At 37 years old, Trinbagioian Trevon Joseph, “village boy” from Paramin graduated from the prestigious, world-renowned University of Oxford, November 1st, 2019. He is the first recipient of an engineering doctorate (DEng) conferred at the university in a century. An award that was the first awarded for a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in 1919 and the DEng in 2019.
Additionally impressive, is that both Joseph and Dr. Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago—who attained his Doctor of Philosophy degree at Oxford in 1938, both graduated from the same building, at the Sheldonian Theatre.
Joseph was among four students pursuing a doctorate in the offshore geotechnical engineering programme in 2014.
“I did not come from a rich background,” Joseph asserted. He explained he attended Woodbrook Secondary and Queen’s Royal College. He later studied civil engineering at the John Donaldson ‘John D’ Technical Institute (UTT). Here he said, he spent “the best years” of his life.
Joseph pursued a Bachelor’s in civil engineering at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine.
He got his first scholarship in 2007 at a university in Europe. When he attained his master’s degree, he secured a job in the United Kingdom after arriving there in 2009.
When asked about his historical success, Joseph said, “It was one of those events that you don’t really forget because you put so much effort into the last few years and you sacrifice time with family, friends, loved ones…just to more or less to do something that you want to do for yourself.”
He stressed that though it was no easy task, just “noting where we come from and where we represent”, to come to a foreign country and be accepted into an Oxford University programme, was “surreal”.
“I did not come from a rich background,” Joseph asserted. He explained he attended Woodbrook Secondary and Queen’s Royal College. He later studied civil engineering at the John Donaldson ‘John D’ Technical Institute (UTT). Here he said, he spent “the best years” of his life.
Next, he pursued a Bachelor’s in civil engineering at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine.
He got his first scholarship in 2007 at a university in Europe. When he attained his master’s degree, he secured a job in the United Kingdom after arriving there in 2009.
Joseph shared while he did not have family in the UK, he had friends and a fiancé. His parents would visit once a year. Sometimes, he said, his father would remind him “This is what you are doing it for Trevon…I know its hard but just crack on.” Both parents were present for his graduation.
In 2020, Trevon has plans to return to Trinidad and Tobago on a mission. He hopes to influence authority that renewable energy is cleaner and they only way ahead for the “betterment of mankind”.
Joseph observed that most countries, including T&T, are not contributing to the construction or the use of renewable energy sources to provide electricity that the country needs.
The European Union passed strict laws that ensure countries use a certain percentage of renewable energy sources by a certain date, otherwise, “they get fined” he said.
Overall, he said if countries were to invest in solar their contribution would be enough to supply a large percentage of their energy requirements from renewable energy sources.
“Trinidad has a lot of wind and a lot of sunlight…because of that…it does not make any sense not to capitalize on that…use some of that, capture it and convert it to electricity so you wouldn’t be using oil and gas to spin turbines to produce electricity. There’s a lot of blackouts that occur, one of the reasons is when the demand for electricity surpasses the supply,” he said.
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