Speakers

Event Details

Indonesia, a country known for its rich biodiversity facing a challenge to conserve biodiversity due to climate change, habitat loss, invasive alien species, and human activities. Recording biodiversity through plant and animal specimens is an essential practice for researchers, ecologists, and conservationists. Therefore, accurate and efficient documentation of biodiversity is critical in understanding current condition and future management to mitigate these threats. Herbarium Bandungense and Zoological Museum of School of Life Science and Technology ITB as a leading university’s herbarium and museum in Indonesia concern about Indonesian biodiversity.

We collect more than 14,000 plant specimens and 10,000 of animals around Indonesia to support education, research, and community services. However, biodiversity research faces several challenges, including the increasing pressure to catalogue vast numbers of species and the constraints of physical specimen preservation. This program is a good opportunity for us to broaden our networking with Indonesian universities that manage herbarium and zoological museum as well as our collaborator with The Netherlands Institution and practitioner in conservation. We will have Dian Rosleine Ph.D. (Manager of Herbarium Bandungense and Zoological Museum of School of Life Sciences and Technology) to share about herbarium dan museum management, Dr. Ruliyana Susanti (National Research and Innovation Agency) to inform about biodiversity issues in Indonesia, Arief Hamidi M.Sc. (Flora Fauna Indonesia) to deliver his experience in biodiversity expedition and conservation, and Prof. Fons Van Verbeek from Leiden University as an expert in computer science to share how technology can be used to preserve specimen. Their experiences provide invaluable perspectives on the challenges and successes in the field, helping to highlight the importance of preserving biodiversity for the future.

In educational contexts, these technologies offer students and educators an interactive and immersive way to study biodiversity. By integrating first-hand experiences from field expeditions, taxonomy, and conservation efforts, this program will promote a more collaborative and tech-driven strategy for addressing the challenges facing biodiversity today. Digitalization of specimens can build a more sustainable and innovative approach to biodiversity education and research in higher education institutions in Indonesia. Moreover, these digital tools can facilitate remote learning, enabling access to global biodiversity data for institutions and students who may not have physical access to specimen collections. Through the integration of such technologies, it will demonstrate how digital transformation can address challenges in both research and education, contributing to more sustainable and scalable solutions for biodiversity knowledge dissemination.