S1. Using Natural History Collections and DNA to Understand Biodiversity Change Through Time
Session lead: Claudia Rocha (California Academy of Sciences)
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 about species diversity, population change, and conservation outcomes over
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, bioinformatics, 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
Across the globe, herbaria are undergoing rapid and significant transformation. The continued pace of digitization 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. We encourage discussion of best-practice approaches and warmly welcome contributions from anyone working with herbarium collections to share their experiences.
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)
This symposium features case studies on microscope slide digitization, showcasing practical workflows for locating, rehousing, conserving, and digitizing large, taxonomically diverse collections. Organizers will be sharing lessons learned from the
Museum of Comparative Zoology’s National Science Foundation (NSF) funded grant: Rehousing and Digitization of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Recent Invertebrate Microscope Slide Collections [aka “InSliDE” = Invertebrate Slide Digitization Effort]. 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. Additionally, while slide mounting methods are always improving, few can reliably stand the test of time on a museum scale. Slide collections often face issues related to storage, conservation, discoverability, and digitization. The session aims to encourage
discussion of common challenges and shareable solutions to enhance access and usability of slide-mounted specimens across natural history collections. Speakers will discuss triage-based conservation methods, high-throughput and high-resolution
imaging techniques and databasing.
S4. Publishing and Communications Promoting Natural History Collections
Session lead: Shelley A. James (Western Australian Herbarium)
Co-organisers: Deborah Paul (University of Illinois)
Publish or perish – the catchphrase used commonly in the academic world – is increasingly relevant for natural history collections and doesn’t just apply to formal peer-reviewed publications. The pressure to publish applies to databasing and sharing collection information, documenting best practices, highlighting the hidden hands and expertise in collections, expanding collections’ relevance, and producing success metrics and new collaborations – all part of the now necessary marketing and communication of natural history collections and their dedicated staff. Social media, blogs, and websites, along with journal publications, are all ways to share and amplify the needs, values, and potential of natural history collections, the institutions, and the people behind them. We need initiatives and advocacy (e.g., boards, partnerships, and working groups, from the local to the global) that engage extended domains and communities to collaborate with collections and share models for doing so. How can we better promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and best practices among museum professionals, researchers, allies, and enthusiasts beyond our local audiences and conferences to achieve lasting impact? What are the tools and software available to make publishing in all formats less challenging, time-consuming, or stressful? How can we improve at getting our publications on leaders’ desks, read, and implemented worldwide? We invite submissions from the Global North and South, from any collection discipline, data or physical, software and standards developers, education or policy, to present at this session, demonstrating or exploring examples of publishing impact and success within natural history collections. We welcome conversations with publishers on any of these topics, including: What practices do publishers see as useful for expanding the awareness and relevance of collections across communities and domains?
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)
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)
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, with the special opportunity to bridge hemispheres in SPNHC’s first meeting hosted in Africa and its second conference to take place in the global south.
We invite collection stewards from all disciplines and career stages to present ‘how-to’ tutorial talks on everyday curation techniques, such as how to pack a loan, efficiently inventory or monitor specimens, create a rewarding experience for volunteers, or creative approaches to organize and uncrowd collections, and more. Contributions highlighting effective strategies, streamlined workflows, or local insights that can be adapted and implemented at different institutions are of particular interest. While best
practices are encouraged, pragmatic solutions developed on limited budgets or that apply modern techniques to time-honored practices are welcome. Whether new to the field, a mid-career professional seeking to acquire new skills, or a seasoned veteran
interested in learning how your colleagues tackle various tasks, this session is intended to share insights and skills, enhance capacity, and connect professionals from diverse disciplines performing parallel work. In collaboration with the Best Practices Committee, presenters are strongly encouraged to share their slides in pdf format with the organizers as well as provide “key points” for sharing on the SPNHC wiki.
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
Collections growth through new specimen acquisition is a fundamental activity that supports natural history research. Natural history collections rely on skilled preparators to create the specimens that document our natural world. Vertebrate preparation can be challenging due to the incredible diversity of vertebrates. Vertebrates range in size from huge whales to tiny frogs, and taxa-specific norms guide individual preparations. Because of these and other considerations, preparators need to be versed in various
preparation types, including skin, skeleton, hide, fluid, cryogenic tissue sampling, and invertebrate parasite collection. Some preparators learned basic preparation skills through taxa-specific classes such as mammalogy or ornithology, while others learned
their craft by informal training from colleagues. Skilled preparators often hone their skills in solitude by preparing untold numbers of specimens, troubleshooting issues, and developing their own techniques. In this symposium, we aim to bring together both novice and expert vertebrate preparators to disseminate knowledge accumulated by preparators from around the world. We will explore various techniques across taxa from vastly different geographic areas and under various constraints. We hope that the methods and approaches shared in this symposium will expand knowledge and skills and encourage networking among
specimen preparators around the globe.
S8. Teaching cultural heritage science – challenges and successes
Session lead: Rebecca Ploeger (SUNY Buffalo State University)
Co-organisers: Alison Murray; Aaron Shugar; Glennis Rayermann
Cultural heritage (conservation) science is a unique discipline. The field studies all cultural materials, including art objects, natural history objects, archaeological materials, and architectural structures. The primary focus of heritage science is the analysis of the
material nature of objects, as well as the ambient conditions for storage and display, and for conservation treatment and preventive conservation. To do so, the field draws on various scientific disciplines, including chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, materials science, and metallurgy. Due to the field’s diversity, teaching cultural heritage science is incredibly challenging, especially for a single educator, and can be very difficult for an art conservation student to learn. There is no universal textbook. An additional layer of difficulty lies with access to resources, geographical realities, funding, cultural sensitivities, approaches, priorities, and climates – how and what students need to learn will also vary around the world. This session hopes to foster an open
international discussion about the challenges and successes of teaching cultural heritage science. Educators face similar challenges around the world and have overcome them in many unique ways, often through culturally relevant and meaningful examples. The teaching of this multidisciplinary field is often associated with cultural heritage conservation higher education programs, but it is certainly not limited to that. The exploration of scientific topics in a cultural heritage context is relevant to allied fields and professions, as well as student engagement in other settings, such as high school science classes and public engagement. The hosts of this session are part of the current editorial team of Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO), a global teaching resource built by collegial knowledge sharing (https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/cseo/). It is designed as a repository of
teaching ideas, meaningful examples, data, and course materials that educators want to share with one another. As an open-access resource, it aims to improve global accessibility to information and democratize knowledge. Everyone is welcome to be part
of this collegial resource, whether it is as a regional liaison, editor, contributor, or reader. It is an experiment of co-teaching on a global scale, as well as an amazing opportunity to learn about each other and our successes and challenges.
S9. Contributions of natural history collections to conservation
Session lead: Alina Freire-Fierro (Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam)
Co-organisers: Elizabeth Ellwood; Mike Rutherford
Knowledge of our biodiversity, obtained from species preserved in situ in protected areas and ex situ in natural history collections, is pivotal to its conservation. The goal of this symposium is to demonstrate how joint efforts by the collections community at local
and global scales can contribute to biodiversity data collection and information dissemination. The talks at this symposium will include, for example, the processes and work undertaken by data providers of botanical specimens to disseminate knowledge
about biological diversity. There will also be talks on the contributions researchers have made to biodiversity studies and knowledge dissemination. Additionally, we will discuss the important role that indigenous communities play in conserving this biodiversity for future documentation and study.
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
Natural history collections contain the cultural and biodiversity heritage of communities around the globe. However, often that heritage remains hidden from the public eye, and science is barred to the people who have the most to gain from engaging with it. This lack of access can be affected by various factors, including barriers to transportation, communication, and funding, as well as historical colonial collection practices.
Recent jumps in technological innovation have the potential to help clear these hurdles and increase the accessibility and transparency of natural history collections, increasing the public’s awareness of their existence, importance and relevance. Examples of this technology include robotics, digitization, virtual programming, 3D modeling, climate and risk resilience tech, and more. This symposium seeks to explore how technology is harnessed by institutions to improve accessibility to collections, and to showcase the real world impacts of embracing these technologies. In particular, this symposium seeks to highlight low-cost technologies that broaden impact without increasing cost hurdles, transforming regional collections into global educational resources.
Technology has the potential to support decolonization and ethical practices in collections by increasing transparency and contributing knowledge and resources to communities. It has the potential to engage youth and the public in relevant and fast-
paced science by incorporating emerging and popular technologies. This symposium seeks to explore how the natural history collections sector harnesses these technologies and showcases the diversity of ways in which they can be utilized to
broaden and strengthen the goals of biodiversity science, research, education, and conservation.
S11. Specify Spotlight: Data Digitization and Management in South Africa and Beyond
Session lead: Theresa Miller (Specify Collections Consortium)
Co-organisers: Grant Fitzsimmons
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 by users from collections across South Africa who will highlight their projects using Specify software for research, data management, and collaboration.
In addition to user presentations, a member of the Specify Collections Consortium(SCC) team will deliver an overview of the SCC’s latest global community outreach and community-building activities, encouraging collaboration among members worldwide and helping to bridge the Hemispheres. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussions about best practices, technical support, and potential future collaborations.
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
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 herbaria and natural
history collections are being integrated into national and global biodiversity information systems, tracing the full data lifecycle from physical specimen through digitization, curation, and publication to downstream scientific reuse.
Discussions will focus on four interconnected themes: linking specimen data to platforms such as GBIF, Biodiversity Advisor, and regional portals; the practical data pipeline from digitization to publication; the role of persistent identifiers (including DOIs
and CETAF Stable URIs) and data standards in enabling interoperability across collection management systems; and lessons learned from national-scale implementations, with particular attention to the African institutional context.
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
Over the past several decades, geo- and biodiversity sciences have been transformed by local, national, and international initiatives that expanded the digitization, data mobilization, and use of natural history collections at an unprecedented scale. These efforts are often supported by short- to mid-term funding intended to catalyze innovation and have resulted in rich physical and digital infrastructures, new data tools and standards, and increasingly interconnected communities of practice. As many of these initiatives transition into post-funding phases, however, collections and their partners face shared and persistent challenges: sustaining social, physical, and digital infrastructure; maintaining data and software; supporting best practices and training;
retaining expertise; and engaging with communities amid ongoing funding uncertainty.
Recent community discussions highlight that sustainability is not solely a collections issue, but one that spans the entire geo- and biodiversity data landscape. Collections-holding institutions, aggregators (e.g., GBIF, iDigBio, DiSSCo), digitization initiatives
(e.g., U.S. Thematic Collections Networks), software platforms (e.g., Specify, Arctos, Symbiota, TaxonWorks), data repositories (Morphosource, Catalogue of Life, Dryad), and end users are all grappling with questions of long-term viability, duplicated efforts,
governance, and shared expanding responsibilities. These conversations build on prior SPNHC and SPNHC-adjacent efforts, including sessions and community dialogues at meetings such as the Digital Data in Biodiversity Research Conference and Living Data, which together underscore the need for a more integrated, holistic approach to sustainability. Critical to the sustainability horizon, discussions highlight the need to build relevance and collaboration among geo- and biodiversity projects as well as foster
connectedness to other domains (e.g. humanities, engineering, human health, economics, etc.) at local, hemispheric, and global scales.
This session frames natural history collections as critical infrastructure within a broader, distributed ecosystem that includes not only physical and digital assets, but also social infrastructure such as training, mentorship, and workforce diversification and expansion. When sustainability is addressed in isolation, by individual institutions, short-lived projects, or independent experts, the entire ecosystem remains vulnerable. By contrast, coordinated approaches offer opportunities to reduce duplication, share resources, leverage economies of scale, strengthen advocacy, and improve long-term resilience. We invite SPNHC participants to join this session with forward-looking presentations that advance discussion on how the collections community can work across
international, national, institutional, project, and domain boundaries to build a sustainable ecosystem that supports the social, physical, and digital infrastructures necessary for geo- and biodiversity science. Topics will include identifying critical
components of geo- and biodiversity infrastructure, exploring collaborative funding and governance models, and considering integrative frameworks such as the Digital Extended Specimen as powerful vehicles for coordination.
S14. Conservation of Collections
Session lead: Fran Ritchie (National Park Service Harpers Ferry Center)
Co-organisers: Mariana Di Giacomo
The Conservation Committee invites submission of abstracts for talks on conservation treatment and conservation-related topics. In keeping with the meeting theme, we welcome talks on collaborative conservation projects with source communities and
partnering institutions, with an emphasis on global connections. We are also interested in general preservation topics that would benefit all of SPNHC’s membership.
S15. Specimen Spotlight
Session lead: Paul Mayer (The Field Museum)
We are looking for short, lightning-round talks on a single specimen from your collection. Something that has an amazing story to tell. Why is that specimen your favorite or critical to science or education? Why does it matter? Why is it important? What makes it important? What work have you done on it?
S16. Beyond Generalizations: African herbaria supporting biodiversity research and cultural heritage
Session lead: Olwen M. Grace (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh)
Herbaria fulfill multiple functions vital to the scientific and conservation responses to the biodiversity crisis. As reference collections, they provide the essential materials for the taxonomic process of naming, classifying, and identifying plants and fungi. They are a frontier for taxonomic experts finding new species to science. Herbarium specimens are records of biodiversity and, considered over time, reflect changing species distributions.
The expanding literature emphasizing the uses of herbaria reflects the value of herbarium specimens for research in multiple disciplines, and new herbaria continue to be established. Nonetheless, herbaria are among the natural science collections at risk
of neglect or closure due to shifting resource priorities within the institutes where they are housed. The newly-formed African Herbarium Network, which aims to unite collections professionals from African herbaria, was established in response to such
risks: we bring together the community responsible for herbarium collections to identify opportunities for shared regional or even pan-African curatorial priorities with a view to reducing duplication of effort, leveraging links to herbaria around the world, and making unique collections more accessible. In this symposium, we will showcase the variety of herbaria across the African continent, highlight their unique collection strengths, and scrutinize risks. By taking a broad approach, we will avoid generalization and instead work to identify strategic priorities and synergies for African herbaria in response to the
biodiversity crisis.
Special Thanks to our Diamond Sponsor – Delta Designs LTD
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