Since last year, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) has received an annual structural amount of €2,500,000 from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) for scientific and scholarly research in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, have been receiving NWO support for 10 years through various funding programmes of the Caribbean Research programme, contributing to a solid base for scientific and scholarly research in this region, but this has now become structural.
Sustainable scientific and scholarly research from the region
The budget is intended to increase scientific and scholarly knowledge and to deploy it for sustainable development on the six islands in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The funds are used to fund scientific and scholarly research and to support Caribbean Dutch scientists and scholars.
Knowledge agenda with research themes
The Caribbean Research programme is developing a knowledge agenda that is used as a substantive guide for future thematic funding programmes. Based on extensive surveys among residents and researchers of the six countries/islands on social issues, a knowledge agenda with research themes was drawn up. The draft knowledge agenda is presented during consultation rounds on the islands in June 2024 to check whether the content is being recognised. The final knowledge agenda is then revealed in October 2024 during the Dutch Caribbean Research Week.
Establishment of Caribbean Research Platform (CaRP)
In addition, the Caribbean Research Platform (CaRP) is about to be launched, with offices on all six islands. This platform is established by NWO to play a supportive role for everyone involved in scientific and scholarly research, including knowledge institutions, independent researchers, social organisations, local governments, and other relevant parties in order to further promote scientific and scholarly capacity and research. CaRP starts recruiting employees in 2024. They are going to assist in the preparation of research proposals, finding sources of funding, and stimulating knowledge exchange between researchers, society, companies, educational institutions, and governments.
Through this structural funding and the establishment of a regional networking platform, in close collaboration with Caribbean researchers, organisations, and governments, NWO is contributing to the sustainable growth of scientific and scholarly research in the region.