Networking

ViBRANT’s networking activities are designed to foster a culture of co-operation both within the partners in the programme (as is already developing), and the different user communities (something that is new and has not been undertaken before).  As biodiversity research moves from small, autonomous scholarly guilds to larger, more en-lightened, and more interconnected communities, networking activities take on a new level of significance supporting interdependencies amongst the biodiversity research community.  Our intention within ViBRANT is to generate from these networking activities both a stronger more professional infrastructure organisation within the consortium and an enriched and more valuable set of scientific services for our user communities.  A third set of networking activities have been developed to focus on integrating ViBRANT's activities with a wider group of stakeholders that use biodiversity data, but are not traditionally part of the core taxonomic and systematic research communities.  ViBRANT networking activities are grouped in three workpackages (WP 3, 4, and 8) each of which has the goal of both raising levels of co-operation and bringing new or enhanced service capability to the programme.  The whole project is coordinated by Vincent Smith at the Natural History Museum, London who will provide strategic oversight of the project as chair of ViBRANT’s strategic board.