1. Highlights on sustainability
Meeting the future needs of users
Christiane Quaisser & Stefanie Krause
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
contact:
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

2. Framework SYNTHESYS 3, Network Activities 3, Objective 3
Task 3.1 “Meeting the Future Needs of Users of NH institutions”
Lead: MfN Partners: BGBM, CSIC, MNHN, NHM, NMP, NRM, UCPH
Description: 1) workshop on the sustainability of NH collections, 2) roadmap for European NH institutions
Deliverable 3.5 “Sustainability Workshop”
Deliverable 3.6 “European Roadmap”
Deliverable 3.7 “SPNHC symposium: International symposium to promote SYTHESYS activities”
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

3. Workshop „Meeting the future needs of users“
Background
“Green Report” of the Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections - “Scientific Collections: Mission-Critical Infrastructure for Federal Science Agencies”
EDIT Workshops: “Future trends of taxonomy”, “Broadening the user base”, with European Plant Science Organisation
Scientific Collections International activities and reports,
Publications, activities, meetings…..
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

4. Aims of the workshop
1. Uses and user groups of natural history collections
compilation of traditional and current uses
identification of non-conventional and potential uses and user groups
presentation and analysis of experiences with innovative approaches and projects benefiting from or relying on NH collections
assessment progress since former initiatives
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

5. Aims of the workshop
1. Uses and user groups of natural history collections
2. Feasibility of non-conventional and potential uses of NH collections
elaboration likely demands and needs of new user groups
discussion potential challenges and barriers to use NH collections in non-conventional ways
evaluation appropriate responds to theses needs and challenges
 examination feasibility and benefits to accommodate requirements
recommendations regarding the institutions’ weighing of respective interests (cost-benefit analysis) and their prioritization
outline limitations of NH collections
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

6. Aims of the workshop
1. Uses and user groups of natural history collections
2. Feasibility of non-conventional and potential uses of NH collections
3. Promotion
communicate importance of NH collections for society as a whole and their diverse, broad application fields
promote innovative uses
reach potential new user groups
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

7. Concept in consultation with NHMMT & partners
Two steps: Public lectures & break-out groups, discussions
Participation:
Break-out groups: 16 delegates and external experts
public part: about 30 participants
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

8. SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

9. Key note presentations
Vincent Smith (NHM): “Building on the successes of SYNTHESYS: creating sustainable access and business models for natural history collections”
Sandra Knapp (NHM): “Collections for understanding environmental change”
Günter Rolf Fuhr (Fraunhofer-Institut für Biomedizinische Technik IBMT, Sulzbach): “Low-temperature biobanking – possibilities, potentials and limitations of cryopreservation”
Jens Amendt (Universitätsklinikum, Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Frankfurt am Main): “Interactive natural history collections as a possible tool in forensic and medical entomology”
Herbert D.G. Maschner (Center for Virtualization and Applied Spatial Technologies, University of South Florida, Tampa): “Open access natural history and the democratization of science”
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

10. Break-out groups & in-depth discussions
I. Current & future use & user group
Overview of current uses & user groups (quick check)
Future uses & user groups AND aims/purposes (Why?)
Needs (infrastructures, access, data, services,…)
II. Implications
Benefits (for nh coll community)
Unmet needs, barriers, challenges, limitations
Strategies to overcome them: joint actions
Cost-benefit analysis
III. Outreach mechanisms (joint actions)
Priority list of new user groups
Strategy to approach them
Future actions: promotion
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

11. Workshop results - General considerations -
Research driven: research community remains core user community - BUT
NH institutions evolved from inward focused to outward oriented
effect on required portfolio of tasks and services
changing economic situations and circumstances
collaboration and joint efforts essential
more efficiency in business operations needed
 NH collections should open up for new users and uses
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

12. Workshop results - General considerations -
Digital collections:
increasingly important service
(online) users increase user base and audience
should be understood as part of the whole collection
cannot capture all information needed by researchers
 physical collections will remain main source of (full) information
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

13. Workshop results - User Communities -
Wide range of user groups – project driven, fragmented
Environment, e.g. urban planning, environmental impact assessment, deep sea mining, conservation planning and monitoring
Agriculture, e.g. identification, future domestication, land use change, industrial insect farming, forestry
Health, e.g. pathogen identification, medicine and food supplement verification, pharmaceutical industry
EU border control, e.g. invasive species and pests, CITES
Biobanking, e.g. for research, government, industry (medicine, biotechnology)
Forensic ecology, arts, cultural history and archeology, …
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

14. Workshop results - Benefit-based approach -
Matrix of identified user communities:
 major drivers, benefits of using NH collections, and common benefits of collaboration
 groups which would benefit from coordinated activities of European NH collections
“Customer first approach” as main guiding principle
Science and research: addressing grand challenges rather than offering new services and technologies
Purpose-driven projects, coordinated at European scale
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

15. Technology push Market pull
Workshop results
Technology push Market pull
Brainstorm about new uses with contribution from disciplines & infrastructures
Joint publications on uses and new options (success stories) for specific areas (taxonomic groups, expertise units)
Establish a EU scientific advisory group
Have guest researchers from other disciplines
Interview and discuss with users
New ways to address people from outside our world, e.g. through hackathons to challenge new uses of virtual information
Scale up coordinated services
Digitization, services on demand
Incentives to attract new users
SYNTHESYS access calls for new communities in relation to grand challenges and new uses
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

16. Workshop results - Services -
Expertise, e.g. identification services for border control, agriculture, forestry, and others; advice on collection management, knowledge transfer
Mapping and monitoring
Data and voucher repositories; storage and management (hosting) of external user collections
Services on demand, e.g. digitisation, sampling, analyses, management
Access tools (e-facility): directory of services, service portal(s) according to user needs, portal to collections
 Access to object data, information, images, identification tools, expertise
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

17. Workshop results - Next steps -
Results relevant for EU roadmap, ESFRI process & concept, Synthesys 4, CETAF strategy
Publication ”Natural Science Collections and the Grand Challenges” – success stories, global scale - careful not duplicating SciColl
Approach: identify (potential new) user groups and list by priority, contact to priority user groups: understanding of needs and benefits, invitation new users: to inform on the potential of NH collections
Support of a customer-oriented work culture; development of a collection-based services and collections directory, e.g. GRSCiColl (The Global Registry of Scientific Collections) , develop a EU branch
monitoring of activities like collaborations and outreach activities
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

18. Roadmap for EU NH institutions
Compilation of 26 use cases on how NH institutions contribute to grand challenges:
Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy
Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials
Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizen
 Link, data involved, skills required
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

19. Roadmap for EU NH institutions - Results -
Data, knowledge, facilities: current climate change and related environmental response, e.g. taxonomic knowledge, analytical skills, DNA barcoding, population ecology, environmental modelling and georeferencing, geochemistry
Services: disease vector monitoring and prediction, population modelling and biodiversity data assessment, environment impact assessment, forensic services, seed banking, biotechnology assessment and climate change and invasion modelling
Focus: medical and veterinary companies, public health officials, emergency and urban planners, FAI policies on food security, CITES, local and national water resources managements, national and international conservation policy makers or governmental parties
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

20. International symposium to promote SYTHESYS activities
Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
31st Annual Meeting, Berlin, June 2016
Green Museum -
How to practice what we preach?
300 participants from 31 countries
In parallel with GGBN conference
Lectures, symposia, workshops
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

21. SPNHC symposium - Activities -
Symposia
 An international conservation on mobilizing natural history collections data and integrating data for research (with iDigBio, University of Oregon)
 Enabling infrastructure: Future collections, data & informatics
Developing a global research infrastructure framework for bio-collections
Symposium at GGBN: “Policies for new physical collections”
Workshop:
Digitisation Software Training Workshop: Inselect, Symbiotica & ABBYY FineReader (with iDigBio)
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

22. SPNHC symposium - Promotion -
SYNTHESYS3 information desk and flyers
Abstracts:
schuere_digital.pdf
Presentations:
rdings
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

23. SPNHC symposium - Relevance -
Sessions highlighted the relevance of SYNTHESYS results:
for forming an action plan for the preservation of European and global NH heritage in collections
for identifying future research priorities in this field
The symposia contributed to the following objectives:
NA2, objective 1 - Managing new (virtual and physical) collections;
NA2, objective 2 - Developing strategic priorities for molecular related NH collections;
NA3, objective 2 - Promotion and outreach;
NA3, objective 3 - Sustainability.
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017

24. Review SYNTHESYS 3, Network Activities 3, Objective 3
Task 3.1 “Meeting the Future Needs of Users of NH institutions”
Deliverable 3.5 “Sustainability Workshop”
Deliverable 3.6 “European Roadmap”
Deliverable 3.7 “SPNHC symposium”
Review of current and identification of new uses and users
Chances and cost-benefit analysis of new uses
Promotion of NH institutions (and SYNTHESYS3)
Next steps: ESFRI concept, SYNTHESYS 4, CETAF strategy
SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017
London, 6th June 2017