander, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC); as well as several of Antigua and Barbuda’s distinguished cabinet ministers.

In addition to high-impact plenary sessions, the conference agenda also includes expert-led panel discussions and AI Tech Talks centred on AI’s applications in oceanography and the blue economy, tourism, cybersecurity, the public sector, climate resilience, and justice.

Among this year’s conference highlights is the inaugural AI Robotics Track. Five Islands Campus Principal Professor Justin Robinson noted that the track, which targets student researchers and innovators, will spotlight the boundless potential of robotics and intelligent automation in tackling Caribbean challenges.

He elaborated, “We cannot explore AI as a tool for Caribbean sustainability without engaging the next generation of Caribbean innovators and problem solvers. For this Student Robotics/AI and Data Science Competition, we are gathering the Caribbean’s brightest, young minds and creating the opportunity for them to present their innovations to a panel of academic and industry experts and sponsors. We will have the right stakeholders in the room. I expect that the track will deliver real, adoptable solutions in robotics for disaster response and resource management in the Caribbean.”

The conference is set to close with a roundtable featuring Mr. Tianze Zhang (AIFORD); Mr. Bevil Wooding, Director of Caribbean Affairs, The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN/ Connected Caribbean) and moderated by conference co-chair Dr. Curtis Charles, Dean and Director of Academic Affairs, The UWI, FIC. The session will bring together policymakers, researchers and private sector leaders to discuss key insights on AI policy, partnerships and contributions to sustainable regional development.

In 2024, the UWIFIC 5IR AI Conference accepted over 40 research papers from regional and international academics and saw participation from more than 400 attendees. According to the conference chairs, this year aims to deliver another high-impact, quality conference in artificial intelligence in the region, attracting some of the best speakers within and outside the Caribbean.

Urging Caribbean participation, Dr. Curtis Charles noted, “Ultimately our objective is to ensure that the Caribbean does not simply remain a passive consumer of AI technologies developed elsewhere but becomes an active participant in shaping global AI development while addressing local priorities.” Dr. Indrani Bachan-Persad, Conference co-chair, said, “We aim to attract the same level of participation from both Antigua and the wider Caribbean as well as outside the region.” She indicated that last year the conference surpassed expectations and placed the Caribbean, especially the Five Islands Campus centre stage on the topical issue and current dialogue on artificial intelligence, taking place globally.

Sponsorship packages ranging from USD 3000.00 to USD 30,000.00 are also available to Caribbean-serving businesses, organisations, and individuals wishing to partner with this pioneering event to advance the Caribbean technological development agenda.