Announcing the GBIF Biodiversity Open Data Ambassadors
The success of GBIF depends in part on establishing a good understanding within research and policy communities of the benefits and opportunities provided by free and open access to biodiversity data, as well as the importance of responsible use of such data through proper citation and attribution.
The GBIF Secretariat and GBIF participant nodes work to promote this understanding through their communication platforms, at meetings and across networks around of the world. However, this relatively small group can never hope to reach all relevant communities without assistance.
Biodiversity Open Data Ambassadors can fill that gap. If you are a biodiversity professional who promotes the principles and best practices of open data sharing and use, we can equip you with information resources, networking opportunities and recognition to make you an even more effective advocate in your own professional communities.
Qualifications and commitment
Are you a potential Biodiversity Open Data Ambassador? We ask for some minimum qualifications and a basic level of commitment, namely that:
- You can provide at least one example in which you have shared biodiversity data through GBIF, used GBIF-mediated data, and/or advocated open data in your professional capacity
- You agree with the ICSU-World Data System Data Sharing Principles: in short, that data should be shared openly in a timely manner, with the fewest restrictions possible and used with proper citation.
- You consent to have your contact details openly available on GBIF.org, and possibly on websites run by GBIF nodes and partners
- You consent to be contacted by GBIF Secretariat and GBIF nodes with requests to promote open biodiversity data at particular events
- You undertake to provide details of at least one example each year of an event, publication or process in which you have advocated for open biodiversity data
How to become a Biodiversity Open Data Ambassador
If you fit the description above, it’s simple—just fill out this form.
We will review your application then contact you to confirm your role as a Biodiversity Open Data Ambassador. We will give you details of how you can access resources to help you with your advocacy, including presentation slides, talking points, posters, brochures and other materials.
Once you are confirmed as an ambassador, we will also put you in touch with your national GBIF node, if you are in a participating country (if, indeed, you aren’t already). Working together, you and node staff may be able to help strengthen connections with relevant national research and policy communities. We will also inform you of other GBIF-related activities in your country such as data publishing, projects and research use examples.
Biodiversity Open Data Ambassadors are also encouraged to network with one another through a group in the GBIF Community Forum to which you will be invited when your role is confirmed.
Contact
Questions or comments? Contact us at ambassadors@gbif.org.
Biodiversity Open Data Ambassadors
| Name | Affiliation | Country | Areas of expertise | ORCID  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Barkworth | Intermountain Herbarium | United States | Poaceae, identification resources, plant taxonomy, outreach, education | http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9785-1538 |
| Nina Filippova | Yugra State University | Russian Federation | Fungi, macromycetes, mycology, taiga, peatland, Siberia | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9506-0991 |
| Alice Hughes | Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences | China | Conservation, biodiversity, endemism, data standards, modelling, spatial analysis, trend analysis, biogeography, methodologies | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7688-5517 |
| Nicole Kearney | Biodiversity Heritage Library, Museums Victoria | Australia | Digitisation, digitization, biodiversity, heritage, literature, museums, museum, libraries, library, transcription, online publishing, DOIs, collections, digital preservation, metadata, science communication, open access, data, interoperability, editing | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2883-0906 |
| Paula Lightfoot | Newcastle University | United Kingdom | Remote sensing, GIS, marine, coastal, UAVs, diving | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2019-7966 |
| Nicky Nicolson | Biodiversity Informatics & Spatial Analysis, RBG Kew / Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London | United Kingdom | Biodiversity informatics, machine learning, data mining, museum collections, botany | http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3700-4884 |
| Anabela Plos | Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” MACN-CONICET / Sistema Nacional de Datos Biológicos SNDB | Argentina | Digitization, biological data, biodiversity data, Botany, Asteraceae, Apiaceae, data portals, data quality, checklist | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3877-7408 |
| Constance Rinaldo | Biodiversity Heritage Library / Librarian, Museum of Comparative Zoology | United States | Biodiversity, Peromyscus, Microtus, Sorex, ecology, behavior, information resources | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8339-728X |
| Wouter Addink | Naturalis Biodiversity Center | Netherlands | Data infrastructure, FAIR data principles, interoperability, open source software development, botany, ornamentals | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3090-1761 |
| Arturo H. Ariño | University of Navarra | Spain | Biodiversity, taxonomical databases, soil ecology, global ecology, biogeography, bioinformatics, environmental science, air pollution, distributions, methodology, Mediterranean ecosystems | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4620-6445 |
| Olaf Banki | Naturalis Biodiversity Centre | Netherlands | Tropics, trees, sample-based & species occurrence data, stakeholder engagement, building consortia, biodiversity data research infrastructures | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6197-9951 |
| Dimitri Broesens | INBO / Belgian Biodiversity Platform | Belgium | Biodiversity informatics, Darwin Core, data management, databases, IPT, metadata | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116 |
| Torsten Dikow | Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History | United States | Diptera, Asilidae, taxonomy, cybertaxonomy, sharing research data, open access to biodiversity data | http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4816-2909 |
| Dag Endresen | University of Oslo | Norway | biodiversity informatics, agrobiodiversity, machine learning, food security, persistent identifiers, research infrastructure | http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2352-5497 |
| Anders Gravbrøt Finstad | Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Department of Natural History | Norway | Ecology, biodiversity-informatics, distribution modelling, freshwater ecology, climate change impacts | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4529-6266 |
| Chris Gentle | Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute | Australia | Data sharing to improve our understanding of the cumulative impact of actions over time | |
| Rob Guralnick | Florida Museum of Natural History | United States | Biodiversity informatics, systems and taxonomy, global monitoring | |
| Tsuyoshi Hosoya | National Museum of Nature and Science | Japan | Biodiversity, databasing, Fungi, inventory, systematics, phylogeny, specimen database | |
| Takeshi Osawa | Tokyo Metropolitan University | Japan | Biodiversity Informatics, Macro Ecology, Spatial Analysis, Virtual Ecology | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2098-0902 |
| Prabhakar Rajagopal | India Biodiversity Portal | India | Biodiversity Informatics, India Biodiversity Portal, Tropics, developing countries | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9320-5942 |
| Maxim Shashkov | Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology RAS – the Branch of the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences | Russian Federation | Earthworm ecology, ecosystem modelling, UAV and remote sensing | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1328-8758 |
| Dirk Steinke | Centre for Biodiversity Genomics | Canada | DNA barcoding, metabarcoding, metagenomics, eDNA, SDM, mapping, diversity indicies, molecular evolution, fish, mitonuclear evolution, polinators | http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8992-575X |
| Rob Stevenson | University of Massachusetts Boston | United States | Environmental science, biodiversity science, citizen science, biodiversity, habitat loss, invasive species, extinction, extirpation, population declines, science methods, data quality, data mobilization, biodiversity standards, vocabularies, ontologies, user interface design | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1617-5895 |
| John Wieczorek | VertNet | Argentina | Biodiversity informatics, data mobilization, data quality, tools, software development, training, georeferencing, research, standards, vocabularies | http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1144-0290 |
Other volunteer roles within the GBIF network
GBIF has an open call for volunteer mentors to provide more hands-on assistance and training for our capacity enhancement activities. A Biodiversity Open Data Ambassador can also serve as a GBIF mentor.
