We are thrilled to share the launch of the Greek node of iBOL – GrBOL, which was publicly announced today, 7 October, at the University of Thessaloniki (GR).
The launch of GrBOL is a major achievement reached by the Greek barcoding community within the BGE project, setting the stepping stone for the barcoding of the Greek biodiversity – one of the richest biodiversity systems in Europe.
Greek public officials participated in the launch event, including Petros Valeridis, General Secretary for Natural Environment and Water; Nikolaos Jollas, Deputy Governor of Digital Governance; plus representatives from the municipality of Thessaloniki and the Greek Agency on Climate Change (NECCA).
A number of fellow barcorders also gathered in Thessaloniki and online to celebrate the launch of GrBOL: key contributions came from Paul Hebert, founder and CEO of iBOL; Dimitris Koureas, Managing Director for Digital & Chief Information Officer at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre (NL) and BGE project coordinator; Pete Hollingsworth, Director of Science at RBGE; Camila Mazzoni, ERGA Founding Chair. Torbjorn Ekrem and Axel Hausmann, respectively, shared NorBOL and GBOL experiences and best practices.
The event concluded with a roundtable discussion among notable members of the Greek community.
Today’s discussions proved that it takes a long time to form an iBOL national node and that there’s still much work to be done to put GrBOL fully into motion.
Please join us in congratulating Prof. Alexandros Triantafyllidis & Team (AUTH) on such an achievement!