Digitising natural sciences collections: A new major collaboration in the South West

We’re really excited that Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and Museum Development South West have been awarded £400,000 to work as key partners in a project to digitise globally significant natural sciences collections.

By making biodiversity information from thousands of physical specimens available online for the first time ever, the project will create valuable resources for researchers worldwide working to address today’s biodiversity and climate challenges.

An amalgamated collection of flies

As part of the project, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery will make historic records from more than 80,000 plant and insect specimens dating back to the 1770s digitally accessible. These records offer a unique insight into more than 250 years of environmental change and include species that are now rare or extinct in the region.

The funding for this project comes through DiSSCo UK | West (Distributed System of Scientific Collections West), a national partnership that has received £1.6 million from UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) to coordinate large-scale digitisation work across Wales, the South West of England and Northern Ireland, bringing together Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Museum Development South West, Amgueddfa Cymru, National Museums Northern Ireland and the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Evan and Brooke, SGS College volunteers, organising hoverflies

Linda Coode, Head of Collections and Archives at Bristol Museums, said:

“We are proud to be part of DiSSCo UK | West. It is incredibly exciting to be digitising our globally significant biodiversity data from our natural sciences collections so that it can be used by researchers across the world.

This is a great opportunity for us to work in collaboration with Museum Development South West and other museums across South West England to develop new skills and ways of working to help more museums to participate in similar projects.

Working together helps make sure our natural sciences collections make an even bigger contribution to research, public engagement, nature conservation and climate resilience.”

DiSSCo West builds on more than a decade of collaboration through the South West Area Natural Sciences (SWANS) partnership. Through SWANS2, South West Heritage Trust digitised more than 100 seaweed specimens collected from the Somerset coastline by pioneering 19th century botanist Isabella Gifford. Made available through DiSSCo UK, these records can now be accessed by scientists around the world to support research into long-term changes in marine life and the effects of climate change on coastal environments.

Vic Harding, Museum Development South West Programme Manager, said:

“We are delighted to receive UKRI/AHRC research funding for the first time. This investment will enable us to build on our work supporting regional natural sciences collections, helping unlock their potential for local, national and international audiences through collaboration, professional networks and excellent digitisation practice.”

Through DiSSCo UK | West, regional museums in South West England will work together to share expertise, build skills and accelerate the digitisation of natural science collections. In this first phase key partner museums include The Box Plymouth, RAMM Exeter, Portsmouth Museums and South West Heritage Trust. A new Regional Digitisation Co-ordinator will support the project coordinating training, pilot projects and flexible small grants, creating new models for collaboration that can be scaled across south-west England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Housefly expert Mike and generalist in flies Ray studying the collection of flies

DiSSCo UK | West is part of DiSSCo UK, a £155 million, 10-year national programme that will bring together natural sciences collections from across the UK on a single online platform, making millions of specimens and records easily accessible.