Momentum Builds for Launch of Scientific Collections International

Plans are now in place for the formal launch of SciColl in early 2012.  A solid core of member countries and institutions has been identified and an ambitious and exciting program of work has been designed.  SciColl’s Interim Executive Board invites other countries and institutions to submit Letters of Intent to Join SciColl.   Representatives of these countries will be added as members to the Interim Executive Board.

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.