SciColl’s Official Launch Ceremony scheduled for 16 April 2013 in Paris

Scientific Collections International will hold its official launch ceremony in conjunction with the 28th meeting of the Global Science Forum, 16 April 2013, at OECD headquarters in Paris. 

SciColl's founding members will sign a Memorandum of Understanding at the ceremony, signifying their commitment to international collaboration and coordination among scientific collections in all disciplines.

Second International Conference and First Board meeting held at Melbourne Conference

More than 40 participants from 16 countries attended the Second International SciColl Conference at the Melbourne Museum in February 2011. The conference explored four interdisciplinary challenges that could benefit from greater use of scientific collections:

• Climate change research,
• Zoonotic diseases,
• Food security, and
• Human migrations

SciColl’s Interim Executive Board met right after the Conference to finalize the Terms of Reference and the program of work for SciColl’s first three years of operation (see Report of Melbourne Conference)

Expressions of Interest from Eight Prospective SciColl Members

OECD’s Global Science Forum has received Letters of Intent from the following countries and institutions that expect to join SciColl when it becomes a formal organization.  Representatives of these countries and institutions are now members of SciColl’s Interim Executive Board. 

• Australia
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Spain
• United States
• Museum für Naturkunde from Berlin
• A consortium of Spanish museums under CSIC led by Museo Nacional de Ciencis Naturales, Madrid
• Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris
• Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
• Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei

Applications for SciColl Secretariat Host Received

Applications to host SciColl’s Secretariat Office were submitted to the Global Science Forum by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.  GSF reviewed the applications and submitted its evaluation to SciColl’s Interim Executive Board for a final decision.