The Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) and a large network of experts from museums, botanical gardens, institutions of higher education and partners have joined forces to launch SwissCollNet, the Swiss Natural History Collections Network.
With more than 60 million specimens of animals, plants, fungi, rocks, soil samples and fossils, Switzerland’s museums, universities, and botanical gardens store a remarkable scientific and patrimonial national treasure. However, less than one in five of these objects is digitized. This means that a large part of some unique data on biodiversity and the environment is not easily accessible for research, education and society.
Objectives
- Promote modern standards in management and curation of collections
- Modernise and digitise natural history collections
- Provide open access to harmonised specimen data of Swiss institutions through an online-portal, the Swiss Virtual Natural History Collection (SVNHC)
- Promote and support the scientific potential of collections for research
- Integrate the Swiss natural history collections into international initiatives
Contact
SCNAT
Swiss natural history collections network (SwissCollNet)
House of Academies
Laupenstrasse 7
3008 Bern
Switzerland
Stay informed
Highlights
Verborgene Schätze der Natur im Scheinwerferlicht
Der Tag der naturhistorischen Sammlungen findet am 20. November in beinahe 20 Museen und botanischen Gärten der Schweiz statt. Auf dem Programm stehen nebst Führungen hinter die Kulissen auch vielfältige Vermittlungsaktivitäten, welche das Publikum die verborgenen Schätze der Sammlungen entdecken lassen. Bereits im Vorfeld fordert ein Online‐Wettbewerb dazu auf, ganz genau hinzusehen und Wahrheit von Lüge zu unterscheiden.
Image: Naturmuseum SolothurnBiology Roadmap
This community roadmap expresses a vision for the future development of biological research in Switzerland and the infrastructure needs identified to realise this vision. It describes four dedicated network infrastructures with a common challenge of comprehensive data exploitation.
Image: SCNATHandbook on natural history collections management
Written by and for persons curating, preparing or managing natural history collections, this handbook intends to make existing knowledge easily available and transferable. It gathers specific actions relevant for the conservation of natural history objects, the coordinated digitisation of associated data and the development of a modern digital infrastructure. This handbook should facilitate the long-term utilisation of Swiss natural history collections data for science and society.
Image: Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) • Platform Biology