Mission
The node, as the leading unit of KSIB, is mandated to implement the goals of the network. The most important of these are to facilitate the mobilization of biodiversity information within the country; to promote data sharing and open access standards; and to build a database system that provides information useful for science, nature conservation and education.
Funding
PolBIN’s latest activities were based on a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education that funded the “Biodiversity Map” project (2010-2012).
History
The node was mandated by the former Ministry of Scientific Research and Information Technology to organize the Polish Biodiversity Information Network (PolBIN: Krajowa Sieć Informacji o Bioróżnorodności, KSIB) aimed at cooperation with GBIF and implementing data sharing ideas, technologies and policies. The Polish Participant node is hosted by the University of Warsaw.
Due to changes in the state scientific policy, in 2008 KSIB was formally transformed into the “scientific network” and keeps this form up to now. The node maintained the key role of acting as a gateway to the GBIF network and a unit that coordinates local activities.
Structure
The PolBIN Network, for which the Node is the designated coordinating unit, includes members, participants and cooperators. Members of the Network are scientific institutions and universities. Participants of the Network are the member institutions themselves or their subunits. The Cooperator status was assigned to institutions or organizations that due to formal reasons are not bound by the formal agreement of the scientific network.
The activities of the network are led by the Coordinating Council, consisting of representatives of the member institutions. The scope of activities and tasks of PolBIN are defined in the Network Statute.