Access to natural history collections can be added to the ever-growing list of things that became virtual in 2020. Along with virtual coffee breaks, virtual meetings and the ubiquitous virtual pub quizzes, SYNTHESYS+ users are now able to request Virtual Access to natural history collections.
The potato – or Solanum tuberosum – is the fourth-largest crop plant in the world and therefore of great interest to researchers studying economically important food sources.
Jadwiga Sliwka with one of her specimens and a Museum book on potatoes.
Jadwiga Sliwka, a postdoctoral researcher from the Plant Breeding and Acclimatisation Institute (IHAR-PIB) in Poland, visited the Museum under the SYNTHESYS Access programme for three weeks in October 2016 for her project “Identity validation of Solanum accessions used as sources of important traits in potato breeding.” We interviewed her to find out more about her work.
Deborah Paul presenting on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Ben Price and Douglas Russell blogged recently about presentations by Museum colleagues at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Protection of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) in Berlin, noting that delegates were passionate about the potential of digitisation to help us illustrate, research and understand our changing world. As well as presenting, we learned a lot from the other presenters and attendees, picking up some themes which are particularly relevant to our Digital Collections Programme (DCP).
Museum collections are rapidly evolving in response to new research questions, innovations in digitisation and molecular analysis, and major challenges for society. It’s essential that museums work together to ensure that new ideas are exchanged and collaboration strengthened to make development more rapid and effective.
Fluid-preserved collections in the Berlin natural history museum
The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) is an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. The annual conference is one of the largest gatherings of museum professionals each year and it gives us museum and conservation folk an excellent opportunity to network and share the latest cutting-edge knowledge in our field.
