Past Activities

BCoN emerged from a five-year Research Coordination Network grant (DBI # 1441785) funded in 2014 by the National Science Foundation.

BCoN worked with and sought community input through a number of different mechanisms.  The project established a series of Working Groups to evaluate specific issues and develop recommendations for further actions.  Information about each of these working groups and their products can be found below.

Informed by the workshops and stakeholder discussions supported by this project, BCoN released the Extended Specimen Network (ESN) report in 2019. The report proposed a national agenda to leverage digital data in biodiversity collections for new uses.


BCoN Next Generation Research Working Group

The Next Generation Research Working Group will consider the opportunities, needs, and limitations to next generation research uses of digitized specimens and their associated data.

Learn more about the committee.

BCoN Collections Communications Working Group

The Collections Communications Working Group was formed to continue to develop and, as appropriate, work to implement the recommendations outlined in the report from the fall 2015 Collections Communication Workshop. Read the report.

Learn more about the committee.

Data Attribution and Integration

BCoN convened a two-day workshop at the University of Kansas on February 13-14, 2018, to explore the obstacles to data attribution and integration. The workshop, organized by Andrew Bentley, will publish a summary report which includes key recommendations for action arising from the meeting. Below, is a link to access the workshop agenda, list of participants, and presentations.

Learn more about the workshop. 

Addressing Legal Issues Involved in Digitized Collections: The Nagoya Protocol as a Test Case

BCoN organized a workshop held at Harvard University in March 2018 to address legal concerns associated with digitized collections and mitigating these issues using digital means.  Below, is a link to access the workshop agenda, abstracts, and discussion results.

Learn more about the workshop.