Our new paper on the @NSF funded BIOFAIR Data Network project: Integrating biological and environmental data to solve key scientific and societal challenges academic.oup.com/bioscience/…

The USCCN Conference 2026, “From Preservation to Innovation: Connecting Microbial Collections to Advance Science,” taking place Friday, July 31, in Providence, RI, USA. Register (Student: $125 · Professional: $200): app.oxfordabstracts.com/regi…

Join BCoN for an "Open Mic for Data!" on 10/30 at 11:00 AM ET to learn about ongoing data integration projects & new ideas to integrating bio & enviro data. The program will feature several lightning talks. Visit the event webpage to learn more & register: bcon.aibs.org/event/biofair-…

Our BIOFAIR project is wrapping up with an Open Mic for Data! Join us on 10/30 to learn about ongoing data integration projects & discuss new approaches to integrating bio & environmental data. You can also sign up by 10/20 to provide a lightning talk. bcon.aibs.org/event/biofair-…

Our @NSF-funded BIOFAIR Data Network Final Report is out! 🎉 The report presents a community-informed roadmap, developed through a series of community engagements, to build an integrated, FAIR, open biological & environmental data network. bcon.aibs.org/2025/07/28/fin…

Join us on Wednesday @3pm ET to learn about our latest effort--BIOFAIR Data Network--and why the collections community should care about #dataintegration. io.aibs.org/biofair

Federal Agencies: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/federa… Genetics and Genomics Data: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/geneti… OneHealth: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/one-he… Ecological Data: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/ecolog… Climate and Environmental Data: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/climat… /11

If you are interested in reading about the other listening sessions, you can find their summary reports at the links below. /10

If you would like to read or hear more about these topics, we invite you to read the summary report at bcon.aibs.org/biofair/biodiv… and join us for our webinar on November 13th at 3 PM ET! Register here: burkinc.zoom.us/webinar/regi… /9

6) The community should develop strategies for balancing FAIR data principles with necessary data protections /8

5) The community should ensure that legal and ethical considerations for data sharing and integration across different jurisdictions are incorporated into any such infrastructure. /7

4) The community should explore sustainable funding and infrastructure models for long-term data preservation and access. 6/

2) The community needs to develop standardized best practices for data sharing and integration. 3) The community needs to address the challenges of data ownership/stewardship, protection, and FAIR use in extended specimen networks. 5/

Recommendations proposed from this session included: 1) Explore potential collaborations and integrations between existing data infrastructure projects (e.g., GBIF, DiSSCo, iSamples). 4/

... and concerns related to long-term storage, data sovereignty, and permissions surrounding traditional knowledge were discussed. 3/

Attendees discussed #FAIRdataintegration WRT to biodiversity data. Key topics were discussed including the challenges associated with integrating data, particularly across different data types and scales, the concept of a Biodiversity Data Action Center Community Help Desk, .. 2/

The final listening session was held on August 26th with a focus on Biodiversity Informatics. Led by @O_Fish_Man, @DLContreras, Mike Webster, and Cameron Pittman in collaboration with Tim Robertson (@GBIF), Sharif Islam (@DiSSCoEU), and Jose Fortes (@iDigBio). 1/

Join this webinar next week to learn about BCoN's latest endeavor: Building an Integrated, Open, and FAIR Data Network. The effort aims to build on & bridge the #ExtendedSpecimenNetwork with other existing conceptual frameworks for data integration. io.aibs.org/biofair

Federal Agencies: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/federa… Genetics and Genomics Data: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/geneti… OneHealth: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/one-he… Ecological Data: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/ecolog… Biodiversity Informatics: bcon.aibs.org/biofair/biodiv… 10/