In 2014, the NSC Alliance engaged in a number of notable activities to raise the profile of natural history collections with policymakers, researchers, and the general public. A few highlights are presented below:
- Partnered with the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections to launch a national initiative to build a biocollections community that is able to fully implement and achieve the goals of the Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance. The project is supported by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation.
- After years of advocacy from NSC Alliance and the scientific collections community, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a directive to federal agencies to develop policies to improve the management of and access to federal scientific collections.
- Sponsored a symposium with iDigBio on the future of scientific collections. The event furthered community discussions related to
national digitization efforts. - Provided testimony to House and Senate Appropriations Committees in support of increased funding for research, curation, and digitization of natural history collections from the National Science Foundation and the Department of the Interior.
Read all of NSC Alliance’s accomplishments from 2014.
NSC Alliance Announces 2014 Accomplishments