►►►UPDATE.
Announcing a Virtual version of the SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST 2020 Conference. June 8 - 12, 2020.
Please see the Announcement to find the registration link. Send any questions to
NOTE: this change was due to travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19. The Edinburgh organizers postoned this joint in-person Conference to 4 – 10 June 2022.
In 2020, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and the International Council of Museums Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural History (ICOM NATHIST) will meet jointly in Edinburgh, Scotland. National Museums Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh will host the conference, and organizers expect hundreds of attendees to convene around the theme of 'The Role of Natural History Collections in Global Challenges.’
Some of the events iDigBio is organizing or participating in include:
- the ADBC-iDigBio Booth
- A town hall meeting on Biodiversity Crisis Response using the 2019 IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services as a framework for community discussion.
- A symposium on the impact of community scientists in natural history collections.
- A symposium on envisioning collections management for the evolving biodiversity data lifecycle.
- A symposium on providing authentic experiences, including museum-based learning opportunities and proper mentorship, to prepare undergraduates to tackle global challenges using natural history collections.
- Leading a workshop: How would you describe your collections? Here we will look at describing natural science collections, and the need for this metadata worldwide. Find out how you can contribute and benefit to this critical data resource.
- Participating in a workshop: People are unique, unique people are priceless. The discussion to revolve around the need for identifiers for people contributing to collections and doing collections work. We will learn about Wikidata, VIAF, ORCID and other identifiers for folks alive and no longer extant and how we can all contribute and benefit.
- Participating in and aligning our above two workshops with: Citation and Provenance for collections data workshop.
More details about this conference are available on the meeting website.
