Successes & Milestones of SwissCollNet

SwissCollNet annual conferences are important events to exchange knowledge and ideas. They contribute to develop a strong and dynamic network within the natural history collection community in Switzerland and allow participants to share and extend their expertise. The upcoming annual SwissCollNet Conference will take place on 17th of January 2025 in UniS, Bern.

The 2025 conference will highlight the results of the numerous SwissCollNet projects, the SVNHC data infrastructure and online portal, as well as selected topics that span across all projects. The future of SwissCollNet, featuring key partners (SCNAT, musnatcoll, InfoSpecies), and national and european outlooks, will also be addressed during the day.

FINAL PROGRAM

The final program, the booklet of abstracts, the poster sessions are now avaiable.

The event will consist of four blocks, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each half-day will feature a poster session. Additionally, there will be several short oral presentations throughout the day, allowing participants to present their projects within a three-minute timeframe.

The day will start with the 1st block, dedicated to the outcomes of SwissCollNet and the work planned until the end of the initiative SwissCollNet (December 2026). The first talk will provide an overview of the actvities lead by the intiative. In the second talk, the current state of the national aggregator for natural history collection data and the public online portal SwissNatColl will be presented.

Following the first block, participants will disperse into breakout rooms for the first poster session. Half of the posters contributors will present their work allowing the remaining attendees to learn about the projects.

The 2nd block of the morning will feature two presentations addressing topics pertinent to all projects. The first one will provide an introduction to imaging and the various techniques utilized in the projects. The second presentation is dedicated to digital transformation through key activities such as digitization, data structuring, standardization, data enrichment, online accessibility, and collaboration.

After lunch, the 3rd block will focus on community building. Presentations will highlight experiences that enabled natural history collection communities to share their knowledge and insights within the context of SwissCollNet.

The second poster session will then take place, allowing the other half of contributors to present their posters.

The 4th and last block will be dedicated to the projection of the future of SwissCollNet. Future developments of the natural history collection community will be addressed with the presentation of the "National Strategy for Natural History Collections (2025-2035)" and by featuring key partners of SwissCollNet (musnatcoll, SCNAT, InfoSpecies) in a panel discussion. An outlook on international developments in the field will also be given.

The day will be wrapped up and concluded by an aperitif to foster informal contacts and discussion among participants.

We hope to see many of you there!