John, Nigel

Position / Title

Senior Lecturer SISSTEM

Department

SISSTEM (Faculty of Arts and Science)

Email Address

nigel.john@ua.aw

Fields of Specialization

Chemistry

Last updated January 22, 2026

Biography

Nigel John is the senior lecturer for the Bio-Environmental Sciences specialization of the SISSTEM program at the University of Aruba. He is a researcher and a lecturer with over 20 years of working experience in a tertiary level scientific environment. Nigel also holds the teaching certifications of Basic Examination Qualification (BKE) and FAS Assessment Mini-training.

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 21

Open Access
Sustainable Island Futures Symposium VIII
(2025-11-21) John, Nigel; Mijts, Eric; Singh, Simron
A Symposium co-hosted by SISSTEM at the University of Aruba, the Islands section of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), & the Metabolism of Islands (MoI). This year the SIF team will collaborate with the Universiteit Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences as the SIF VIII symposium will join the International Industrial Ecology (IE) day 2025 on November 21, 2025. Small island states are characterized by a strong dependency on external resources to meet their basic needs which highly contributes to the vulnerability of these territories. The approaches to increase resource security and self-reliance in small island states need to be carefully redesigned considering context-specific challenges and opportunities. At the same time, in order to achieve sustainability and build system resilience, holistic approaches need to be favored over narrow agendas. Several research collaborations are ongoing to address these challenges, such as the Sustainable Island Solutions through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (SISSTEM) program at the University of Aruba, and the Metabolism of Islands (MoI) research program. These bring together researchers from a dozen universities that are concerned about sustainable futures for small islands throughout the world. This multidisciplinary symposium aims to bring together emerging scholars to exchange ideas and approaches for a sustainability transformation in small island states and to foster interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration. We invite graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, and post-doctoral researchers to submit abstracts for this online event. Proposals can center on research design, contextualization of methodologies, theoretical frameworks or research outcomes on resource circularity, island metabolism, industrial ecology, sociometabolic research, islandness or on threats and opportunities that hinder or further sustainable development and resilience of small island states. Abstract submission deadline: October 15, 2025 Confirmation of acceptance: October 22, 2025
Open Access
How island researchers navigate the wicked nature of small island research. A conversation continued
(2025-06) Mertens, Anouk; Acevedo, Diego; Arens, Patrick; Becker, Tatiana; Brinklow, Laurie; de Scisciolo, Tobia; Drew, Ryan; Facun, Kryss; Hall, Iain; Halliday, Andrew Mark; John, Nigel; López Márquez, Violeta; McDonald, Anne; Mitchell, Jean; Moncada, Stefano; Noll, Dominik; Richardson, Yolanda; Sultan, Salys; van Veghel, Amber; Werleman, Stephanie; Mijts, Eric
Small islands across the globe face the direct consequences of climate change and alarming biodiversity loss. In this context, islands and islanders are sometimes framed as a “litmus test” or “the ideal laboratory” for experiments to advise larger continental areas on how to address the effects of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Due to the specific island context, islanders are the primary problem solvers in addressing and mitigating these challenges, and finding ways to adapt to them; however, in the first place, to protect their territories, populations, ecosystems, and cultures. It is therefore crucial and urgent to adopt and integrate inter- and transdisciplinary scientific knowledge embedded within the local contexts. Given their leadership role, island-centred research by the local island-based knowledge institutes and researchers is key. Island-centred research should play a pivotal role in generating contextualized knowledge and solutions, whether or not embedded in reciprocal international partnerships with other knowledge institutes. In this presentation, we will dive deeper into the island researchers’ operating space for such island-centred research, based on insights from semi-structured interviews and interactive sessions with island researchers from a wide range of contexts and disciplines. Our data reveal that despite the many challenges of conducting research from within the islands (incl. availability and accessibility of data, or technical and logistic challenges, funding, etc.), island researchers have found an array of ways to overcome these challenges and to produce valuable and impactful results for their societies and the rest of the world. This contribution aims to be a conversation starter amongst island researchers from insular and continental (institutional) contexts to further strengthen productive and equal collaborations in island-centred research.
Open Access
The GreenComp Evaluation Roadmap: a roadmap for in-depth holistic evaluation of the integration of the GreenComp framework in higher-education curricula
(2025-01) Mertens, Anouk; Eppinga, Maarten; Arens, Patrick; de Scisciolo, Tobia; John, Nigel; Sultan, Salys; Buys, Nadine; Mijts, Eric
Purpose The GreenComp framework identifies 12 competences for sustainability as common ground for higher-education curricula. The framework can be used for self-assessment and the review of curricula. However, a step-by-step method to conduct such a self-assessment is not yet available for the GreenComp framework specifically. Therefore, the authors present the GreenComp Evaluation Roadmap allowing to evaluate the extent to which the frameworks’ competences for sustainability are integrated in higher-education curricula. The application of the GreenComp Evaluation Roadmap to a curriculum taught at the University of Aruba, allows to report on the benefits, limitations and future potential of the approach. Design/methodology/approach The proposed mixed-method approach combines hybrid qualitative and quantitative data collection on the integration of the 12 competences for sustainability of the GreenComp framework in higher-education curricula. The authors showcase its potential through application of the GreenComp framework as an evaluation tool to a science, technology, engineering and mathematics-based bachelor program taught at the University of Aruba. Findings The GreenComp Evaluation Roadmap not only allows for an evaluation of the curriculum and identification of competence gaps. It also supports educators to conduct a self-reflection on individual course(s) and the program as a whole. The paper shows promising results that the roadmap developed could be a reproducible approach. Moreover, it provides guidance to other higher education institutes for self-evaluation and self-reflection on how the competences for sustainability are integrated in their curricula and how this can be enhanced in the future. Originality/value The need to integrate sustainability throughout higher-education curricula is broadly recognized. The GreenComp Evaluation Roadmap contributes to the literature by offering a methodological approach to evaluate the integration of the 12 competences for sustainability throughout a curriculum.
Open Access
Sustainable Island Futures VII
(2024-12-11) Acevedo, Diego; Mijts, Eric; John, Nigel; Singh, Simron
A Symposium co-hosted by SISSTEM at the University of Aruba, the Islands section of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), & the Metabolism of Islands (MoI). The theme of this upcoming event is Coastal Interactions/Oceans. Small island states are characterized by a strong dependency on external resources to meet their basic needs which highly contributes to the vulnerability of these territories. The approaches to increase resource security and self-reliance in small island states need to be carefully redesigned considering context-specific challenges and opportunities. At the same time, in order to achieve sustainability and build system resilience, holistic approaches need to be favored over narrow agendas. Several research collaborations are ongoing to address these challenges, such as the Sustainable Island Solutions through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (SISSTEM) program at the University of Aruba, and the Metabolism of Islands (MoI) research program. These bring together researchers from a dozen universities that are concerned about sustainable futures for small islands throughout the world. This multidisciplinary symposium aims to bring together emerging scholars to exchange ideas and approaches for a sustainability transformation in small island states and to foster interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration. We invite graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, and post-doctoral researchers to submit abstracts for this online event. Proposals can center on research design, contextualization of methodologies, theoretical frameworks or research outcomes on resource circularity, island metabolism, industrial ecology, sociometabolic research, islandness or on threats and opportunities that hinder or further sustainable development and resilience of small island states. Abstract submission deadline: October 25, 2024 Confirmation of acceptance: November 11, 2024 Symposium date: December 11, 2024
Metadata only
Sustainable Island Solutions through STEM (SISSTEM) Lessons learnt, and the pathway forward
(11/27/2024) López Márquez, Violeta; Acevedo, Diego; Mijts, Eric; Mertens, Anouk; Sultan, Salys; John, Nigel
In 2019 the EDF-11 funded SISSTEM project started at the University of Aruba, an ambitious project in collaboration with the KU Leuven and with the support of UNDP to develop the facilities and programs for STEM education and research. In July 2024 the project implementation phase of the European funded part of SISSTEM was completed. In this contribution we will share the original intentions and the outcomes of the project, as well as an analysis of the critical success factors that contributed to the implementation of the project. The outcomes include two academic programs (BSc and MSc), a series of ongoing research projects, and a series of conferences and publications that contribute to the development of a critical mass of island researchers that support both local and global sustainability efforts and agendas. Throughout the implementation of the project a series of obstacles were identified, such as the complexities of international project management for small island development (including logistic and technical challenges), intercultural awareness management, expectation management, marketing/image management and the complexities of recruitment of students and academic staff to participate in pioneering programs.
Open Access
Dutch Caribbean Research Week 2024 - Aruba, 27 November
(2024-11-27) Abarkan, Abida; Acevedo, Diego; Bonnevalle-Kok, Ruth; de Droog, Mieke; Grêaux, Kimberly; John, Nigel; López Márquez, Violeta; Meijer, Hannah; Mertens, Anouk; Mijts, Eric; Sultan, Salys
Contributions by University of Aruba researchers to the Dutch Caribbean Research week 2024 (20-27 November). Individual contributions can also be found via: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1213 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1423 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1390 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1425 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1426 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1427 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1323 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1422
Metadata only
Education for Sustainable Development in Small Island States at the University of Aruba: Practice and Evaluation.
(SOE Biennale Revolutionizing Caribbean Education, Cultivating Critical Competencies in a Shifting Landscap. UWI-Mona, 2024-07-10) Mijts, Eric; Acevedo, Diego; de Scisciolo, Tobia; John, Nigel; Mertens, Anouk
This panel will focus on different approaches at the University of Aruba for capacity building for internal resilience of small island states and the way in which the creation of a critical mass of local higher educated experts that can create contextually relevant and locally accepted solutions will highly contribute to the resilience of these states. Building upon three papers that will be presented by the panel participants, we will demonstrate that it is necessary and possible to develop and implement impactful programs for Education for Sustainable Development in Small Island States, going beyond the focus on cognitive skills and knowledge. The panelists will present approaches to education in Aruba that stimulate critical sustainability thinking (the Academic Foundation Year, and the Sustainable Island Solutions through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics programs (SISSTEM)). Second, they will demonstrate how the modules within these programs address and affect sustainability thinking and student attitudes toward sustainability. They will also elaborate on the founding principles and evaluation of these programs utilising the EU GreenComp framework. Altogether, the panel aims to demonstrate that despite the global nature of the challenges we face, contextual embeddedness and recognition of local characteristics and local adoption of sustainability thinking are key to building resilient societies.
Open Access
Sustainable Island Futures VI
(2023-05-10) Singh, Simron; Mijts, Eric; John, Nigel
Sustainable Island Futures, May 10, 2023 A Symposium co-hosted by SISSTEM at the University of Aruba, the Islands section of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), & the Metabolism of Islands (MoI). Small island states are characterized by a strong dependency on external resources to meet their basic needs which highly contributes to the vulnerability of these territories. The approaches to increase resource security and self-reliance in small island states need to be carefully redesigned considering context-specific challenges and opportunities. At the same time, in order to achieve sustainability and build system resilience, holistic approaches need to be favored over narrow agendas. Several research collaborations are ongoing to address these challenges, such as the Sustainable Island Solutions through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (SISSTEM) program at the University of Aruba, and the Metabolism of Islands (MoI) research program. These bring together researchers from a dozen universities that are concerned about sustainable futures for small islands throughout the world. This multidisciplinary symposium aims to bring together emerging scholars to exchange ideas and approaches for a sustainability transformation in small island states and to foster interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration. We invite graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, and post-doctoral researchers to submit abstracts for this online event. Proposals can center on research design, contextualization of methodologies, theoretical frameworks or research outcomes on resource circularity, island metabolism, industrial ecology, socio-metabolic research, islandness or on threats and opportunities that hinder or further sustainable development and resilience of small island states. Abstract submission deadline: April 7, 2023 Confirmation of acceptance: April 16, 2023 Symposium date: Wednesday, May 10, 2023 Organizing Committee: Nigel John, Eric Mijts & Simron Singh
Metadata only
Nutrient content of agricultural soils in SIS: A case study in Aruba
(University of Aruba and Utrecht University, 2023) van den Berg, Steff; Becker, Tatiana; John, Nigel; Mijts, Eric
Open Access
Insights from a sustainability-oriented academic bachelor program in a Caribbean Small Island State: evaluation of SISSTEM using the GreenComp Framework
(International Conference on Sustainable Development 2023, 2023) Mertens, Anouk; Buys, Nadine; Gielen, Georges; de Scisciolo, Tobia; Eppinga, Maarten; John, Nigel; Sultan, Salys; Mijts, Eric