We pool our strengths in international networks.

The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) was founded in 1996 as a network of natural science and natural history museums, botanical gardens and biodiversity research centres with their biological collections and expertise. The CETAF network currently has 34 members, representing 60 of the largest taxonomic institutions from 21 European countries.

Together, the CETAF network represents an unrivalled resource for scientific research. The member institutions are committed to the conservation of our rich natural heritage through collection-based taxonomic research, education and outreach. CETAF aims to research and document biodiversity with the main objectives of facilitating access to natural history collections for research, fostering collaborations to attract funding at European level, and giving taxonomy and systematics a voice in Europe.

Building on CETAF, the European network of collection-based natural science research organisations, 21 countries have founded DiSSCo as a new pan-European research infrastructure initiative. The 114 institutions currently participating in DiSSCo share a common vision of placing Europe's natural history collections at the centre of scientific excellence and innovation in the fields of environmental sciences, climate change research, food security and One Health, and the bioeconomy.

DiSSCo strives to unite the fragmented research museum landscape into a coherent and integrated research infrastructure to achieve the cataloguing, aggregation and delivery of bio- and geodiversity data to the scientific community at the scale, format and precision required. The main objectives include enabling multimodal access to the European collections, more efficient curation, advancing the digitisation and transition of scientific collections into the information age, promoting the use of collections to solve complex scientific challenges, developing and implementing common research agendas, and increasing the involvement of society at different levels.

OSIRIS is a consortium and a co-operation project of (currently) 17 supporting and other partner institutions in order to create the basis for an integrated inter- and transdisciplinary collection, information and research infrastructure for the first time worldwide.

The major German natural history research museums and collections joined forces in 2007 to form the German Natural History Research Collections Association (DNFS). More than 10 participating research institutes with integrated collections and exhibitions form a globally unique research infrastructure and the basis for high-quality biodiversity research thanks to their high level of taxonomic expertise, around 140 million scientifically accessible collection objects and state-of-the-art research laboratories.

The DNFS has set itself the goal of using its expertise and resources to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services. Its main tasks are top-level natural history research, the further development of scientific collections and high-quality education and knowledge transfer. In national and international matters relating to research and collections, the DNFS and its facilities are the point of contact for politicians, the public and other research institutions.

Founded in 2012, the Leibniz Biodiversity Alliance (LVB) pools the expertise of currently 20 Leibniz institutions from various disciplines in the field of biodiversity research and develops solutions for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity through interdisciplinary research.

Politically relevant issues are addressed with the aim of contributing to the implementation of biodiversity agreements at national and international level. Through environmental education and the involvement of citizens in gaining scientific knowledge (e.g. through citizen science initiatives), awareness of the value of biodiversity is to be increased and social commitment to its conservation promoted.

The Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) is an international consortium of biodiversity repositories established by institutes from Africa, Australia, Europe and the Americas. Since its foundation in 2011, the network has grown to 59 biobanks from 24 countries, as well as a wealth of biodiversity data deposited in the GGBN data portal by 17 member institutions (another 27 institutes are working towards this goal).

GGBN provides a platform for biodiversity biobanks from all over the world with the main objective of long-term conservation of genomic material representing the entire diversity of life on earth. The network aims to ensure high quality standards for DNA sampling, to optimise practices for the conservation and use of these collections, and to harmonise the exchange and use of genomic material in accordance with national and international law and global conventions.

The International Barcode of Life Project (iBOL) was officially launched in 2010 and is the largest biodiversity genomics initiative to develop a digital identification system for life on Earth. Around 30 countries are participating in iBOL as account points, establishing national or regional networks of leading researchers and other key organisations involved in DNA barcoding or supporting iBOL financially or otherwise.

To facilitate the identification or discovery of species, iBOL is working to catalogue life using DNA barcodes - short genetic sequences from nuclear DNA. Barcoding is a modern tool that helps taxonomists to identify difficult species and an innovative application for laypeople who need to identify species quickly and cheaply (e.g. to control illegal imports of animals or animal products).

Due to its long tradition of important global collections and taxonomic research, Germany has established itself as a central nation for the support of iBOL. The inventory and genetic characterisation of all animals, plants and fungi in Germany is being carried out as part of the German Barcode of Life (GBOL) project.

The Germany-wide network comprises almost 30 natural history museums and research institutions and is coordinated by the Koenig Research Museum with Prof Wolfgang Wägele as the first spokesperson.