UARC Newsletter January
January was a busy month for the University of Aruba Research Center (UARC)! We welcomed a new Postdoc, held our first workshop, submitted a funding proposal, and we are starting this newsletter! Please find below some information, events and opportunities that may be relevant for your research!
New Postdoc started at UARC
Esther Plomp started on 1 January as a Postdoc/Research Developer! Esther holds expertise in data management and open science which can contribute to the University’s research program. You can contact Esther directly (esther.plomp@ua.aw) with any questions about research support, funding opportunities and our University Repository.
Workshop Building Your Research Profile
This month the UARC held its first workshop! On the 29th of January 23 people gathered to learn more about how to use the Repository to build their research profile.
If you missed the workshop, you can access the workshop slides and the information available in the “UA Open Knowledge Repository Manual” Stone module, or email us to still get started with uploading your work to the Repository or edit your personal page.
NWO Digital Competence Center call
The UARC collaborated with CHECK (universities of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Martin and IPA) and submitted a proposal to a NWO call to establish a Digital Competence Network for the Caribbean region. The Dutch Caribbean Digital Competence (DCDC) Network can increase awareness for the importance of open data, promote collaboration, share expertise, and develop a vision towards Collective Knowledge. The Network aims to build digital competence via peer-to-peer exchange, a training program, and facilitates strategic partnerships.
We hope to hear in the upcoming months whether the funding will be granted!
Recent Research
Saskia Franken published an article on Promoting water consumption among children through a social network intervention: a cluster randomized controlled trial on a Caribbean island. Check it out on our Repository as well, where it is currently featured on the home page. Congratulations Saskia!
Events
Join a webinar on Gender Equality in Science and Academia (11 February, 11 AM)
The QUEST center (Germany) is organizing events on open, reproducible research methods (24-28 February)
See the Open Research Calendar for more Open Research events!
Opportunities
The PREreview Champions Program provides researchers with the knowledge, skills, and resources to train and engage others to participate in the open peer review of preprints. Preprints are versions of the article as submitted to a journal - so not yet peer reviewed and published by a journal. Apply by 14 February!
The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) website and newsletter BioNews highlights ongoing and past biodiversity research and monitoring projects in the Dutch Caribbean. Add missing projects to the platform!
Courses
You can join a 6-week open science training program! You can apply for a waiver for the course fee, or ask Esther for help with signing up (before 25 February!)
TU Delft (Netherlands) is starting a new round in March of their Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Open Science: Sharing Your Research with the World.
Follow more tech-heavy courses like Advanced Data Visualizations in R (21 February, 2-4 PM), and Machine Learning Essentials (5 February, 1-2 PM).