Stakeholder Engagement Day 2018

A successful stakeholder engagement day was held for the NBN Atlas Scotland on 21 June at the Battleby Conference Centre, near Perth.

Twenty-three people from across Scotland attended to share their views on the future development and uses of the NBN Atlas Scotland. Following an update on recent developments with the NBN Atlas and NBN Atlas Scotland, we heard from Tessa Coledale, Senior Data Manager with RSPB, who outlined their perspectives on the NBN Atlas and how it can support the work of RSPB, and from Elspeth Haston, Deputy Herbarium Curator with the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (RBGE), about the importance of their plant specimen collection, and the 180,000 specimen records that they have just shared with the NBN Atlas.

After the talks, we worked together and in groups to create a wish-list of around 40 development suggestions (Output 1). This process prompted much discussion, which was extremely interesting and useful. Our final speaker of the day was Ellen Wilson, the chair of the Scottish Biodiversity Information Forum (SBIF), who presented an update on the SBIF Review, and the day closed with a collective brainstorm about measuring success and user engagement (Output 2).

The event presented a valuable opportunity to hear from the Scottish data community and we thank everyone who came along and had their say in the future direction of the NBN Atlas Scotland. We would also like to thank our speakers, Tessa Coledale, Elspeth Haston and Ellen Wilson, and also Wilma Harper, one of the NBN’s Trustees, who chaired the event and provided valuable support that ensured the event ran smoothly. Thanks also to Scottish Natural Heritage for providing the venue.

Event papers

Programme: NBN Atlas Scotland Stakeholder Engagement Day 2018 [PDF, 1pp, 163kB]

Talk: NBN Atlas and NBN Atlas Scotland update – Christine Johnston, Scottish Liaison Officer, NBN Trust [PDF, 21pp, 3.2MB]

Talk: NBN Atlas: An RSPB perspective – Tessa Coledale, Senior Data Manager, RSPB [PDF, 12pp, 1.2MB]

Talk: Herbarium specimen data and the NBN Atlas – Elspeth Haston, Deputy Herbarium Curator, RBGE

Talk: The SBIF Review: latest progress update – Ellen Wilson, SBIF Chair [PDF, 25pp, 4.2MB]

Output 1: Development suggestions [PDF, 2pp, 424kB]

Output 2: Suggestions for measuring success and user engagement [PDF, 2pp, 418kB]