THE BOTTOM – The Caribbean Research programme of the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is developing a knowledge agenda with residents of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. This knowledge agenda maps out where the most pressing societal questions lie and how scientific research can contribute to answers to them. In June and July 2024, the NWO will organise public meetings in the six islands to check whether the content is recognised. Monday the 8^th to Friday the 12^th of July there will be meetings on Saba.

A ‘community conversation’ will take place on Tuesday the 9^th of July at the Queen Wilhelmina Library, Carmen Simmons Culture Complex. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. and will end at 9:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to join the conversation. During the meeting, the team will identify which topic or topics are of high interest. NWO will then organise a follow-up discussion on Wednesday the 10^th of July at the Eugenius Johnson Center on Windwardside from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. You will receive more information about this during the meeting on Tuesday. 

On the other days, shorter meetings will be held with interested stakeholders. These may be individuals, representatives of organisations, or a number of organisations together. If you are interested in such a meeting, please contact us at caribbean@nwo.nl. During the visit to Saba there will also be meetings with researchers. These meetings will focus on the conditions that enable conducting research.

Dutch Caribbean Research Week

The knowledge agenda was drawn up on the basis of extensive surveys of residents and researchers of the six islands on social issues in 2019 and 2021. Following the ‘community conversations’ and other discussions in June and July, the revised knowledge agenda will be drawn up. The communities of the six islands are invited to participate in the sessions in order to decide for themselves what will be included in the knowledge agenda. NWO also wants to know how the Caribbean communities see a role for themselves in the development or implementation of scientific research. The final knowledge agenda will be presented during the Dutch Caribbean Research Week in November 2024. After that, NWO is keen to work with Caribbean communities to enable new research based on the knowledge agenda.

The team that will conduct the interviews on Saba consists of Edrieënna Brandao, Lysanne Charles, Danick Trouwloon, Elton Villarreal and, on behalf of NWO, Dr Arnold Lubbers, coordinator of the Caribbean Research programme. If you are interested in an interview, please contact us at caribbean@nwo.nl