Highlights on sustainability Meeting the future needs of users

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

2. SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017 London, 6th June 2017 Framework • SYNTHESYS 3, Network Activities 3, Objective 3 • Task 3.1 “Meeting the Future Needs of Users of NH institutions” • Lead: MfNPartners: 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”

3. SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017 London, 6th June 2017 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, www.scicoll.org • Publications, activities, meetings…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15. SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017 London, 6th June 2017 Workshop results- Services - • Expertise, e.g. identification services for border control, agriculture, forestry, and others; advice on collection management, knowledge transfer • Mappingand 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

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

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

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

19. SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017 London, 6th June 2017 International symposium to promote SYTHESYS activities • 300 participants from 31 countries • In parallel with GGBN conference • Lectures, symposia, workshops Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections 31st Annual Meeting, Berlin, 20-25 June 2016 Green Museum - How to practice what we preach?

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

21. SYNTHESYS Final Meeting, 6th – 7th June 2017 London, 6th June 2017 SPNHC symposium- Promotion - • SYNTHESYS3 information desk and flyers • Abstracts: http://www.spnhc2016.berlin/downloads/2016/SPNHC_broschuere_digital.pdf • Presentations: https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/SPNHC_2016_Recordings

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