S1. Using Natural History Collections and DNA to Understand Biodiversity Change Through Time
Session lead: Claudia Rocha (California Academy of Sciences)
Co-organisers: Jon Fong (California Academy of Sciences)
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
Integrating physical specimens with DNA-based data is fundamental to advancing biodiversity science in an era increasingly driven by genomics. While DNA sequences provide powerful insights into evolutionary relationships, population structure, and adaptive potential, physical specimens—such as museum vouchers, herbarium sheets, and biobank samples—offer irreplaceable historical, morphological, and environmental context. Together, these complementary resources strengthen scientific inference, reproducibility, and the long-term value of biodiversity research. This symposium highlights studies that use natural history collections and biobanks to address critical questions related to species diversity, population change, and conservation outcomes across time. Preserved specimens housed in museums represent a permanent archive of life on Earth, often spanning centuries. By extracting and analyzing DNA from historical and contemporary specimens, researchers can directly compare past and present populations, reconstruct changes in genetic diversity, and track shifts in species distributions. These approaches provide unique insights into how biodiversity responds to environmental pressures such as climate change, habitat loss, pollution, and emerging diseases—insights that cannot be obtained from modern samples alone. The symposium emphasizes the integration of physical collections with modern molecular, bioinformatic, and data-management approaches to maximize their scientific impact.
S2. Herbarium Procedures and Techniques: Addressing Global Challenges Through Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange
Session lead: Alison Moore (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
Co-organisers: Renata Borosova; Sue Frisby; Nivohenintsoa Rakotonirina
Symposium format: Mixed format
Across the globe, herbaria are undergoing rapid and significant transformation. The continued pace of digitisation is creating parallel digital collections, bringing both new opportunities and fresh challenges for collections management and digital curation. At the same time, expanding global access to collections is driving increased demand for physical sampling and visitor access to support an ever-growing range of analytical and molecular techniques. Museum accreditation processes and the relocation of collections further add to the responsibilities of modern herbarium curators. In response, established procedures and techniques are being adapted, while entirely new protocols and workflows are being developed and implemented. This symposium aims to bring colleagues together to share updates, notable findings, and lessons learned as everyday curatorial practice evolves.
S3. From Drawers to Databases: Practical Solutions for Managing Microscope Slide Collections
Session lead: Jennifer Winifred Trimble (Museum of Comparative Zoology)
Co-organisers: Mariana Di Giacomo (Yale University)
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
This symposium features case studies on microscope slide digitization showcasing practical workflows for locating, rehousing, conserving, and digitizing large, taxonomically diverse microscope slide collections. Organizers will be sharing lessons learned from the Museum of Comparative Zoology’s NSF-funded InSliDE project. Museum collections worldwide are adopting unified approaches to extended specimen collections, and while microscope slide collections can be among the most numerous and information-rich parts of these collections, they are often underused. Slide collections often face issues related to storage, conservation, discoverability, and digitization. Speakers will discuss triage-based conservation methods, imaging techniques, databasing, and best practices for slide collection management.
S4. Publishing and Communications Promoting Natural History Collections
Session lead: Shelley A. James (Western Australian Herbarium)
Co-organisers: Deborah Paul (University of Illinois)
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
Publish or perish – the catchphrase used commonly in the academic world – is increasingly relevant for natural history collections and does not just apply to formal peer-reviewed publications. The pressure to publish applies to databasing and sharing collections information, documenting best practices, highlighting the hidden hands and expertise in collections, expanding collections relevance, and producing success metrics and new collaborations. Social media, blogs, websites, and journals are all ways to share and amplify the needs, values, and potential of natural history collections.
S5. Bridging the Gap in IPM: Collaborative strategies for global Integrated Pest Management in natural history collections and cultural heritage facilities
Session lead: Suzanne Ryder (The Natural History Museum, London)
Co-organisers: Armando Mendez (The Natural History Museum, London)
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
Natural history collections across the globe face a common enemy: biological infestation. However, the resources, climate challenges, and available treatments often differ drastically between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Although the pests may differ, the principles of IPM are globally transferable. This symposium invites presentations on the implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) within cultural heritage and natural history collections, with a specific focus on cross-continental knowledge sharing.
S6. Back to Basics: Museum Techniques Skillshare
Session lead: Emily Braker (University of Colorado Museum of Natural History)
Co-organisers: Genevieve Tocci (Harvard University Herbaria)
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
While collections management literature and online resources are available for professionals working in natural history institutions, many day-to-day specifics of curatorial work are learned through peer-to-peer training and practical experience. This symposium aims to capture and disseminate such knowledge within a conference setting, promoting cross-institutional collaboration, networking, and capacity building among colleagues.
S7. The world of vertebrate preparation: sharing tips and methods.
Session lead: Mark Omura (Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology)
Co-organisers: Jeremiah Trimble; Emily Braker
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
Collections growth through new specimen acquisition is a fundamental activity for collections to support natural history research. Natural history collections rely on skilled preparators to create the specimens that document our natural world. Vertebrate preparation can be challenging because of the incredible diversity that vertebrates exhibit. This symposium brings together both novice and expert vertebrate preparators to disseminate knowledge accumulated by preparators from around the world.
S8. Teaching cultural heritage science – challenges and successes
Session lead: Rebecca Ploeger (SUNY Buffalo State University)
Co-organisers: Alison Murray; Aaron Shugar; Glennis Rayermann
Symposium format: Traditional presentations and panel discussion
The general theme for this session is what are your challenges or successes (or both) in teaching scientific topics in cultural heritage? Cultural heritage (conservation) science is a unique discipline that studies cultural and natural materials. This session fosters international discussion on teaching challenges and successes.
S9. Contributions of natural history collections to conservation
Session lead: Alina Freire-Fierro (Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam)
Co-organisers: Elizabeth Ellwood; Mike Rutherford
Symposium format: Mixed format
Knowledge about our biodiversity, obtained from species preserved in-situ in protected areas and ex-situ at natural history collections is pivotal for its conservation. The goal for this symposium is to demonstrate how joint efforts from the collections community at a local and global scale can contribute towards biodiversity data collection and information dissemination.
S10. Harnessing Technology to Improve Accessibility to Collections: Showcasing Innovative Public Outreach Initiatives
Session lead: Bailey Jorgensen (Alf Museum of Paleontology)
Co-organisers: Gabriel Santos; Jeanette Pirlo
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
Natural history collections contain the cultural and biodiversity heritage of communities around the globe. However, often that heritage remains hidden from the public eye. Recent technological innovations have the potential to increase accessibility and transparency of natural history collections.
S11. Specify Spotlight: Data Digitization and Management in South Africa and Beyond
Session lead: Theresa Miller (Specify Collections Consortium)
Co-organisers: Grant Fitzsimmons
Symposium format: Lightning talks (5–10 min each)
The Specify Spotlight session aims to showcase the role Specify software has played in improving data digitization and management, particularly in South Africa. The session will feature presentations from users at collections across South Africa.
S12. From Specimens to Systems: Integrating Natural History Collections into National Biodiversity Information Platforms
Session lead: Fhatani Ranwashe (South African National Biodiversity Institute)
Co-organisers: Tasha Lyner
Symposium format: Traditional presentations (15–20 min each)
Natural history collections hold irreplaceable records of biodiversity, yet their scientific and societal value is fully realized only when specimen data are openly discoverable, interoperable, and reusable at scale. This session examines how collections are integrated into national and global biodiversity information systems.
S13. Sustaining collaborative collections infrastructure in uncertain times
Session lead: Andrew Bentley (University of Kansas)
Co-organizers: Elizabeth Ellwood; Jutta Buschbom; Deborah Paul; Katie Pearson; Teresa J. Mayfield-Meyer Symposium format: Panel discussion
Over the past several decades, geo- and biodiversity sciences have been transformed by initiatives that expanded digitization and data mobilization. This session addresses the sustainability of collections infrastructure across the global ecosystem.
S14. Conservation of Collections
Session lead: Fran Ritchie (National Park Service Harpers Ferry Center)
Co-organisers: Mariana Di Giacomo
Symposium format: Standard meeting talks with Q&A
The Conservation Committee invites submission of abstracts for talks on conservation treatment and conservation-related topics, with emphasis on global connections. S15. Specimen Spotlight Session lead: Paul Mayer (The Field Museum) Co-organisers: None listed Symposium format: Lightning talks (5 min) We are looking for short, lightning-round type talks on one special specimen in your collection, highlighting its scientific, educational, or cultural importance.
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