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Synthesis of systematic resources

Project description

DEENESFRITPL

A digital access boost for natural history collections

The world’s natural history collections contain at least 2 billion specimens of which an estimated 55 % reside in Europe. Enabling researchers to access these collections is vital. The creation of an integrated European infrastructure for natural history collections is underway. EU-funded SYNTHESYS PLUS is a pan-European natural history collection infrastructure project, and the fourth iteration of the SYNTHESYS programme. Its researchers are developing methods for collections digitalisation, digitisation workflows and new forms of collections access, laying the foundations for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo), a massive scientific infrastructure project. DiSSCo represents 120 European museums from 21 countries who are positioning their collections at the centre of data-driven scientific excellence and innovation.

Objective

European natural history collections are a critical infrastructure for meeting the most important challenge humans face over the next 30 years – mapping a sustainable future for ourselves and the natural systems on which we depend – and for answering fundamental scientific questions about ecological, evolutionary, and geological processes. Since 2004 SYNTHESYS has been an essential instrument supporting this community, underpinning new ways to access and exploit collections, harmonising policy and providing significant new insights for thousands of researchers, while fostering the development of new approaches to face urgent societal challenges. SYNTHESYS+ is a fourth iteration of this programme, and represents a step change in evolution of this community. For the first time SYNTHESYS+ brings together the European branches of the global natural science organisations (GBIF, TDWG, GGBN and CETAF) with an unprecedented number of collections, to integrate, innovate and internationalise our efforts within the global scientific collections community. Major new developments addressed by SYNTHESYS+ include the delivery of a new virtual access programme, providing digitisation on demand services to a significantly expanded user community; the construction of a European Loans and Visits System (ELViS) providing, for the first time, a unified gateway to accessing digital, physical and molecular collections; and a new data processing platform (the Specimen Data Refinery), applying cutting edge artificial intelligence to dramatically speed up the digital mobilisation of natural history collections. The activities of SYNTHESYS+ form a critical dependency for DiSSCo - the Distributed System of Scientific Collections, which is the European collection communities ESFRI initiative. DiSSCo will undertake the maintenance and sustainability of SYNTHESYS+ products at the end of the programme.

Fields of science

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Call for proposal

H2020-INFRAIA-2018-2020

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Sub call

H2020-INFRAIA-2018-1

Funding Scheme

RIA - Research and Innovation action

Coordinator

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Net EU contribution
€ 1 911 930,24
Address
Cromwell road
SW7 5BD London
United Kingdom

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Region
London Inner London — West Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham
Activity type
Public bodies (excluding Research Organisations and Secondary or Higher Education Establishments)
Links
Other funding
€ 85 342,50

Participants (33)

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EC signature date 30 November 2018
Last update: 11 September 2023

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/823827

European Union, 2023