EDIT

EDIT (2006-2011) brings together 27 leading taxonomic institutions in Europe that for historical reasons have developed independently. The association with leading North American and Russian partners makes it a worldwide leading network (www.e-taxonomy.eu, site will be opened in a new window).

Taxonomy provides the basis for understanding biodiversity. Overcoming the ‘taxonomic impediment’ involves both having enough trained taxonomists and having taxonomic information available to those who need it. The project objectives are to reduce the fragmentation in European taxonomic research and expertise and to coordinate the European contribution to the global taxonomic effort, in particular the Global Taxonomy Initiative. EDIT will create a European virtual centre of excellence, which will increase both the scientific basis and capacity for biodiversity conservation.

RBINS, in cooperation with the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the National Botanic Garden Meise, is responsible for "Training and public awareness". An essential task will be the development of the European School of Taxonomy. This school of taxonomy will be a reference across Europe, integrating existing training resources and new training opportunities into a coherent and widely publicised training programme for taxonomy. The training programme will target both modern disciplines such as molecular systematics and biodiversity informatics, and the more ‘traditional’ approaches such as morphology, descriptive taxonomy and collection conservation.

Here are some opportunities EDIT has already created for you, which you can use freely:

• Get a free, modular Scratchpad website for collaborative taxonomy
• Join exemplar groups for deeper web-based collaboration. Current groups are: Palms, Cichorieae, Lepidoptera, Diptera.
• Participate in the All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory that is taking place all year round in the Mercantour/Alpi Marittime region.
• Teach in the Taxonomy Summer School 2008 at Mercantour/Alpi Marittime (31 Aug. - 14 Sept.).
• Register your existing taxonomy courses in our survey.
• Get grants for women scientists and childcare support during conferences.
• Participate in the next EDIT General meeting (summer 2009).

There are even more ways to get involved in EDIT, and participate in this vibrant international undertaking. To know more, contact your EDIT representative:

Isabella Van de Velde
02 627 43 34