
The ISBI department focuses on international collaboration to promote the development of biodiversity research infrastructures. We bring together and align natural history institutions and international initiatives on biodiversity infrastructures and data sharing related to natural history collections.
Facilitating international collaborationfor biodiversity
Naturalis' ISBI department was established in direct response to the challenges and opportunities presented by the international convergence of mass digitisation, open science, and data and research infrastructures. ISBI facilitates international, national and institutional collaboration between data, science, and biodiversity management infrastructures, and coordinates and aligns (inter)nationally funded initiatives and activities. Thereby, we hope to enable scientists, policymakers and other domain experts across organisations, countries, infrastructures and disciplines to seamlessly produce, publish and re-use integrated mass-scale biological and geological data driving the innovation needed to address today's urgent environmental and anthropogenic challenges.
Othercollaborations
ISBI also leads and impartially engages with other international projects, initiatives, and partnerships to promote and facilitate international cooperation between European natural science institutions.
ISBI attempts to achieve synergy and cost-efficient cooperation between natural science institutions in Europe and the major international biodiversity data sharing initiatives. Within Naturalis, the ISBI department initiates and strengthens connections between international initiatives and Naturalis and ensures these developments are embedded within Naturalis' operational framework to optimize collaboration and stay abreast of emerging issues and technologies. Some of our collaborators include:
Netherlands Biodiversity Information Facility (NLBIF)
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)


Who we are
Wouter Addink
Coordinator Research Data and E-infrastructures
Development of (inter)national projects on biodiversity e-infrastructures. Coordinates all things technical in ISBI and is a fluent speaker of acronyms.
Eva Alonso
Senior Project Manager and DiSSCo Prepare Project Manager
Coordinates a cluster of activities to secure synergy between different ISBI programme projects and relevant projects and development at institutional, national and international levels.
José Alonso
Communications and Outreach Officer
Coordinates the development and implementation of DiSSCo's communications strategies and initiatives. Responsible for making sure that DiSSCo not only informs but also communicates its message.
Sharif Islam
DiSSCo Data Architect
Responsible for the design of the data architecture and associated services.
Dimitris Koureas
Head of the department, DiSSCo Coordinator, Naturalis Biodiversity Center CIO
Responsible for mission, vision, decisions, and almost everything else except real window coverings.
Niki Kyriakopoulou
Scientific Data Specialist
Responsible for the prediction, validation and visualisation of Biodiversity data linkages as part of the BiCIKL (Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library) project, and to ensure this work is aligned with DiSSCo's data infrastructure development.
Tina Loo
Project Officer, Biodiversity Data
Responsible for biodiversity data and data policy related tasks with respect to European funded projects and DiSSCo development priorities.
Niels Raes
NLBIF Node Manager, Senior Project Leader Internationalization, and DiSSCo-NL National Node Manager
Coordinates a stream to secure synergy between different ISBI programme projects, and relevant projects and developments at institutional and (inter)national levels.
Mil de Reus
Senior Management and Project Assistant
Responsible for administrative and financial support for the department and project initiatives (DiSSCo, MOBILISE and NLBIF).