UARC Newsletter October
The University of Aruba Research Center (UARC) continued the work on the UA Research Projects Overview (as announced last month!). We also co-organized a workshop with the UA Library on Open Access & Library Databases, as part of the global Open Access Week (20-24 October), as well as a PhD Lunch on 20 October. October was also an exciting month as we kicked off the start of the Dutch Caribbean Digital Competence (DCDC) Network - which also means we now have a new team member as part of the DCDC-Network and UARC: Rendell de Kort!
Introduction Rendell de Kort
My connection with the UA began in 2012 when I started teaching economics at the FEF faculty as a substitute lecturer. Later, I taught various economic development courses at the FAS faculty for several years. Most recently, I worked as a researcher on a ZonMw project that the University of Aruba carried out in collaboration with the universities of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, examining food security across the CAS islands - demonstrating what's possible when our islands work together.
In my role as DCDC network administrator I'm looking forward to getting this network operational and discovering what it can contribute to our community. Ideally, the network will create meaningful connections between people and initiatives already doing excellent work across the CAS islands, adding value for UA staff and students alike.
As something of a data science enthusiast myself, I'm particularly excited about the opportunity later this year to hear from everyone about what this digital competence network can and should mean for our community. What needs can it address? How can I assist you in advancing digital competence at the UA and beyond? I welcome your thoughts and look forward to our collaboration.
Upcoming UARC Event: The Turing Way Book Dash
Join us on 11 November for a full day event on Data Science! This event focuses on The Turing Way, a book and community about reproducible, ethical and inclusive data science. The event is made possible thanks to funding from Open Science NL.
During this event you will be introduced to The Turing Way book and the workings of the community, and you will learn how you can contribute to the content of the book. No prior experience is needed, but you do need to sign up here: https://forms.gle/vGB9kyvNMYFR8XJKA
The event is open to all interested to learn more about data science and how to contribute their experiences/insights to this community - so UA staff, students but also other organizations and people are very welcome to join! We have capped participation to 20 people so please sign up soon!
Open Knowledge Repository and upcoming event (24 November)
On 24 November, 10-11 AM, UA staff can join us for a workshop on how to use the UA Open Knowledge Repository!
This is a repeat workshop of the workshop we hosted in January - so although you’re very welcome to attend again, you will likely not learn much new (other than that we now have clickable links and supervisors should be more visible! - so feedback to improve the repository is always welcome!).
Past UARC Event: PhD Lunch
On 20 October the UA PhD community came together for the first PhD lunch. We introduced ourselves and our research - and exchanged our experiences. For example, we discussed the topic of Open Access and copyright (using this flyer), celebrated our wins and discussed challenges around university guidance, the credits needed and the lack of time to do all the PhD things! The PhD lunch is open to PhD candidates outside of the UA - if you would like to stay informed please contact research@ua.aw to get the calendar invites.
Past UARC Event: Open Access & Library Databases
On 23 October we organized a workshop together with the UA Library as part of the global Open Access week. In a presentation and live demonstration we discussed everything Open Access and what tools are available to the UA community thanks to both the Research Center and the Library. If you missed the session, the slides are available on the Open Knowledge Repository!
Lecture Series: Information Under Pressure/ Informacion Bou Presion
The Information Under Pressure lecture series deals with the central question: How do disinformation, deepfakes, and fake news impact our society, and how can Aruba build resilience against them? You can catch up with answers to these questions via the recordings of the sessions:
Research Highlight: Defense Saskia Franken
Saskia Franken will defend her PhD dissertation: 'Understanding and promoting water consumption among children in Aruba using the social network intervention approach' on 30 October, 5:30 AM, at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, in Dutch. You can watch the Livestream!
Opportunities
Stronger research and innovation cooperation between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean via 18 month long working groups for which there is now a call for volunteers.
The Caribbean Journal of Education and Development (CJED) is accepting manuscripts for its 2025/26 general issue. CJED is a peer reviewed, international Open Access journal. For more information please contact the Chief Editor at soepubs@uwimona.edu.jm.
Events/Courses
The Research Software Camp (RSC) runs from 10 to 21 November and has several public/free workshop/seminars available to join!
There are several new Code Anxiety Clubs planned of which you can join the livestreams or watch the recordings later:
Project organisation: Best practices for coding projects (11 November, 9:30 AM)
Introduction to Python and R - your first scripts (6 January, 9:30)
Getting started with Git: Version control basics (20 January, 9:30 AM)
Debugging demystified: Finding and fixing errors (3 February, 9:30 AM)
Research Highlight: Diego Acevedo
Diego Acevedo attended the IDRA Climate and Water Summit 2025, exploring how we can build more resilient and circular water systems.
Research Highlight: Shared Chair on the Impact of Slavery
On September 18 2025, the Caribbean Higher Education Council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially installed the Intermural Chair on Slavery and its Consequences at the University of Aruba.
This Shared Chair represents a unique collaboration of five scholars from the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano, the University of Aruba, the University of Curaçao, and the University of St. Martin. Together, these institutions are advancing research on slavery and its lasting legacy from a Caribbean perspective.
Research Highlight: CARAN
The conference proceedings of the 7th CARAN (Caribische Associatie voor Neerlandistiek) conference, which took place in December 2023 at the University of Aruba, have now been published. You can download a copy from our Open Knowledge Repository.
