October was a very exciting month for the Research Center and the University of Aruba. We had another PhD defense: Congratulations to Dr. Jeltzlin Semerel! We also had a full house for the writing workshop, and are gearing up for a packed November with the DCDC-Network kick-off, Nos Baranca events, and a UARC session about our updated Research Project Guidelines:

UARC info session: Update Research Project Guidelines

The Research Center is inviting all UA Staff to join the information session on 5 November, 10-11 AM (MC Chapel), about the update of the Research Project Guidelines. The Research Project Procedures apply to all staff across all faculties and institutes of the UA. Join us to learn more about the steps involved in starting or managing a Research Project at the UA!

Reminder: Research Project overview

The Research Center has a project overview for our university, which is accessible to all UA staff. By clicking on this smartsheet link you’ll be guided to the access process using your UA account. Once you have access, please also check if your projects are available in the overview!

If any project is missing, or if you know of a relevant funding call, you can add them yourself to the overview by filling out this form.

By having a complete overview of our research projects we can more clearly see the impact that research is having, and it will also be easier for everyone to reach out to people with expertise on a topic or with a specific funding call!

DCDC Kick-off meeting

The Dutch Caribbean Digital Competence Network (DCDC-Network) invites you to attend the kick-off conference from 10-12 November in Aruba, at the University of Aruba! A more detailed program is available on the website.

With this kick-off, the DCDC-Network hopes to connect researchers, institutions, and professionals across the Dutch Caribbean, from Aruba, Curaçao, and St. Martin to Bonaire, Statia, and Saba, who share a commitment to open data, collaborative research, and building digital capacity in our region. The kick-off meeting will structure what the Network will focus on in the upcoming period. Anyone interested in increasing data skills and open science is very welcome to join us!

Please sign up before 3 November to join (part of) the kick-off conference!

Event: Nos Baranca, Nos Democracia

Join us for an exciting event on 12 November focusing on the importance of our democratic society. This event takes place at the Casibari Rock Formation from 6-9 PM!

Research Highlight: Dr. Jeltzlin Semerel

Dr. Jeltzlin Semerel has successfully defended her thesis on the 27th of October! During her defense, Dr. Semerel outlined in detail all the steps she took during her research, including everything that went wrong - an important part of doing science! Congratulations to Dr. Semerel!

Past UARC event: Writing up your research (not) using GenAI

On the 26 and 29 October the UA Research Community came together to learn more about how to write up your research (not) using GenAI. The sessions were well attended, important discussions about the use of GenAI were held, and we got to practice some writing!

Research Highlight: Brechtje Huiskes & Hannah Meijer

Brechtje Huiskes and Hannah Meijer wrote a contribution to the Liber Amicorum of Herman Bröring titled ‘Klein, kleiner, groots’ on the island-specific and small-scale context concerns of Aruba and its influence on Aruban administrative law in practice. They explore how this context affects the decision-making procedure, the objection procedure, and judicial dispute resolution, which are particularly impacted by the frequently experienced lack of expertise and/or capacity. Their conclusion: think small when designing procedures for the Aruban context, because otherwise you may promise what cannot be delivered!

Research Highlight: Dr. Luc Alofs

Dr. Luc Alofs contributed to a report on “Chinese Presence and Geopolitical Resilience in the Caribbean Parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands”, which you can read on the China Kennis Netwerk website!

You can also attend a book presentation with Dr. Luc Alofs on 3 November at the University of Aruba:

External Events & Trainings

• The Institute for Research Software is organizing another online Research Software Camp from 26 October to 6 November, to improve coding literacy. You can register for individual events via Eventbrite.

• Join Digital Research Academy’s free online workshop, 6 November 2026, 5-6:30 AM, "Building R packages for maintaining data", to explore how R packages can help you document, validate, track, and share data more effectively. Basic R knowledge required.