Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities

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The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) is a taxonomic research network formed by scientific institutions in Europe. It was formed in December 1996[1] by ten of the largest European natural history museums and botanical gardens to be a voice for taxonomy and systematic biology in Europe, to promote scientific research and access to European natural history collections, and to exploit European funding opportunities. Since then, CETAF has served as a meeting point for major European natural history museums and botanical gardens, and has initiated and played an important role in a number of projects (see Initiatives and related projects section below).

Introductory video about a CETAF project on data integration between botanical collections

Currently, CETAF has 37 members, which constitute a total of 63 institutions spanning 22 European countries (see Members section below). One of these members, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, also hosts CETAF's General Secretariat.[1] Together, CETAF institutions hold a large fraction (c. 500 million objects) of the world’s most important natural history collections.

General Meetings

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General Meetings with representatives of each member institution are held twice a year. The meetings are hosted by any of the member institutions and held at any of the European natural history museums or botanic gardens. Current business between the General Meetings are run by the Chair and the Steering Committee, assisted by the Secretariat.

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A number of CETAF members, or national consortia in which CETAF members play leading roles, have since 1998 received support through the European Commission's Framework Programmes to enhance transnational access to their collections, equipment and expertise.

CETAF initiatives

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  • SYNTHESYS (Synthesis of Systematic Resources) – A CETAF Integrated Infrastructure Initiative in EU FPVI and FPVII
  • European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT) – A CETAF network of Excellence in Taxonomy for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, EU FPVI, which started 1 March 2006. The project ended in 2011.[2]
  • European Journal of Taxonomy (EJT) – A peer-reviewed international journal in descriptive taxonomy, covering the eukaryotic world. (ISSN 2118-9773)
  • Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST) – Established by EDIT
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Members

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The following is a list of members, the nations in which these members are situated, and associated institutions:[5]

Country Member
  Albania University of Tirana, Albania Collections based at the Research Center of Flora and Fauna
  Austria Biology Centre of Upper Austria State Museums
Natural History Museum, Vienna
  Belgium Meise Botanic Garden
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Royal Museum for Central Africa
  Bulgaria Bulgarian Consortium:
  Czech Republic Czech Consortium:
  Denmark Natural History Museum of Denmark
  Estonia Estonian Consortium: Estonian Academy of Sciences:
  Finland Finnish Museum of Natural History
  France National Museum of Natural History
  Germany Bavarian Natural History Collections
Berlin Natural History Museum
Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin
Leibniz Institute for Analysis of Biodiversity Change
Senckenberg Society for Nature Research
Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History
NORe e. V. Association of German Natural History Museums in the North Sea and Baltic Sea Region:
  Greece Natural History Museum of Crete
  Hungary Hungarian Natural History Museum
  Iceland Natural Science Museum of Iceland
  Israel The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, National Natural History Collections
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies
  Italy Museum and Botanical Garden of the University of Pisa
Italian Consortium:
  Latvia University of Daugavpils
  Luxembourg National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg
  Netherlands Naturalis Biodiversity Center
  Norway Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
  Poland Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences
  Slovakia Slovak Consortium: Slovak National Taxonomic Facility (NaTAF):
  Spain Spanish Consortium:
  Sweden Swedish Museum of Natural History
Gothenburg Consortium:
  Switzerland Natural History Museum of Bern
Geneva Consortium:
  United Kingdom Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
London Natural History Museum
Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester
National Geological Repository
National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Northern Ireland
National Museums Scotland
Natural History | National Museum Wales
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

References

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