The GBIF Asia Regional Support Team is conducting a data mobilization workshop to address capacity needs and to promote data publication across the West Asia region.
The virtual workshop will be conducted across May and June 2026, and will be based on the GBIF Biodiversity Data Mobilization curriculum.
The aim of the workshop is to train data holders in project planning, data capture, data management and data publication, with a focus on GBIF's tools and infrastructure. Participants who successfully complete the workshop and assignments will receive a badge to certify the skills and expertise they acquire.
Schedule
The workshop will be conducted in English language across three phases:
- 18 May-22 May: Preparatory course activities (online self-paced)
- 25 May and 28 May, 1 June and 4 June: Virtual workshop (Zoom sessions and online self-paced, estimated 4 hours per day)
- 8 June to 30 June:Certification exercises (online self-paced).
Application
Due to limited training personnel, only 35 participants will be accomodated in this workshop. We encourage all participants to become trainers or mentors for future workshops to help inspire and share experiences with the Asian biodiversity community.
If more than 35 applications are received, participants will be selected based on the following criteria (in no specific order):
- Applicants that have already identified dataset(s) that they intend to publish and have cleared licensing requirements.
- Applicants that represent data holding institutions planning to publish data.
- Applicants that have plans to hold replication workshops.
- Applicants that intend to become mentors to support future workshops (advanced badge needed).
- The selection process will also consider geographic and thematic balance in the workshop participants.
Please direct questions about the workshop to asia_support@gbif.org
The deadline for workshop applications is 17 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC. All applicants will be notified by 24 April 2026.
Who should join this webinar?
The event is intended for government and organizational representatives from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Participants of this event may also be interested in registering for and attending the Introduction to GBIF participation:West Asia webinar held on 10 March 2026 10:00 - 11:30 CET.