Pensoft Publisher, Coordinator of the BiCIKL Project, is also organizing the TDWG 2022 hybrid conference in Sofia from the 17th to the 21st of October, 2022.
What is TDWG? TDWG (Biodiversity Information Standards) is an international, non-profit organization whose mission is to develop and promote the use of open natural science data standards to enable research and evidence-based decision-making. Its efforts are essential in the global initiative to apply shared rules and standards to thousands of fragmented biodiversity datasets across hundreds of natural sciences institutions around the world. TDWG's annual conference showcases state-of-the-art biodiversity informatics, much of which relies on standards created by TDWG and its partners, and provides a forum for developing, refining and extending the standards. In 2021, TDWG's virtual conference was well attended by over 400 participants representing researchers, postdocs and students from 46 countries.
The Conference in Bulgaria will be its first-ever hybrid annual conference.
What’s a hybrid conference? It’s a conference really open to everyone, the ones who can travel and the ones who can not: you will be able to participate from everywhere, that’s why the registration form is still open and waiting for you! Despite the early bird tariff being gone, there are different options and ways to obtain help: special rates are available for students, postdocs and career researchers (and for TDWG members by the way). It is definitely worth checking it out.
But what’s the conference about? This year the conference will run under the theme “Stronger Together: Standards for linking biodiversity data”. The event will be hosted by scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft, in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural History, and the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In addition to opening and closing plenaries, the conference will feature a dozen of symposia and more (check it here: https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2022/session-list/) and a mix of other formats that include lightning talks, a workshop, and panel discussion, and contributed oral presentations and virtual posters.
Recently, the BISS (Biodiversity Information Science and Standards) Journal published, for the 7th consecutive year in a row, the conference abstracts. Thus, they are not only permanently and freely available in a ‘mini-paper’ format, but will also provide conference participants with a sneak peek into what’s coming at the much-anticipated conference.
No need to say how important is the contribution of TDWG to the knowledge and protection of biodiversity. That is clearly stated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) that says that "Common standards are the main enabler for bringing together hundreds of millions of primary biodiversity records in the GBIF index" and further goes on to state that "Within the biodiversity domain, the group most often responsible for developing and maintaining data standards is Biodiversity Information Standards".
The fundamental contribution of TDWG to the global vision is further reinforced by the UNEP Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework Working Group which states that the adoption of clear data standards such as those developed by the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) "has made possible the aggregation of interoperable and open data derived from different monitoring initiatives".
Very nice, but I would like to do more. Is there another way to help? There is indeed another way to concretely show your interest and support for TDWG, and it’s becoming a supporter! As an individual, you can contribute with 25 Euros while registering, as an institution… You can do more: here you can find a list of who is already giving a hand to the conference:
TDWG 2022 - a Hybrid Conference
Thank you, see you in Sofia!