CAROLINE MAIR-TOBY
Founder | Executive Director
Caroline Mair-Toby is the founding Director for the Institute for Small Islands; an Attorney at Law, Mair and Company; and a Director at the Fondes Amandes Reforestation Community Project. Most recently, she was a legal advisor and negotiator with the Trinidad and Tobago delegation to COP27 Egypt 2022 and COP28 Dubai 2023. Caroline has been advising at the climate negotiations since 2011 with first FIELD and then LRI, facilitating legal and technical advice to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and civil societies including Indigenous Peoples. She is working on climate justice and Indigenous rights issues around the world, including the Greater Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica), Kenya, Australia, Colombia. She read Caribbean, Indian and African postcolonial literature for her BA at the University of Pennsylvania; environmental and commercial law for her LLB at Queen Mary, University of London; and an environmental law and human rights for her LLM at City Law School, University of London (formerly the Inns of Court School of Law).
Tricia Alcendor
Head of Litigation | Rights of the Child
Tricia Alcendor is a lawyer, advocate, and interdisciplinary thinker with over a decade of experience navigating legal, cultural, and policy spaces. She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Alternative Dispute Resolution, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from York University (Glendon College), a Certificate in Law and Social Thought, and an Honours Law Degree (LLB) from the University of Sheffield. She was called to the Bar in 2014.
A proud Kalinago woman, Tricia brings both lived experience and professional insight to her work. Her Indigenous heritage has deeply shaped her commitment to justice, cultural preservation, and equity for communities historically excluded from mainstream policy discourse. Her early volunteer work in nursing stations in remote parts of Manitoba and near the Northwest Territories offered her a unique perspective on community resilience, health disparities, and the need for systemic reform.
Tricia is currently part of the team at the Institute of Small Islands, an independent research and policy institute based in Trinidad & Tobago. In this role, she contributes to interdisciplinary dialogue and analysis on the challenges and opportunities facing small island states and communities worldwide. Her work focuses on advocacy, legal reform, and amplifying the voices of island peoples at the intersection of law, sustainability, culture, and climate justice.
She is also a seasoned family lawyer and litigator, known for her fierce advocacy, strategic mindset, and culturally responsive approach to conflict resolution. She has extensive experience handling high-conflict family law matters, and she brings that same precision and passion to her policy work at the Institute.
In 2022, Tricia was honoured as one of the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women, a recognition of her impact, leadership, and dedication to transformative change.
Alexander Brooks
Attorney at Law | Fellowship Programme Manager
Al Brooks (he/any) is a movement lawyer working with the Garifuna Nation to protect their ecosystems and establish indigenous sovereignty and nationhood across borders. He also represents incarcerated people and criminal defendants targeted for social justice activism in California and Alabama. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law Practice at Tuskegee University. Al organizes with Unlock the Bar, the Black Youth Project 100, and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Al is also a member of the National Lawyer Guild's United People of Color Caucus, the Just Transition Lawyering Network, and Law for Black Lives. Al is a graduate of the New York University School of Law where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar and directed the NYU Law Prison Teaching Project.
Dr. Isis Semaj-Hall
Head of Cultural Studies
Dr. Isis Semaj-Hall is a decolonial feminist and cultural analyst. Born in Jamaica and raised in New York City, Semaj-Hall earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MA and PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. In real and digital spaces she bridges academic training with an intention to use words to open minds and eliminate access walls and glass ceilings. She is a co-founder and editor of "PREE: Caribbean Writing," the author of the “write pon di riddim” blog, and a digital disruptor using social media as a space for cultural and political debate. She has written essays and commentaries on a wide range of topics including identity, remix theory, Ishawna, dub, and dancehall. Since 2016 she has been a lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica) where she explores gender, the creative digital, Caribbean literature, and popular culture. Follow her on IG @riddim.writer and on Twitter @isissemajhall.