March 2014 - tdwg - lists.tdwg.org

In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst
by Mergen Patricia 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of TDWG we are very sorry to inform you that Richard John Pankhurst passed away on Tuesday 26 March after fighting oesophageal cancer for many years. He was a very important contributer and friend of TDWG, as can be judged from his short CV from the BioCISE directory: Dr Richard Pankhurst began his career in computing in the computer section at CERN, Geneva in 1963, and moving back to Cambridge to work on Computer-Aided Design in 1966. In 1971 he moved to the Botany School, Cambridge to begin work on his PANKEY programs for identification and key construction. This was continued at the Botany department of the Natural History Museum from 1974 until 1991, where he was for many years curator of the British herbarium, and also worked on the Flora Meso-Americana. "Biological Identification", 1978, was the first textbook on computer methods in identification. A new version of this book was published by C.U.P in 1991. Also published in that year was the Flora of the Outer Hebrides. With over 50 publications of refereed papers and books in the fields of taxonomic computing he has made major contributions to these fields. Dr. Pankhurst has been very active recently in programming and managing botanical databases (Flora Europaea, BSBI database and PANDORA) and systems with images. He was appointed Principal Scientific Officer at the RGB Edinburgh in 1991. Dr. Pankhurst served on various committees of British and international organizations, among others. Botanical Society of the British Isles, Committee for Scotland and Database Committee. Botanical Society of Scotland, Council. Taxonomic Databases Working Group, convener of Descriptors Group. International Organisation for Plant Information, co-convener of Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee. Dr. Pankhurst was the head of the Department of Taxonomic Computing at RGBE. After his official retirement, he compiled a large database of the Rose family. His work on recording the wild flowers of the Outer Hebrides took him frequently to these remote islands on behalf of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. His interest in Taraxacum (dandelions) was acknowledged when a species found only on St. Kilda was named *Taraxacum pankhurstianum*. In Richard, not only a very important scientist was lost to our community, but also a very pleasant collaborator and friend . <patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be> Dr. Patricia Mergen (General Secretary of TDWG, on behalf of the Executive Committee) Head of Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 B-3080 Tervuren Belgium + 32 2 769 5 *626* patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be

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DC-2014 CfP - Metadata Intersections: Bridging the Archipelago of Cultural Memory (Austin, Texas)
by DCMI Announce 30 Mar '14

30 Mar '14

*14th International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications* 8-11 October 2014, Austin, Texas, USA =============================== *Complete Call for Participation:* http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2014/cfp =============================== DCMI's annual conference addresses models, technologies and applications of metadata. *2014 THEME: "Metadata Intersections: Bridging the Archipelago of Cultural Memory"* Metadata is fundamental in enabling ubiquitous access to cultural and scientific resources through galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM). While fundamental, GLAM traditions in documentation and organization lead to significant differences in both their languages of description and domain practices. And yet, the push is on for "radically open cultural heritage data" that bridges these differences as well as those across the humanities and the natural sciences. DC-2014 will explore the role of metadata in spanning the archipelago of siloed cultural memory in an emerging context of linked access to data repositories as well as repositories of cultural artifacts. *IMPORTANT DATES: * *--Peer-Reviewed Papers, Project Reports & Posters* Submission Deadline: 3 May 2014 Author Notification: 12 July 2014 Final Copy: 16 August 2014 *--Special & Panel Sessions, Tutorials & Workshops* Submission Deadline: 3 May 2014 Author Notification: 1 June 2014 *--Best Practice Posters & Demonstrations* Submission Deadline: 2 June 2014 Author Notification: 30 June 2014 *TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS:* (1) Peer-reviewed Papers, Project Reports & Posters (2) Special & Panel Session, Tutorials & Workshops (3) From the field: Best Practice Posters & Demonstrations *FOR MORE INFORMATION:* *Conference Chairs: * --William Moen, University of North Texas - william (dot) moen (at) unt (dot) edu --Amy Rushing, University of Texas at San Antonio - amy (dot) rushing (at) utsa.edu

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Neat postdoctoral opportunity
by Robert Guralnick 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

Please see the attached postdoctoral position flier for a project entitled: "Coral Reef Macroecology in the Anthropocen". The postdoc is at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) and University of Victoria (UVic), run by Dr. Julia Baum (UVic) and Dr. Jana McPherson (Calgary Zoo). The project is really cool and the PIs both excellent. The position is very much a biodiversity/ecological informatics-oriented one, so I thought I would pass it on to the TDWG list and ask you all to post broadly to your communities! Thanks! Best, Rob

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BioVeL Training Workshops Autumn 2013
by Jong, Yde de 19 Mar '14

19 Mar '14

[cid:_2_0D2267A80D226240004E96E980257BF0] BioVeL, a virtual laboratory for biodiversity research data, is offering two training workshops «Introduction to workflows for taxonomic refinement, biogeographic analysis, and species distribution modelling» November 26-27, 2013, Cardiff University, UK Description of the workshop and registration<http://frb.eole-emailing.net/l.php?q=C7R0bdUyZhX7O4KA8AcP&l=mhEt9SDFpiH4jmM…> «Building workflows with Taverna workbench» December 5-6, 2013, Manchester, UK Description of the workshop and registration<http://frb.eole-emailing.net/l.php?q=C7R0bdUyZhX7O4KA8AcP&l=qx%2B%2F%2F2hFK…> Note that these training workshops are free to attend but registration is required. The number of participants is limited. For further information, please write contact(a)biovel.eu<mailto:contact@biovel.eu>. More information on BioVeL: www.biovel.eu<http://frb.eole-emailing.net/l.php?q=C7R0bdUyZhX7O4KA8AcP&l=ai9CNhKZGxdfg76…> BioVeL is funded by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme (FP7) as part of its e-Infrastructures activity (Grant no. 283359).

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Positions advertised at GBIF Secretariat
by Donald Hobern [GBIF] 10 Mar '14

10 Mar '14

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) has advertised two vacant positions to be filled at the GBIF Secretariat in Copenhagen: * Programme Officer for Content Mobilisation - To support publishers of biodiversity data and to assist GBIF Participants to develop and implement content mobilisation strategies * Programme Officer for Content Analysis and Use - To support research communities and organisations making use of GBIF-mediated data and to work with stakeholders to improve the fitness-for-use of these data for research and analysis Information on these positions and the application process can be found at <http://www.gbif.org/newsroom/opportunities> http://www.gbif.org/newsroom/opportunities. The closing date for applications is 22 April 2014. Please circulate this notice to any who may be interested. Donald Hobern, GBIF Executive Secretary ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Donald Hobern - GBIF Director - dhobern(a)gbif.org Global Biodiversity Information Facility http://www.gbif.org/ GBIF Secretariat, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Tel: +45 3532 1471 Mob: +45 2875 1471 Fax: +45 2875 1480 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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