Scientific research in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom

Introduction

In 2010, the constitutional relationship between the Netherlands and the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius, that belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, changed. Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba became special municipalities. Curaçao and Sint Maarten became separate countries, as Aruba had already become. This means that the Dutch government is responsible for higher education and science policy on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (BES islands), while Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten (CASt islands) develop their own policies. In 2020, the six islands that make up the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands had 328,579 inhabitants (CBS and World Bank).

The Dutch coalition agreement published in December 2021 states that the Netherlands will continue its efforts to sustainably strengthen the economy and education together with the CASt islands. For instance, organisations from the Caribbean part of the kingdom will be able to access the National Growth Fund. Ever since the new administrative relations, the Dutch government has paid attention to strengthening the knowledge ecosystem on all six islands. To this end, in 2012 the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science started the programme Caribbean Research: a Multidisciplinary Approach (hereafter: Caribbean Research Programme). This programme, implemented by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), has now made 14 million euros of research funds available, divided over three calls. In addition, more than 250,000 euros was  made available to support local organisations in writing applications. The research financed with these funds must help in various ways to strengthen the knowledge ecosystem in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. To this end, the Caribbean Netherlands Science Institute (CNSI) was established in 2013. Half a million euros is available annually for this centre on St. Eustatius. ZonMw has allocated 1.2 million euros to projects taking place on one of the islands between 2012 and 2021.

Since the most recent subsidy round of the Caribbean Research Programme ends in 2022, the question is how we can shape and strengthen the knowledge ecosystem in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom even further. Commissioned by the Ministry of OCW, Wiebe Bijker and Jorien Wuite explored how the CNSI could contribute to this (DUCARP report, 2021). The Ministry of OCW asked the Rathenau Instituut to map out the available information on the role of research in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. We do so in this fact sheet. To this end, we used data from projects of NWO, ZonMw and the European framework programme Horizon 2020, the report of Bijker and Wuite and additional desk research.

This fact sheet begins with information on research taking place on the six islands of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Then we look at how much research is being funded on the islands by the Netherlands and the European Union and what subjects are covered. Finally, we show with whom organisations from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom cooperate.

Research on the six islands

To get an idea of the organisation of research in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, we look at the research institutions that are active there. To get an idea of the research taking place on the islands, we look at the number of publications in Web of Science and the resources the governments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten make available to higher education.

Research institutions from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom

We have identified 45 organisations on the six islands that conduct their own research and/or offer higher education (based on: Bijker and Wuite, 2021; Web of Science; NWO and desk research). This relatively large number mainly reflects the scale of this study. The Caribbean part of the Kingdom is comparable in population to the municipality of Utrecht. This makes it possible to include in this overview organisations that we would not name in an overview of the whole of the Netherlands because of their small role, such as managers of national parks. The organisations are relatively small. For example, the University of Aruba has 682 students (2021). Sizewise, this is comparable to the University of Humanistic Studies (572 students), but they offer a broader range of study programmes. The list of organisations can be found here, but may not be exhaustive. Like Bijker and Wuite, we have divided these organisations into six categories.

• Universities and institutes of higher education. Higher education in the Caribbean part of the kingdom is organised differently from that in the Netherlands. There are four publicly funded higher education institutions: the universities of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano. They focus mainly on education and the universities offer both professional and scientific bachelor programmes. Research plays a secondary role. There are also four higher education institutions on Curaçao that do not receive funding from the government.
• American Medical Schools. There are seven of these commercial training institutions that offer university medical training according to the American model.
• Research institutes and highly research-oriented organisations. There are eight research organisations that focus mainly on health and nature conservation plus four smaller archaeological institutes.
• Organisations that need knowledge, and sometimes contribute to research. There are twelve organisations like this, most of which aim to manage natural parks or protect cultural heritage.
• Hospitals. Three hospitals are regularly involved in research.
• Research facilities located in the Caribbean part of the kingdom. There are three research facilities established by or in cooperation with Dutch and European institutions plus one planned research facility.

In addition, there is an unknown number of independent researchers who, according to Bijker and Wuite (2021), play an important role.

The overview of the institutions in the appendix shows that the higher education institutions and the American medical schools are mainly located on Aruba and Curaçao. Only one institution of higher education, a medical school, is located on one of the BES islands (Saba).

Diaspora

Many young professionals who grew up on one of the islands now find themselves outside the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, such as in the Netherlands or the United States (Bijker and Wuite, 2021). To let their knowledge flow back to the islands, or to support them during their stay elsewhere, several organisations have been established. We mention them here because this diaspora can also contribute to strengthening research on the islands (Bijker and Wuite, 2021 and desk research).

• Caribbean Research Acquisition Forum (CARAF). This is an online platform that aims to bring together and inform researchers born in, or doing research on, the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
• WeConnect. This is an organisation that promotes the education and talent development of Dutch Caribbean youth on the islands and in the Netherlands.
• Asosiashon Mediko di Antias (AMA). This is a network of (bio)medics with a Dutch Caribbean background.
• Dutch Caribbean Students Association (DCA). This recent initiative aims to form a bridge between the Netherlands and Dutch Caribbean students.

Scientific publications of Dutch Caribbean institutions

Now that we have a picture of how research is organised on the islands, we can look at how much research is taking place. An indicator for this is the number of scientific publications. In the period 2012-2021, 464 scientific publications are registered in Web of Science with at least one author who is connected to an institute on one of the islands. The figures below give an overview of the number of publications per year and of the institutes with more than five publications in Web of Science over the past ten years.

The number of publications with at least one author working at a Dutch Caribbean institution has increased significantly over the past decade. The American medical schools play an important role in this respect. Six of them belong to the ten institutions with more than five publications. Two hospitals, the Curaçao Medical Centre and the Dr. Horacio e Oduber Hospital (Aruba), are also in the top 10. This is also reflected in the subjects of the publications. Of the ten most common subjects (more than ten publications), eight are medical. The other two are multidisciplinary sciences and marine freshwater biology. The three publicly funded universities together have 33 publications in Web of Science.

Because not all publications are included in Web of Science, the total number of publications is difficult to determine. For an indication, we can look at the University of Aruba, which registered 52 publications in 2021 (Annual Report 2021). Seven of these are articles in scientific journals, but only three are found in Web of Science. In addition, there were 10 book chapters, 21 notes on court decisions, 4'minutes and reports', 3 dissertations and 3 other publications. Next to these, 23 conferences and presentations were held and 34 research projects and publications are ongoing. This shows that the volume of research and its outputs is larger than an overview of the Web of Science publications suggests. We could not find comparable information from the other institutions of higher education and research institutes.

Local public research funding

A second way to gain insight into the extent of scientific research on the six islands is by looking at the available funding. However, it is difficult to get a good picture of the funds these organisations have available for research, because there is hardly any information about this.

The table below shows what income the three publicly funded universities received from their governments in 2020. This income is meant for both education and research. In addition, the universities and research institutes also receive project funding from, among others, the Netherlands, for example through NWO. This is mapped out in the next section of this fact sheet.

Revenue publicly funded universities

How does this compare with the Netherlands? For Curaçao and St. Maarten, we can compare the relative size of public spending on higher education with the Netherlands. The share of university education and research in total education expenditure is substantially higher in the Netherlands, at 15% of the budget (national budget 2021), than in Curaçao and Sint Maarten, at 5% and 3% respectively.

We cannot make this comparison for the University of Aruba. We can, however, set funding against the number of students. When we do so, we see that this university received approximately 7,900 euros per student in 2021. This is comparable to the Dutch universities of applied sciences, which receive almost 7,000 euros per student. They spend 6.3% of their funds (including competitive grants and project funding) on research. The Dutch universities received double that amount: 14,000 euros per student. They spend a much higher proportion of this, 60% in 2019, on research.

This implies that these three publicly funded universities have relatively few resources for scientific research at their disposal compared to Dutch universities. This is in line with the conclusion of Bijker and Wuite (2021). There also appears to be little policy focus on scientific research in these countries. In the coalition agreements of Curaçao (2017-2020), Aruba (2017-2020) and Sint Maarten (2020-2024), higher education is an important point of attention, but scientific research is hardly discussed. Only the coalition agreement of Curaçao mentions scientific research as one of the focus areas of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport. The governments of Curaçao and Aruba are also committed to increasing the share of higher educated people in the population.

Support from the Netherlands and the European Union

The Netherlands and the European Union also invest resources in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom to strengthen research and the related knowledge ecosystem. For instance, NWO, commissioned by the Dutch government, stimulates research into and on the six islands through the Caribbean Research programme. This research must contribute in various ways to strengthening the knowledge ecosystem on the islands (NWO, calls for proposals programme Caribbean Research 2013, 2016 and 2019). The goals are:

• strengthening the knowledge network on the islands themselves;
• increasing knowledge of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom;
• Sstrengthening the cooperation between Caribbean organisations and Dutch research institutions;
• increasing the research capacity in the region; and
• realising social impact within the region.

Applicants have been required to work with an organisation from the Caribbean part of the kingdom since 2016. From 2019 publicly funded organisations from the six islands may also submit applications to NWO themselves. This is not the case at ZonMw. Institutions on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba have been able to apply for ZonMw subsidies since 2010. Organisations from Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten cannot do this, unless a grant programme is explicitly opened up for them.

The European Union also has resources available for the economic development of the islands through various funds, which can also be used for research and innovation.

Funding by NWO and ZonMw for Caribbean research

Since 2012 NWO and ZonMw have funded 58 projects with a substantive link to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. 53 of these projects produce specific knowledge about the islands. In the remaining five projects the Caribbean part of the Kingdom is part of a study into a broader phenomenon, such as migration flows in the Caribbean or a better understanding of weather phenomena.

15 of these projects were financed by ZonMw, 43 by NWO. The Caribbean Research Programme played an important role in this: 20 of the 43 NWO projects originated from the three calls of this programme. These twenty projects together received a budget of fourteen million euros. The projects funded by ZonMw are generally smaller: the fifteen projects received a total of 1.2 million euros. 

Research in the Caribbean funded by the Netherlands has increased. Between 2000 and 2011 only six NWO-funded research projects had a substantive link with the Dutch Caribbean islands. The figure below shows how many NWO and ZonMw-funded projects foresee output and impact for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.

Most projects are partly or fully implemented on the islands. The extent to which research takes place on the islands differs per project. Many ZonMw projects are concerned with interventions by local organizations for mental and public health. These take place entirely on the islands. The other projects are often carried out by or in collaboration with Dutch organisations. Often, a part of these projectstakes place in the Netherlands.

Impact

33 of the NWO and ZonMw projects we identified foresee a specific impact within the Caribbean part of the kingdom. For example, the development of manuals based on projects’ insights, new economic opportunities, and healthier coral reefs. It is possible that the actual number of projects with social impact within the Caribbean part of the Kingdom is somewhat higher, because that impact is not always mentioned in the summary of the application.

The requirement that projects contribute to the knowledge network and research capacity on the six islands, which was added to the Caribbean Research programme in 2016, has clearly increased the focus on impact. Collaboration with an organisation on the islands has brecome mandatory and projects must also realise some form of social impact. The share of the started projects that mention a form of local social impact in the application summary rises from 31% in the period 2012-2015 to 68% from 2016 onwards. This includes all ZonMw projects.

Caribbean research and the European Union

Because they have a constitutional link with the Netherlands, the six Dutch Caribbean islands are associated with the EU as so-called Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs). Through this status as OCTs, the European Union wants to promote the economic and social development of these territories and strengthen their relationship with the EU. As an OCT, the six islands are eligible for research funding from different sources.

Firstly, they receive funds from the European Development Fund (EDF). Part of the budget from this European fund for development cooperation is reserved for the OCTs. In addition, they can participate in the European framework programmes for research and innovation. They can also use these funds to strengthen their knowledge ecosystem. Various services have been set up on the islands to increase the visibility and understanding of the EU, such as the Europe House on Aruba, Europe Direct Curaçao and the EU Desk Curaçao. They provide, for example, educational materials about the European Union, information about European programmes which the islands can take advantage of, and support in applying for and managing projects.

European development fund

The EDF funds are intended for the further development of the OCTs. 30.5 billion euros was available in this programme between 2014 and 2020, of which 364.5 million euros went to the 16 OCTs. 229 million euros of this was allocated directly, bilaterally, to individual territories. For the period 2021-2027, the EDF has 500 million euros available for the OCTs. The table below shows how much of these bilateral funds have gone to the six islands between 2014 and 2020 and in which sector they have been invested.

Investments EDF (2014-2021)

In Aruba, the funding was used within the Sustainable Island Solutions through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (SISSTEM) project. This programme contributes to the sustainable development of Aruba by stimulating science and technology research and education. A bachelor and master programme in sustainable development has been established and twelve PhD students have started (University of Aruba, Annual Report 2020).

The six islands have also benefited from other initiatives aimed at the OCTs in the past. For example, the AlgaePARC Bonaire was funded by the Overseas Countries and Territories Association of the EU (OCTA). Aruba, Saba and Sint Eustatius have received funding from the BEST 2.0 programme, which focuses on research on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the OCTs. 

Horizon 2020

Organisations from the Caribbean part of the kingdom can participate in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe under the same conditions as organisations based within the borders of the European Union. For the Dutch Caribbean islands we find one participation in H2020. This is relatively low, as the table below shows. It compares the project participations of the six islands of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom with those of the other OCTs and the nearby French Antilles: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy. These, with the exception of Saint-Barthélemy, are linked to the EU as outermost regions (ORs). As an OR, they have a stronger link to the EU because they are part of the single market (see box above for explanation).

Participation of OCTs and ORs in H2020

The table above shows that the number of participations varies greatly between the different territories. Within the French overseas territories and Greenland, organisations seem to find their way towards H2020 more often - although this is also limited to a few organisations. Participating partners include universities and research institutes as well as public organisations, such as chambers of commerce or regional governments. Some projects involving these organisations are specifically aimed at strengthening research in these regions. There may be opportunities here in the future to further stimulate research within the Caribbean part of the Kingdom through Horizon Europe.

European research into the Caribbean

Through H2020, research is also being done into the Caribbean. There are at least 30 projects with a focus on aspects of the Caribbean, which together have received 75.7 million euros. These are not only about the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, but about the entire Caribbean region. Twelve projects even focus entirely on parts of the Caribbean outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Four projects focus entirely or partially on the Dutch Caribbean islands. More information on the distribution of Caribbean research across the various pillars of H2020 can be found in the drop-down menu.

Research topics

What types of research questions are answered in research into the Caribbean part of the Kingdom? We saw earlier that many research institutes are active in the fields of health and nature conservation. These are also important themes in the publications in Web of Science. Looking at the subjects covered by research projects funded by NWO, ZonMw and the EU, a third theme can be added: Dutch Caribbean identity and its creation.

The first figure below shows which topics are covered in the 58 NWO and ZonMw projects. The second figure below does the same for the projects that were financed from H2020.

The topics covered in the research of NWO and ZonMw show a strong focus on nature conservation and climate change, with 19 (sub)projects dedicated to these issues. The research in the former category focuses strongly on coral reef conservation and dealing with invasive species, on land and at sea. Climate change research focuses mainly on the effects of increased sea levels and other weather extremes associated with the sea.

In addition, there is a lot of attention for the Dutch Caribbean identity and cultural heritage (13 projects). This is not only reflected in projects that investigate cultural heritage and the formation of national identity. Projects on history and governance also focus on how developments such as colonial history and migration to and from the islands have influenced identity formation on the islands.

The projects funded by ZonMw focus mainly on promoting healthy lifestyles and dealing better with mental health problems. Two projects look at the social and economic consequences of the coronapandemic. The projects within the themes public health and crime focus mainly on youth.

The 30 projects funded by H2020 cover the entire Caribbean region. The topics here differ slightly from those at NWO and ZonMw. It is striking that the themes of nature conservation and climate change are absent from the H2020 projects on the Caribbean. We do see attention for history. The projects mainly deal with the effects of colonial history and the trade and migration flows that originated from it. Although two projects deal with ethnicity, the attention to identity that we saw in the NWO is less pronounced here. Three of the four projects that also deal explicitly with the six islands of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom focus on researching historical trade flows and their effects. Seven European projects have no specific topic, but focus on supporting SMEs or promoting international cooperation, for example in the area of R&D.

Collaboration

This section shows who the most important cooperation partners are of higher education and research institutions from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. It concerns partners in NWO projects and publications from Web of Science.

Collaboration in NWO-funded projects

Dutch Caribbean organisations have been co-applicants for ten projects since 2012. Only since 2019 are they allowed to serve as main applicant. Nine of these projects have a substantive link to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, and are part of the Caribbean Research programme. In the period between 2012 and 2021, 190 valid applications were submitted with a substantive link to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Of these, 33 had a Dutch-Caribbean co-applicant (17%). Of the projects awarded funding, 63% have a partner from one of the islands. This is almost always the case for projects after 2015 (93%) (NWO database and additional desk research). In reality this figure may be even higher: not all projects have an extensive webpage and the project summaries may not name all partners.

The figure below gives an overview of the partners on the islands who are mentioned in the NWO project database. The University of Curacao is most often involved, in both applications (17) and projects (4). All but three of the partners in this overview are publicly funded organisations.

The Dutch Caribbean organisations collaborate most with Dutch universities in NWO applications and projects, as the figure below shows. All thirteen major universities are involved in one or more applications or projects.

Collaboration in ZonMw-funded projects

The fifteen ZonMw projects are almost exclusively health and lifestyle interventions implemented by local organisations to strengthen the health and mental resilience of the population. Caribbean organisations are always (co-)applicant. Dutch organisations are only involved in three of the ZonMw projects, two universities and one institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The graph below shows the project participations of the different Caribbean organisations.

Cooperation on scientific publications

The table below shows that in addition to Dutch universities, several North American universities are important partners in Web of Science publications. In addition, the St. James School of Medicine, located on the Caribbean islands of Anguilla and St. Vincent, stands out. Until 2015, this school also had a branch on Bonaire.

This fact sheet shows that attention to research on and into the Caribbean part of the Kingdom has grown since 2012. The Caribbean Research programme, implemented by NWO, has played an important role in this. (Public) health, nature conservation and the Dutch Caribbean identity are common research themes. Prompted by the changed conditions of the Caribbean Research programme, the focus on impact and cooperation with local organisations increased. At the same time, for the Caribbean there are still new opportunities to be explored within the European Framework Programmes. Although they have regularly used European Union funds for research in overseas regions connected to the EU in recent years, they have made less use of opportunities within H2020 than other overseas regions. Our analysis shows that these resources can also be used to strengthen the knowledge ecosystem.