MOBILISE COST Action has been built on 6 critical research and capacity building objectives

 

RESEARCH COORDINATION OBJECTIVES

Objective 1 – Assessing: Assessment and comparison of existing standards and protocols on digitisation, mobilisation of biodiversity / collection data, data management and publication.

MOBILISE will conduct a thorough evaluation through expert consultation of existing standards and protocols for digitisation and collection data management. Based on this assessment, MOBILISE will compile guidelines on the applicability and usability of existing relevant international and community standards and a set of extensible standard workflows for the digitisation, mobilisation, data management, storage, and publication of collection information.   Read more

Examples of the foreseen standards and protocols include  digitisation hardware and software choices for specific collection types, storage and archiving solutions (local and shared systems; involvement of computing centres), digitisation workflow systems, metadata capture and management systems, data quality software and services, collection metadata standards and data publication frameworks. Persistent identifier systems for core biodiversity information (who, where, what, when) will be analysed concerning their stability and interoperability in a Linked Open Data context. A prerequisite will be the formation of a widespread and sustainable network of European specialists in the field of collection digitisation and biodiversity informatics.

Objective 2 – Bridging: Linking complementary expertise of information scientists, biodiversity researchers and geoscientists leading to new concepts, technical innovations and products.

By bringing together excellent bio- and geo-diversity researchers with experienced and skilled IT experts and engineers, the gathering and management of data, and the preservation, long-term accessibility, interoperability and use/re-use of that data will be improved by innovative methodsRead more

for example, in the field of newly developed digitisation techniques and respective new equipment, 3D imaging, data management and archive solutions, application of artificial intelligence etc., MOBILISE will allow effective synergies arisen from coordinated interdisciplinary and pan-European exchange and will enable a large variety of data types from different origin to be included. 

Objective 3 – Compiling: Develop recommendations and best practices linking regional and global community standards and guidelines.

MOBILISE will foster collaboration and exchange of information between information engineering specialists and collection scientists from all over Europe and will provide a common framework for the implementation of best practices in natural science collections throughout Europe. Read more

MOBILISE will draw on experience from other adjacent realms of science and actively participate in global organisations. Where appropriate MOBILISE will work in collaboration with other related groups and organisations such as the Interest and Working groups of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) to benefit from the expertise of the trans-disciplinary research data global community, and standardisation bodies such as the Biodiversity Information standards Organisation (TDWG) and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), to ensure that MOBILISE outputs are embedded into community-wide technical standards and best practices.

Based on identified best practices combined with existing standards and policies, MOBILISE will support standards and guidelines development for digitisation of 2D and 3D objects, biological and geological specimens, data management, data quality control, and publication, linking complementary expertise of information technicians and biodiversity researchers.  

Objective 4 Planning.

Increase sustainability of bio- and geodiversity data providing infrastructures and define a common research agenda for long-term preservation and re-use of biodiversity data. Read more

Sequence data should be comprehensively linked to collection objects to ensure transparency and traceability of research material in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 511/2014. Common syntax/formats, quality management of provided and shared data in the scientific community and maximum interoperability of the systems is necessary (using for instance, Linked Open Data (LOD)). By developing and implementing standards, MOBILISE will support the ongoing initiative to build the pan-European distributed research infrastructure for natural science collections (Distributed System of Scientific Collections – DiSSCo – http://dissco.eu).  

 

CAPACITY-BUILDING OBJECTIVES

Objective 5 – Facilitating: Facilitate implementation of common standards and of newly developed techniques by training and education.

Standardised training modules (e.g. workshops, webinars, online tutorials) will equip researchers with skills which will enable them to embed bio- and geo- informatics tools and services into their day-to- day research activities.MOBILISE will facilitate a joint development of training measures and provide tools for the adequate interaction of technology and bio- and geo-diversity knowledge. Read more

Sufficient training and clear and practical outputs using a bottom-up approach ensure sustainability of research data and compliance and consistency of data providers. This new generation of IT-literate scientists, who will be able to efficiently use new e-infrastructures, will be able to adopt a more holistic approach to diversity enabling more coherent and robust predictions about global ecosystems’ changes and thus, provide the means to define mitigating actions. This transfer of knowledge and technology will enable scientists to develop their research careers in the context of a long-term vision linked to societal issues and cutting-edge research. It will also facilitate the translation of strategies into clear guidelines for bio- and geo-diversity data providers, decision makers, tool developers, key stakeholders and citizens at international, European, national, and local scale. Skilled IT researchers will also contribute to strengthening capacity building in their own institutions, driving their business forward. 

Objective 6 – Disseminating: Raise awareness and open bio- and geo-diversity information systems to interdisciplinary research and to the society in general.

By fostering knowledge exchange and improving data workflows, MOBILISE will address multiple target groups. Read more

Wide and easy access to knowledge and biodiversity data, already improved by several successful projects (e.g. EC-funded SYNTHESYS, ViBRANT, BioVeL), will be consolidated by intense collaboration on common standards of the data providing institutions and dissemination of the results across Europe (see 2.2.2, WG 5,6). MOBILISE will articulate dissemination activities and tools to widely reach the interested agents and involve them in open science and the co-creation of knowledge.