Esther Plomp

Plomp, Esther

Position / Title

Postdoc/Research Developer

Email Address

esther.plomp@ua.aw

ORCID

0000-0003-3625-1357

Last updated May 12, 2026

Biography

Esther is an Open Science enthusiast and enjoys to contribute to a more equitable way of knowledge generation and to facilitate others in working more transparently. Esther started as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Aruba Research Center in January 2025. Here she works on improving the visibility of UA Researchers and their research outputs and provides support with funding opportunities, particularly regarding the data management component. She is also the project lead and local coordinator of the Dutch Caribbean Digital Competence Network since October 2025. Esther also works on several research projects, such as her Software Sustainability Institute Fellowship on facilitating contributions to open source/science communities, with a focus on The Turing Way. She is part of the ECO-Scale project which aims to advance the adoption of large-scale computing infrastructures while strengthening skills in energy-efficient scientific computing across both small and large scales through a collaborative, community-driven approach. Her original research field is Bioarchaeology, with a particular focus on Isotope Archaeology.

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 44

Open Access
Publishing and Archiving
(2026-12-16) Plomp, Esther; Cooper, Natalie; Hsing, Pen-Yuan
Open Access
Institutional Repositories in Small Island States - The Open Knowledge Repository of the University of Aruba
(2026-06-08) Plomp, Esther; Mijts, Eric; Veenendaal, Pauline
Presentation by Esther Plomp for the 21st International Conference on Open Repositories, OR2026 on 8 June 2026 for the Lightning talk session. For Small Island States (SIS), digital preservation is constrained by limited institutional and financial resources, technological infrastructure, and human capacity. This affects accessibility of data and research outputs. This lightning talk discusses the case of the Open Knowledge Repository maintained by the University of Aruba, Aruba. Taking back control of digital preservation of research outputs from University of Aruba staff is a privilege as it allows for dissemination and maintenance of our research outputs, but it is also a costly endeavor due to the small scale of the institute. Compared to countries from the Global North that are well-resourced, such as the Netherlands, the University of Aruba has access to limited staffing and financial resources to maintain the Open Knowledge Repository - despite Aruba falling into the category of a high income country. While the content of the repository is maintained by the University of Aruba, the University still relies on external experts and technical maintenance to keep the repository running. This contribution illustrates the tensions between the desire for local agency over digital preservation, and the realities of sustaining these efforts under precarious conditions even in high income countries - highlighting the uneven costs of digital preservation and the challenges of limited human capacity.
Open Access
UA Research Ethics Committee - kick-off
(2026-05-04) Plomp, Esther; Veenendaal, Pauline; Semerel, Jeltzlin; Ganga, Navin; Alofs, Luc; Taylor, Don; Luk, Ngo Chun; Laclé, Francis
Open Access
Different pathways for paid and volunteer contributors to The Turing Way?
(2026-04-28) Plomp, Esther
This lightning talk will give a short update about a research study on the experiences of volunteer and paid contributors to The Turing Way community - exploring what 'being paid' entails for The Turing Way community members, and how (financial) compensation may influence the community dynamics. The talk will highlight the stage 1 registered report submission and may ask for input on the survey/interview questions (if the registered report is still in review and the input can be incorporated still).
Open Access
Action Plan Towards FAIR Implementation in the Dutch Social Sciences and Humanities
(2026-04-17) Maineri, Angelica Maria; Lushaj, Borana; Pociūnaitė-Ott, Justina; Touber, Jetze; van Horik, René; Unshur, Ahmed; Brandsen, Alex; Valdestilhas, Andre; Volkova, Anna; Nivorlis, Aristeidis; Huizing, Bert; Hernandez Esponda, Claudia; Jansen, Dafne; Costantini, Edoardo; Barabas, Emily; Plomp, Esther; Fricke, Hanna Lotte Anneliese; Oberman, Hanne Ida; van Hooijdonk, Imelda; van Gorkum, Ingrid; Flores-Dourojeanni, Jacques; Huijgen, Juliette; Eskevich, Maria; Imming, Melanie; Penelope, Bollini; Braukmann, Ricarda; Siebes, Ronald; Wang, Shuai; Einarson, Stefan; Oliekan, Ted
Over the past years, many research infrastructures, research performing organisations (RPOs), and funders have expressed their commitment to the FAIR principles. - i.e., ensuring that digital research objects (such as data, software, training materials) are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Yet, implementing the FAIR principles remains a significant challenge across the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) in the Netherlands, leaving a gap between the ambitions as outlined in policies and guidelines, and actual practices. This is due to a combination of technical/infrastructural constraints (for example, unavailability of semantic resources for meaningful data annotation for interoperability) and organisational aspects (such as insufficient recognition for time investment into making data FAIR, lack of a clear organisational structure that sustains FAIR data generation). The Action Plan towards FAIR Implementation in the SSH addresses these challenges with a focus on the practical realities. Its purpose is twofold: first, to provide a clear overview of the key bottlenecks that stand in the way of effective FAIR implementation. Second, to propose concrete and actionable steps that stakeholders can take to move forward and reduce the gap between FAIR ambitions and practices. While many reports and roadmaps already exist, this Action Plan is unique in its focus on the practical realities of those working with RDM and FAIR in the SSH: the data stewards, repository managers, infrastructure providers, researchers, and policy officers who navigate the FAIR data principles in their daily work.
Open Access
Open Research & IPA
(2026-03-16) Plomp, Esther
Metadata only
Publishing Open Research Using Physical Samples: Guidance for Authors
(Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), 2026-03-03) Damerow, Joan; Raia, Natalie; Stanley, Valerie; Byers, Neil; Choe, Saebyul; Edmunds, Rorie; Kunze, John; Lehnert, Kerstin; McIntyre-Redden, Marcella; Mungall, Christopher; O'Ryan, Dylan; Parker, Charles; Plomp, Esther; Richard, Stephen; Vieglais, Dave; Wood-Charlson, Elisha; Thomer, Andrea; Ramdeen, Sarah; ESIP Physical Sample Curation Cluster; van Donselaar, Bart
Open Access
Supervising at the UA
(University of Aruba Research Center, 2026-01-15) Ascanio, Adamiris; Alofs, Luc; Plomp, Esther; Mijts, Eric; Ganga, Navin
Metadata only
Peer Review 1 of Recognition of the contribution of research support staff to the production of research data in the CONICET open data repository
(2026-01-06) Plomp, Esther; van den Akker, Olmo
The registered study is of great interest, as it is important that all research contributions are taken into account in the research ecosystem. It looks like this study wants to evaluate whether a specific platform (CONICET-Argentina) is inclusive of (meta)data generated by Research Support Staff. Based on the specific objectives and research questions listed in the preregistration, I can’t conclude whether this is indeed the main objective. There are some inconsistencies where some of the objectives seem to focus on whether data shared on this platform would increase the integrity of the research data produced by Research Support Staff, whereas the second set of objectives/questions already seem to agree that this is indeed the case, and that therefore we need to increase the use of the platform and provide training and target barriers in using the platform. Based on the description of the work it seems that this last component is the focus of the study – and therefore I would rephrase some of the objectives and the main objectives to reflect this. The data collection and analysis parts of the study could do with some more details – right now it is difficult for me to assess whether this approach will indeed answer the research questions of the study.
Open Access
Eligible for funding ≠ inclusive funding
(2025-11-21) Plomp, Esther
Many small island states are eligible for research funding from external funding agencies (such as programmes like Horizon Europe (EU) or calls from the Dutch Research Council (NL) for the Dutch Caribbean). These external funding options provide potential opportunities for small island states to increase capacity to conduct research or boost nature/biodiversity preservation efforts. Unfortunately, the many options existing in this funding landscape are complicated to navigate and once an opportunity is identified it may be difficult to assess whether your institute is eligible for funding. There are also often additional or hidden requirements, which may have a detrimental impact for small island state institutes (bureaucratic administration, extensive reporting and accountability, non-eligible bank transaction costs, as well as required co-funding or in-kind contributions from institutes with already limited resources and capacity). Furthermore, even if small island institutes manage to navigate the funding landscape successfully and submit a proposal – additional hurdles will have to be faced in the process. Reviewers and other people involved behind the screens of these funding programmes are often not familiar with small island state contexts, imposing Global North standards upon the proposed (research) projects - which decreases the chances of success for small island state actors. This contribution will focus on the challenges faced by people from small island states interested in applying for external funding programmes. Tips will be shared on how to navigate the funding landscape hurdles, preventing the waste of valuable resources and providing insights in managing these inequitable systems.