Department of Biology
Devya Hemraj-Naraine has lived in La Jalousie on the West Coast of Demerara her entire life. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she was raised by a single parent mother to whom she owes credit for the individual she is today. At the age of eleven, she wrote the Secondary School Entrance Examination, where she was placed at the highly reputed West Demerara Secondary School. There she moulded her character to becoming a well-disciplined and determined individual motivated in gaining new knowledge and further self-development. In 2010, she obtained eleven subjects at the Caribbean Examination Council assessments. At this point she had interests in traveling, animals, and adventure; she used her initiative and enrolled herself in the Biology program at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen campus. This has served as the platform from which her interests in zoology expanded into a passion, and has led her into volunteering at various zoological organizations including the National Zoo of Guyana and the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity (C.S.B.D). During her final two years in the Biology program, her interest and love for fieldwork escalated. Her main interest at that point was in studying herpetofauna; however, she did not limit herself to this area alone; she has developed interests in the field of ichthyology and wildlife conservation. In 2015, she graduated from the University of Guyana with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, after which she was recruited as a part-time staff member. As a member of the University’s faculty, she has successfully conducted and graded several laboratory exercises in the Biology program. During the past few years, Devya has grown as a researcher as she has had the opportunity to work with numerous internationally recognized organizations and researchers garnering invaluable knowledge and experience in field research, specimen collection, and identification - all of which are essential in perfecting skills necessary in becoming a reputed field biologist which was her ultimate desire.
In 2017, Mrs. Hemraj-Naraine joined the C.S.B.D family where she currently works as a scientific officer, her main duties and responsibilities at the centre are research, identification, preservation, verification, and maintenance of the museum collections.
In 2018 and 2021, Mrs. Hemraj-Naraine obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education (Sciences) and a Master’s of Science in Forest Biology, respectively. Knowledge gained here was used in the University’s Biology department as a lecturer where she teaches various zoology-related courses and also has the opportunity to supervise final year research projects and internship students.
Her all-time favorite quotes are “It takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes an academic community to help that child realize their fullest potential” and “Education is the key to escaping poverty.”