Representatives from the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) and the U.S. Culture Collection Network (USCCN), in partnership with AIBS and the Natural Science Collections Alliance, held a webinar on February 7 on the need for a Specimen Management Plan requirement in research proposals that generate living or preserved specimens. Recommended by the National Academies’ report on […]
Author: Jyotsna Pandey
BCoN Urges Inclusion of Collections Support in Conferenced Competitiveness Legislation
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) — the founding members of the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) — have sent a letter in support of collections to congressional leadership and members of the conference committee working to reconcile the […]
Science Groups Underscore the Value of Collections to Human Health in Comments about ARPA-H
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) — the founding members of the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) — have submitted comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) on […]
An Open Letter to Groups Submitting Proposals for the NSF Open Environmental Data Center
Dear Colleague, This serves as an open letter to any and all groups that are in the process of submitting a proposal for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for the Advancement and Synthesis of Open Environmental Data (Center) from the Biodiversity Collections Network. We are writing to offer our expertise and connections with the […]
Viewpoint: Implementing a Community Vision for the Future of Biodiversity Collections
A new Viewpoint article in BioScience, authored by members of the BCoN Advisory Council and representatives from the Academies’ panel on biological collections, discusses the necessary steps for the biodiversity collections community to position itself as an important catalyst of research. Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the crucial role played by biodiversity […]
Science Groups Write to Lawmakers about the Importance of Mobilizing Biodiversity Specimens, Data
On March 1, 2021, the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) – the founding members of the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN), wrote to the House Science Committee about the importance of mobilizing biodiversity specimens and data in spurring new […]
Global Consultation on Converging Digital and Extended Specimens
Over the past year there have been several exciting conversations about the possibilities of digital representations of the billions of specimens currently held in the world’s natural history collections. Two concepts—the Digital Specimen proposed by the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) in Europe and the Extended Specimen emerging from the Biological Collections Network (BCoN) in the United States—are now aligning towards a shared vision that […]
Webinar: Forward-Thinking Discussion on Biological Collections
Date: January 14, 2021 Time: 2:00-4:00 pm Eastern Time (includes a 15 minute break) Location: Online via Zoom Watch a recording of this webinar. We invite the Biological Collections community at-large to join the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) […]
2nd Natural History Collections and COVID-19 Survey: Operational Status, Economic Impacts and Plans for Reopening
In April, the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) conducted a survey of the natural history collections/museum community to understand how COVID-19 related economic disruptions are affecting the work of professionals associated with such collections. We shared the results with the scientific community, including federal program managers and policymakers, in May 2020. This second survey follows up […]
Natural History Collections and COVID-19: Operational Status, Economic Impacts, and Plans for Re-Opening
The Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) is working to help the scientific and natural history collections/museum community understand how COVID-19 related economic disruptions are affecting research, education, specimen and data management and care, institutional administration, and other factors. We recently shared the results of a community survey of collections professionals. We continue to track impacts to […]