Natural History Collections and Their Role as Scientific Infrastructures in Biodiversity Research Natural History Collections & Systematics

After decades of relative neglect, natural history collections are increasingly recognized as essential scientific infrastructures for biodiversity research. Interest from the scientific community, industry, and the wider public has grown significantly, as these collections provide critical evidence and long-term data needed to address major societal challenges — from emerging infectious diseases and climate change to social inclusion, creative industries, tourism, and scientific literacy.
This presentation will highlight key international initiatives that are reshaping the role and accessibility of natural science collections, with particular emphasis on the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo). DiSSCo represents a new world-class Research Infrastructure designed to digitally unify Europe’s natural science assets into a single, interoperable collection. By promoting shared standards for access, curation, policies, and practices across countries, and by ensuring compliance with FAIR data principles, DiSSCo aims to transform dispersed collections into an integrated, accessible, and sustainable knowledge base for biodiversity science and innovation.

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*To access the meeting in the app without using the link, use the meeting ID  362 787 273 376 31 and access code Td94cm6P