Verene A. Shepherd is a Social Historian, and current Director of the Centre for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies. Her research focusses on African and African-American history as well as gender and migration studies. In 2015 she was elected to the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Among her awards are the Order of Distinction by the Government of Jamaica for outstanding services to Education. She was included in the “Black Achievement Wall of Honour” at the UN Headquarters in New York.