Science challenge
In the UK, we spend about £16 million each year on collecting and archiving environmental (e.g. biological and chemical) samples for research. The UK virtual Environmental Specimen Bank (UK-vESB) enables the discovery and exploration of specimen collections. Visitors can view the range of samples available for research along with standard operating procedures, protocols and best practice employed. This improved access to information on archived specimens allows researchers to develop new science and enables identification of trends in, and threats emerging from, environmental pressures.
Project summary
The catalogue was developed iteratively following stakeholder survey and workshops in 2010 and 2016. We asked 86 UK-based organisations what samples were collected, how and why they were archived and what type of facility specimens were stored in. We also analysed whether, if a centralised resource was built, what that would ‘look like’ to be most useful to the wider archiving community. We developed the concept and outline functionality, and built the UK virtual Environmental Specimen Bank to these specifications.
Objectives
To enable sharing of samples and expertise we created the UK-vESB to catalogue UK environmental specimens and archives (including tissue and specimen archives, museum collections, science facility collections, etc.). Our aim to enable researchers and specimen holders to share resources and ‘advertise’ holdings, protocols and best practice.
