The project submitted by the Portuguese Node of GBIF Portuguese, in partnership with the Spanish GBIF Node and the College F3 (Food, Farming and Forestry), University of Lisbon, was selected by GBIF to be funded with 10 000 EUR under the Capacity Enhancement Support Program 2016. The project, which includes additional co-funds of 23 500 EUR from the partners, aims to design and develop a training course on the use of biodiversity information on agrobiodiversity, based on GBIF and other data sources.
The preparation of the course will, additionally, allow to test the capabilities and functionalities of the information provided by GBIF, according to the main needs identified by the stakeholders of agrobiodiversity, including the assesment of the information needs and tools provided by GBIF to be applied in this area. Project results will include a report on the needs assessment, as well as the preparation and offereing of an advanced training workshop on information for agrobiodiversity, including offering the course in an online platform.
The activities to be carried out during the project include a Training for Trainers for familiarizing the College F3 members with the GBIF, conducting a workshop with stakeholders of agrobiodiversity to survey the needs of information and biodiversity tools to apply in activities related to the improvement or enhancement of agricultural production, and finally, a training course for the international community on the use of biodiversity data on agrobiodiversity.
The project results from a partnership of GBIF Portuguese Node with the Spanish GBIF Node and the College F3. The College F3 is a network of 12 of the University of Lisbon schools gathered to create, think and translate interdisciplinary knowledge in the food, agriculture and forestry, responding to societal and environmental challenges. The College F3 will be instrumental in designing the workshop with a broad and recognized training experience in social and natural sciences, but also in other relevant skills, such as informatics (databases management and data visualisation). The Spanish Node, on the other hand, will bring to the project its long experience in onsite and online training on GBIF related courses. It will connect to the agrobiodiversity community in Spain, in promoting its participation.
The description of the activity and its detailed objectives can be found on the project page.