iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The @tdwg.org #TDWG2026 conference is coming in September and @dissco.bsky.social will be present in several insightful sessions. See a summary below. Remember that TDWG2026 is a hybrid event. More info 👉https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2026/ @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org @disscoflanders.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The @dissco.bsky.social is back after the summer with an open meeting (August 27th, 5-6pm CEST) on the topic of the Annotation Validation Framework: www.dissco.eu/annotation-v... that will govern the enrichment, correction, and update of #DigitalSpecimens. Join us! @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The @dissco.bsky.social #Greece digital portal is now on: www.dissco.eu/greek-consor... A major new step in making Greece’s #NaturalHistory #Collections more accessible through #digital technology. @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Good to see the #IUCN reiterate what has been our mantra all along: #NaturalHistory Collections are not repositories of the past but research-active infrastructures ready to address current and future global challenges: www.dissco.eu/iucn-natural... #biodiversity #taxonomy @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org

dissco.eu

ICUN Position Statement on the vital role of biological collections in biodiversity conservation - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Join the @dissco.bsky.social x #WiNoDa hackathon on machine annotation services (MAS) next October 14-15th and learn how to develop and connect these services directly to DiSSCo. 📖 Info: lnkd.in/dzR3VWAF 📌 Registration (deadline is 31 August 2026): lnkd.in/dih-tGmg @disscoflanders.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Our colleagues from @dissco.bsky.social-NL have launched De Kracht van Natuurwetenschappelijke Collecties in Nederland (The Power of Natural History Collections in the Netherlands) to defend the crucial scientific and societal impact of the unique Dutch NH collections: www.dissco.eu/natural-coll...

dissco.eu

The power of Natural History collections in the Netherlands - DiSSCo

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Robert Cubey @rcubey.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Two jobs at @thebotanics.bsky.social (RBGE) - National Project Manager Scotland & National Data Manager Scotland - join us in delivering @dissco.bsky.social in the UK www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/job...

rbge.org.uk

Vacancies | Working Here | What We Do

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The Unified Curation and Annotation System by @dissco.bsky.social, DiSSCover, has outgrown its "Proof of concept" phase and is ready to move on. Take a look at the latest developments! www.dissco.eu/maturing-dis...

dissco.eu

Maturing DiSSCover to become a future-proof platform - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Our colleagues from @meisebotanicgarden.bsky.social have just presented their science collection strategy for the coming decade. Guess what: @dissco.bsky.social plays a central role in it! You can take a look here: zenodo.org/records/1854... @disscoflanders.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Soulaine Theocharides, from @dissco.bsky.social tech team, attended @fosdem.org 26 to present #DiSSCover our platform for curation and annotation of #digitalspecimen for experts and AI systems. Watch the presentation: www.dissco.eu/dissco-fosde... @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org @disscoflanders.bsky.social

dissco.eu

We brought DiSSCo's community curation to FOSDEM 2026 - DiSSCo

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RIO (Research Ideas and Outcomes) journal @riojournal.com · 23/02/2026

🆕 Latest research in @dissco.bsky.social's #openscience collection illustrates a Machine Learning as a Service approach for quantitative analysis of #herbarium #specimens. 🌿 Subsequently, DiSSCO's models are used to calculate surface area of identified #plant organs. 🔓 See: doi.org/10.3897/rio....

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RIO (Research Ideas and Outcomes) journal @riojournal.com · 23/02/2026

🔎 Explore so far 10 #research outcomes by @dissco.bsky.social, i.e. proposals, research papers and project reports at: doi.org/10.3897/rio.... 🔓 👍 @dissco.bsky.social is a pan-European Research Infrastructure that aims to digitally unify #NaturalScience #collections to make them open & accessible.

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Virtual collections allow users to digitally group specimens based on any chosen criteria, regardless of where the physical specimens are stored. Learn how @dissco.bsky.social builds them with #DiSSCover 👉https://www.dissco.eu/applications-virtualcollections/ #biodiversity @horizoneu.bsky.social

dissco.eu

Notes on DiSSCo applications (IV): Virtual collections - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Manual coordination of collections is hindering the efforts of the scientific community. To overcome this, @dissco.bsky.social proposes AI-based automation to expand access, annotate data, and integrate collections across institutions. Watch this demo to learn more www.dissco.eu/applications...

dissco.eu

Notes on DiSSCo applications (III): Machine annotations - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

What we had until today: a fragmented model of access/request of specimens. What #ELVIS (European Loans & Visit System) already offers: a single entry point for estandardised practices across institutions, better discoverability and traceability. DEMO 👉 www.dissco.eu/applications...

dissco.eu

Notes on DiSSCo applications (II): ELViS - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

The @dissco.bsky.social tech team works with a small group of early adopters. They are the researchers, #taxonomists and collection managers of the "Users group". Find out the high-priority needs that we have identified through this collaboration 👉 www.dissco.eu/user-groups/ @horizoneu.bsky.social

dissco.eu

Notes on DiSSCo applications (I): Users Group - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Our @dissco.bsky.social partners from @nhmwien.bsky.social are organising the symposium #Museomics2026 focused on novel technical advances, historical #DNA, and the societal relevance of museum collections. More info and registration: www.nhm.at/en/museomics... @horizoneu.bsky.social #biodiversity

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

The pre-registration period for specimen datasets to join @dissco.bsky.social is almost done (Oct 31) but here is a funny fact: if you have a #DarwinCore archive already, it'll take you 15 minutes to fill in the form. We'll create only 20M #DOIs in 2025 so hurry! dissco.eu/ds-enrollment/

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

#LivingData2025 Sam Leeflang begins the session on openDS: Data model for global implementation of open #DigitalSpecimen & the status of specimen digitization @dissco.bsky.social 🧪🌏 #biodiversity #FAIRdata

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

"Towards a Common Language for Digital Specimens: Exploring the openDS Data Model". importance of links and relationships. #openDS #DigitalSpecimen @dissco.bsky.social 🧪🌏

DiSSCo open Digital Specimen Entity Relationship

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

#LivingData2025 I am talking about (virtually) "Building and Serving FAIR Terms and Vocabularies for open Digital Specimen" part of "Data model for global implementation of open Digital Specimen & the status of specimen digitization" #FAIRdata 🧪🌏 @dissco.bsky.social

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Elspeth Haston talking about MIDS: Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen "What is the status of global digitisation? MIDS as an institutional & global digitisation standard" #LivingData2025 🧪🌏 @dissco.bsky.social

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Mathias Dillen from Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium talking about "MIDS in practice": Minimum Information about a Digital Specimen www.tdwg.org/community/cd... @dissco.bsky.social @tdwg.org #LivingData2025. 🧪🌏

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Our Wouter Addink at #LivingData2025 presenting the roadmap for @dissco.bsky.social's #digitalspecimen enrollment. His message: Join the future of #naturalhistory collections by getting onboard with DiSSCo. Deadline getting close! Free pre-registration 👉 dissco.eu/ds-enrollment/

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

The #LivingData2025 conference starts tomorrow and @dissco.bsky.social will be there! See below a summary of the DiSSCo-related sessions. More info: www.livingdata2025.com #biodiversity #bioinformatics #FAIRdata @disscoflanders.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

The pre-registration period for biological/geological specimen datasets to join the @dissco.bsky.social #DigitalSpecimen data infrastructure is open! Deadline for the 1st selection process: Oct 31st. Hurry! We will create only 20M #DOIs in 2025. Know more: www.dissco.eu/ds-enrollment/

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

We wouldn't have it any other way! @dissco.bsky.social participates in the OSCA (Open #ScientificCollections #Austria) Perspectives talks, hosted by our partners @nhmwien.bsky.social 👉https://osca.science/osca-veranstaltung-11-12-09-2025/ @disscoflanders.bsky.social @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Proud to announce a big milestone: over 5M digital specimens and digital media objects are now available in @dissco.bsky.social! You can either find out more about this 👉 dissco.eu/five-million... or go see them right now on our DiSSCover platform! 👉 disscover.dissco.eu Congrats, all!

dissco.eu

Five million digital specimens and images in DiSSCo: millions more to come - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Last June 26, our colleagues from @mnhn.fr conducted an online workshop on one of the flagship services of @dissco.bsky.social, the European Loans and Visits System, #ELViS. Watch the recording! 👉 youtu.be/hf49JuoCfFU Take a look! @horizoneu.bsky.social @disscoflanders.bsky.social #naturalshistory

youtu.be

Get to know the European Loans and Visits System for Natural History Collections (by DiSSCo)

YouTube video by DiSSCo RI

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Check this out: SpLAT, @dissco.bsky.social's Specimen Label Automatic Transcription service, uses #AI to capture text from labels of #naturalhistory specimens. The text is formatted and added to the #DigitalSpecimen as an annotation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1gA... @horizoneu.bsky.social

youtube.com

Get to know SpLAT (Specimen Label Automatic Transcription Service) by DiSSCo

YouTube video by DiSSCo RI

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Take a look at @dissco.bsky.social latest publication: "Extraction of Quantitative Specimen Data using Machine Learning as a Service in the DiSSCo Research Infrastructure" 👉 preprints.arphahub.com/articles.php...

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

As the private sector's dependence on biodiversity continues to grow, so does the need to invest in #biodiversity #data. Interesting article with participation of Veronika Johansson (manager of our Swedish node): doi.org/10.32942/X27... @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

See paper👇Physical evidence in museums are crucial as definitive reference points for species identification. Highly relevant for 'Digital Extended Specimen' work across projects @dissco.bsky.social @iboleurope.bsky.social @biogeneurope.bsky.social @arisenl.bsky.social 🧪🌏

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

The last of BioDT's webinars on 14 May will explore the essential role of Research Infrastructures (#RIs) in powering #biodiversity #DigitalTwins: biodt.eu/events/data-... Join us! @horizoneu.bsky.social #DigitalSpecimen #FAIRdata #machinelearning

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

The 2nd meeting of @dissco.bsky.social Interim Council marked the end of two days dedicated to explaining the developments and future plans of #DiSSCoRI. Thank you all participants for the great effort you put into our endeavor. It really is inspiring @horizoneu.bsky.social #biodiversity #ESFRI

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social 7th interim General Assembly: The last stretch of our iGA7 goes for financial planning until #DiSSCo has reached the #ERIC legal status, and for final notes from DiSSCo's iGA chair Edwing van Huis. Interesting times lie ahead! Thanks all! @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social iGA7: The members of the DiSSCo coordination and support office give an overview of their work supporting DiSSCo partners during 2024, and future plans for 2025. They cover policy, engagement, technical, and budget aspects of DiSSCo. @horizoneu.bsky.social #ESFRI #ERIC

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social iGA7: The technical fireworks begin! Sam Leeflang (@naturalis.bsky.social) explains the #DiSSCo platform MVP (more info here: dissco.pageflow.io/dissco-mvp-i...). Demos of #ELViS (elvis.dissco.eu) and #DiSSCover (disscover.dissco.eu) will follow. @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social 7th interim General Assembly: Service provision is crucial for #DiSSCo, but we must regulate the dialogue between DiSSCo #ERIC and individual service providers from our community. Our general framework agreement aims to do the trick @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social 7th interim General Assembly: Some recommendations on procurement policy by Stefaan Pijls (Meise Botanic Garden): use a centralised procurement service when acquisition is in function of DiSSCo #ERIC, and rely on our community for provision before going to 3rd parties.

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Welcome to @dissco.bsky.social 7th interim General Assembly at @naturalis.bsky.social! Ana de Castro, chair of our Interim Council, and Jennifa Dorleijn, representing the #Dutchgovernment, give an update on the request to the #EuropeanCommission for setting up DiSSCo #ERIC. @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social Transition wrap-up: Time to close the event, but we are not done yet. We still have some more months of work ahead. Tomorrow we will celebrate our interim General Assembly (the 7th!) and the 2nd meeting of our Interim Council (info: www.dissco.eu/dissco/gover...)

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social Transition wrap-up: Each country is a microcosmos, so we have decided to gather some of our national nodes to discuss lessons learned during the preparatory and transition phases of #DiSSCo and key recommendations for the future DiSSCoRI. @horizoneu.bsky.social #FAIR

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social Transition wrap-up: Time to talk about tech developments. Claus Weiland from #DiSSCo partner @sgn.one showcases the latest about ELViS (elvis.dissco.eu/en), DiSSCo's #data management plan and our latest machine #annotation services hackathon (lnkd.in/egcxNUJW).

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Live♨️from @dissco.bsky.social Transition wrap-up event: All work package leaders of the #DiSSCoTransition project explain the developments to date, but also the recommendations they have for the future #DiSSCoRI. An opportunity to show everything we've learned along the way @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Proud of having taken our @dissco.bsky.social Transition project to its wrap-up event at @naturalis.bsky.social. This is one of the last steps towards the conclusion of our transition phase, and the preamble to finally entering the construction stage of #DiSSCoRI! #FAIR @horizoneu.bsky.social

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Sometimes posting is a pleasure: We just heard that 💥100 BILLION DOIs have been resolved already! They who have ears, let them hear! (For those who are not familiar with Digital Objects Identifiers, you may want to read this: www.dissco.eu/first-digita...) @datacite.org #FAIRdata #biodiversity

dissco.eu

First scientific publication using digital specimen DOIs is out - DiSSCo

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Distributed System of Scientific Collections @dissco.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

The #DigitalSpecimen architecture positions @dissco.bsky.social in the very select club of "connecting RIs" able to catalyze cross-RI endeavours. Our @sharifx.bsky.social explains it today during the Workshop on Synergies / Overlaps between ESFRI ERICs and RIs by PRO-GRACE @horizoneu.bsky.social

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