Royal Museum for Central Africa The Museum aspires to be a world centre of research and knowledge dissemination on past and present societies and natural environments of Africa, and in particular Central Africa.

RMCA’ s mission is to foster among the public at large and the scientific community: - understanding of and interest in this fascinating area - through partnerships, to contribute substantially to its sustainable development. The core endeavors of our Africa-oriented institution consist of : -acquiring and managing collections, -conducting scientific research, -implementing the results of this research, -disseminating knowledge, -and mounting selected exhibitions of its collections. Mission and Scope

Some Facts ! Not just a Museum ! But also - a Research Institute, - a Library, - an Education Center, … Human SciencesLife SciencesEarth SciencesOthers - Archaeology - Ethnography - Colonial History - Contemporary History - Social Anthropology - Linguistics - Ethnomusicology - Vertebrates - Entomology - Invertebrates non- insects - Wood Biology - Molecular Biology - Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy - General Geology - Cartography - Geochemistry - Isotope Geology - Geomorphology - Library - Collection Management - Publications - Education - Communication - Museology - ICT ….

Some Figures ! (2010) staff members ( 114 scientists) - Exhibitions : visitors - Education and Culture : participants - In the Media : 1000 press releases and TV/Radio Shows

News from the renovation

Work is expected to begin in the autumn of 2012, with completion planned for the end of The renovated museum will then re- open its doors in May Public Part of the Museum should close end of 2013 ….

10,000,000 animal specimens 6,000,000 insects 800,000 fish 400,000 19th century photos of Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo 650 films about DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi from 1940 to ,000 Rock samples 180,000 ethnographic objects 60,000 specimens of woody plants (worldwide) 40,000 aerial photographs 20,000 geological maps 16,000 minerals 8,000 musical instruments 4,000 works of art 2 km of historical archives (including over 10,000 letters and photographs, 88 diaries and notes of -among others- Stanley) Unique and priceless heritage !

Les 3 plus grandes collections en Sciences naturelles de Belgique : Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles (Bruxelles) Jardin Botanique National (Meise) Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale (Tervuren) 60 millions de spécimens botaniques, zoologiques et paléontologiques Moins de 40 gestionnaires !

CETAF : Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities ( about 40 institutions, ( 3 billions of objects) AISBL under Belgian Law

Biodiversity Information and cybertaxonomy Service Patricia Mergen, Franck Theeten, Boris Jacob, Larissa Smirnova, Kim Jacobsen, James Davy, Collaboration avec: Garin Cael, Danny Meirte, Aurore Mathys ….

Activities of the cybertaxonomy Specialized IT support -Hosting of websites and portals -GIS and other webservices -Collection management database systems -Digitalization Organization of trainings, workshops, Summer Schools Support in project management -Identification of funding sources -Support at proposal stage -Support in management of the project -Tasks in the project that fall under our scope -Contract point for the European Commission for the museum (LEAR) Representation of the Museum -Experts groups at national and international level -Presentation of the museum at its activities -Fund raising activities

Global Compositae Checklist (hosted in New Zeeland) wp5/geo/mapviewer/edit.html

Module NA3: Information Networks (digitization, IT and related activities for database and collections management)

Joint grant Belgian Cooperation and JRS Biodiversity foudation: Participation of African colleagues to the Annual conference of Biodiversity Information standards (TDWG) June 2013: 12 African trainees in Biodiversity Information (Belgian Cooperation) Annual meeting 2014 in Kenya (Lucy WARUINGI Executive Director African Conservation Centre)

Price award ' prix de la créativité et de l'innovation 2009' for the Daubenton project In this photo: Roger O'Keeffe (AEF-Europe), Patricia Mergen (RMCA), Garin Cael (RMCA), Régine Fabri (NBGB) at the Palais des Congrès in Liège Belgium, 25th November 2009

EOL Rubenstein Fellows award for Stijn Cooleman (RMCA’s Research Associate on the STERNA project) Stijn Cooleman of the Cybertaxonomy unit has been selected as one of them. He and 15 other early-career scientists will use EOL as a platform for sharing their biodiversity research. EOL (Encyclopedia of Life) is an international collaboration of scientific organizations and the general public with the shared mission to gather and share knowledge about all 1.9 million known species on the planet.

Programme CEPDEC (The Capacity Enhancement Programme for Developing Countries) - Sud-expert Plante (France) - Tanzanian GBIF node (Denmark) - Central Africa (CABIN) (Belgium) Global Biodiversity Information Facility GBIF Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) - Interest Group on Biodiversity Information for Cooperation and Development - JRS Biodiversity (foundation) Call for African participation TDWG annual meeting planned in Africa

A taste of Cyber-insects from Africa Sévérin Tchibozo Sévérin Tchibozo (CRGB), Charles Kahindo (Université Off. Bukavu) Franck Theeten, Garin Cael & Patricia Mergen (RMCA) © Sévérin Tchibozo

LINCAOCNET website Made in Drupal, and contains: -Scientific name - Local common name (with audio recording) - GPS coordinates & maps - Pictures - Host plants - Traditional recipes

Crunchy snacks at the ‘Night of the Museum’, RMCA, Tervuren, Belgium Pictures: © RMCA

Thank you for your attention! © RMCA

Projets européens et internationaux(liens) Europeaid CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information service) ERAFrica Coopération Afrique, Caraïbes et Pacifique Bourses de recherche Marie Curie ouvertes aux pays tiers : Liens vers les pays non européens et mode de financement pour participer aux projets EU : ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/wp/cooperation/cooperation-general- annexes201101_en.pdf ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/wp/cooperation/cooperation-general- annexes201101_en.pdf

Service de zoologie Direction: Entomologie : Invertébrés: Vertébrés et ichtyologie: Cybertaxonomie et projets européens: Mammalogie: Projet CABIN + web GIS : Biologie du bois: Direction: Service de géologie Direction: Cartographie: Projets CRGM, Promines et Web SIG: Services de support: Coopération au développement: Publications: Communication scientifique: Service informatique: Contacts