Recognizing that the effects of the current health and travel restrictions will linger—and that peaks are likely to occur at different times around the world—we have decided to postpone the event previously planned for Alexandria, Virginia, from 20-25 September 2020 until next year. Dates and details for the 2021 event will follow shortly.
iDigBio, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) Smithsonian, GBIF, and TDWG are jointly hosting the Biodiversity Summit 2020 from 20 to 25 September 2020 in Alexandria, VA, USA. This is a joint conference with three days of pre-conference meetings (20-22 September) and 3 days of plenaries and concurrent sessions. A brief agenda of the week’s events can be found below.
The organizers now call for abstracts for oral and poster presentations which are being solicited for 24-25 September. Oral presentation sessions will be 15 minutes each.
Please select the preferred conference theme and whether your abstract is for an oral or poster presentation within that theme.
Deadline for abstract submission is 31 March 2020. There will be no extensions.
Please strive to limit your abstract submission to 3500 characters (inclusive of spaces) for the combination of title, authors, affiliations, body, and references. Available conference space coupled with the conference planning team’s preference for accommodating all submitters may limit the number of accepted oral presentations for any single presenter. Oral session proposers might be requested to convert to a poster session if space proves critical.
There are ten broad themes for the conference. Please be prepared to select the theme that best fits your abstract. Conference organizers will make every effort to accommodate your preferred theme. In cases where logistics make this impossible, we will strive to place your presentation into the most appropriate alternative.
1. Digitization, data mobilization, and use
2. Advances in digitization protocols, techniques, and tools
3. Uses of biodiversity data in education and outreach
4. Impacts of data science on biodiversity informatics
5. Big data and the biodiversity sciences
6. Human diversity and inclusion in the biodiversity sciences
7. Tools and techniques for data analysis and visualization
8. The future of biodiversity informatics
9. Broadening international collaboration
10. Advances in biodiversity data standards
Pensoft’s ARPHA online publishing platform for abstract submission to Biodiversity Science and Standards (BISS) (https://biss.pensoft.net/) will be used, an innovative open access journal for the professional publishing of abstracts. Instructions for Abstract Submission using ARPHA are available here. Using BISS will allow us to publish your abstract online at a stable URL. You can see published abstract collections (https://biss.pensoft.net/collections) or look for Biodiversity Summit 2020 (https://biss.pensoft.net/collection/181/) when it comes online. You will be able to link your presentations (slides or posters) to your abstracts following the conference.
Simultaneously, the registration for the conference is now open. You can register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/biodiversity-summit-2020-tickets-85264844445. For more information and to stay abreast of conference planning see: https://www.idigbio.org/content/biodiversity-summit-2020. Please Note: Registration is free. But, you must register for the conference for your abstract to be reviewed.
The organisers value the diversity of views, expertise, opinions, backgrounds, and experiences reflected among our partners and the broader biodiversity sciences community. Biodiversity Summit 2020 is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all conference participants. Participants will be expected to follow iDigBio’s Code of Conduct: https://www.idigbio.org/content/idigbio-code-conduct.