Facun, Kryss

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Last updated July 8, 2025
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Previously to working for the University of Aruba Kryss was the Research & Development Liaison Manager for the Micro-Algae Project at Refineria di Aruba (RdA), where she did a feasibility study on the possibility of cultivating spirulina and reported her findings. Kryss has attained a Master's degree in Environmental Sciences at the University of Utrecht, where she worked in the laboratory on the susceptibility of Arabidopsis on biotrophic pathogens as well as enzymatic assays on thermophilic fungi at the CBS-KNAW. In addition, she did volunteer work and became part of the staff at RotterZwam, a company that grows grey oyster mushrooms on coffee waste. This engendered her keenness for sustainability.

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Vertical Farming, the practice of cultivating plants on a stacked layer to optimize space
    (2021-06-10) Facun, Kryss
    Vertical Farming, the practice of cultivating plants on a stacked layer to optimize space, is a rising trend being implemented mainly in urban areas to boost local and sustainable food production. Aruba does not fall under a developing state, however due to its size similar constraints with Small Island Developing States (SIDS) regarding the environment, economics and societal structures are the same. Nowadays Aruba has a limited capacity to raise domestic resources and depends on a small number of economic sectors. This makes the island very sensitive to economic shock as we have seen during the recent COVID19 pandemic, so growing vertically and indoors is a great opportunity to become more self-sufficient, and partly independent of agricultural import. This project is a collaboration between the University of Aruba and the University of Leuven (Belgium) and focuses on indoor vertical farming, optimizing growth conditions with respect to climate and light quantity and quality to grow plants in a controlled space. In addition, a specialty crop (strawberries with a short storage life will be grown), this to diverge from local product and to show proof of concept of independence of import. A local crop (comcomber chikito), whose growth conditions meets the short time span and close relative to cucumbers will be investigated. The goal is to translate knowledge on plant physiology and photobiology, to agricultural and innovative vertical farming applications for real-life situations. Eventually providing locally produced fruits and vegetables, which will add to an economically sustainable food production on Aruba.
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    Vertical farming
    (2021-06) Facun, Kryss
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    Sustainable Island Solutions through STEM
    (2021-06) Mijts, Eric; van Veghel, Amber; Acevedo, Diego; Facun, Kryss
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    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.