NBN Timeline

The NBN Trust was formed in 2000 as a means of overseeing and facilitating the development and work of the National Biodiversity Network.  Today the concept of sharing information about wildlife is widely accepted as the Network becomes more established.  To appreciate fully where we are today, however, we need to step back to the 1980’s to understand how the idea for a network was formed and also to chart the highs, and a few initial lows, which have seen the evolution of the NBN to the functioning network partnership, which now exists.

1988

• Linnean Society Report, "Biological Recording: Need & Network" was produced by Prof. Sam Berry.  This project was promoted by the National Federation for Biological Recording (NFBR) and Biology Curators Group under Paul Harding.

1990

• 1990: The Co-ordinating Commission for Biological Recording (CCBR) chaired by Sir John Burnett started work on research for building a case for a national system.
• 1990-1992: Collation of detailed data on data holdings, their location and use throughout the UK1995: CCBR Report "Biological Recording in the United Kingdom" was published. This included a detailed national scheme for Biological recording and publication coincided with "Biodiversity: the UK Steering Group Report - Meeting the Rio Challenge".  The CCBR proposed national scheme was rejected by the then Department of the Environment, hence the initiatives, which followed.

1996

• Initial moves to establish a UK-wide biological recording network. Foundation of NBN partnership.

1998

• The first NBN Business Plan was submitted to the Millennium Commission for funding, but failed.  
• The Linking Local Records Centres (LRC's) Project started by the WLTs
• Sir John Burnett became Chairman designate for, what was to become, the NBN Trust.

1999

• NBN Partnership confirmed, and NBN Trust proposed.
• Dr Jim Munford appointed as Programme Director and Jo Purdy as Company Secretary.

2000

• NBN Trust formed as a charitable company limited by guarantee. 

2001

• The prototype Gateway started.
• The Linking LRC's Project ended.
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Joint Venture Agreement started
• Linking Societies & Schemes Project Officer (now Development Officer), Trevor James, appointed.
• Access & Accreditation Project Officer (now Managing Data Access & Quality Officer), Oliver Grafton, appointed.
• November 2001: First NBN Conference held at the Natural History Museum – “New perspectives in biological recording”

2002

• Technical Liaison Officer, Andy Brewer, appointed.
• November 2002: Second NBN Conference held at the Natural History Museum – “Societies in the National Biodiversity Network: reviewing opportunities”

2003

• Watsonian Vice County Boundaries digitisation project undertaken
• Species Dictionary website launched with Sophia Lambert, Director of Wildlife, Countryside & Flood Management, Defra as the guest speaker
• November 2003: Third NBN Conference held at the Natural History Museum – “The appliance of science: biological recording for new applications”

2004

• Habitats Dictionary launched
• New Gateway site launched.  Ben Bradshaw, Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries, makes keynote address.
• September 2004 – The Gateway begins to make data available to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
• November 2004 – Fourth NBN Conference held at the Zoological Society of London – “How real are your records?: exploring data quality”
• November 2004 – Defra funding helps to set up the Harlequin Ladybird project as the invasive creature first arrives in Britain
• December 2004: Mandy Henshall joins the team as Communications Officer

2005

• 18.5million species records and 136 different datasets available on the Gateway
• Business Analyst, Geoff Johnson, appointed
• The end of an era as Sir John Burnett steps down as Chairman
• New beginnings as Sir Neil Chalmers takes the helm.
• February 2005 Prototype web services rolled out
• March 2005 – Automated uploading and the regular replication cycle begins - NBN exchange format and validator established.
• June 2005 – The new release of the Gateway version 3.1 launched including a redesigned database which allows more data to be held.
• July 2005 – NBN is Organisation of Note in Geographical magazine
• September 2005 – First Honorary Members Award given to Paul Harding MBE
• September 2005 – Second Honorary Members Award given to Sir John Burnett
• November 2005 – Third Honorary Members Award given to Bob George
• November 2005 – Fifth NBN Conference held at the Natural History Museum – “Focus on wildlife: current activities in societies & schemes”
• November 2005 - An article on the Gateway features in British Wildlife magazine.  The number of visits hits 100,000

2006

• January 2006 – NBN contributor badges launched
• 29th March 2006  - 20 million records on the Gateway and it is receiving an average of 120,000 visits per month. 20 millionth record is a common mayfly (Baetis rhodani), which was recorded in the Upper Tweed by the Tweed River Purification Board.  The record was sent to the Gateway by Craig MacAdam of CAMSTARS (the Caddisfly, Mayfly and Stonefly Recording Scheme).
• April 2006 – Wadham brainstorming session with Trustees to review strategy
• June 2006 – NBN article appears in IEEM’s In Practice magazine
• 2006 – Improving Wildlife Data Quality guide produced
• 2006 – Web services launched
• September 2006 - Data Access Group is formed under the chairmanship of Keith Porter
• November 2006 – Volunteer Development Group formed under the chairmanship of Amy Coyte
• November 2006 - Sixth NBN Conference held at the Natural History Museum – “Who has been using our records?: making use of data through the NBN”
• November 2006 – Fourth Honorary Membership Award given to Charles Copp
• December 2006 – Use of NBN for analysis and trends appears in BES “Bulletin”

2007

• Running a National Recording Scheme or Society Guidance produced
• New NBN logo and brand identity launched
• March 2007 - Almost 25 million records available through the Gateway (59 different datasets from 29 organisations)
• Agency meetings throughout the year with Chairman and Programme Director
• June 2007: - NBN article in IEEM’s In Practice magazine
• July 2007 – 30 million records available on the Gateway
• NBN submits evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science Technology during their enquiry into the state of taxonomy in the UK
• BRERC starts project to submit data to the Gateway
• 22nd July 2007 – Sir John Burnett dies
• 19th September 2007 – Jeff Watson (NBN Trustee) dies
• October 2007 – Graham French joins the team as Technical Liaison Officer
• October 2007 – Two day technical workshop held
• November 2007 – Gateway developer Jon Cooper relocates to CEH Lancaster
• November 2007: Seventh NBN Conference – “Recording together: data flow and data partnerships”
• November 2007 – Fifth Honorary Membership Award given to Trevor James
• November 2007 – Review of LRCs published
• November 2007 – All Wales LRCs launched
• December 2007 – Defra contract ends
• December 2007 – OPAL is awarded Big Lottery Funding.  NBN is awarded £350,000 to develop attributed polygon data and an on-line recording tool
• 2007 – 08 New Gateway hardware infrastructure

2008

• February 2008 – new Defra contract secured until 2011
• March 2008 – online training survey helps to shape the future training delivered by the NBN
• March 2008 the Gateway holds 28.3 million records from 230 datasets
• March 2008 – National Trust submit Wicken Fen dataset
• April 2008 – RHS submit their invasive species datasets
• Statements of Intent launched
• Governance review undertaken.  Programme Director becomes Chief Executive
• 16th April 2008 – Inaugural John Burnett Memorial Lecture given by Lord May of Oxford
• May 2008 – NBN Trust Secretariat move to new offices in Nottingham
• August 2008 – Richard Burkmar joins the team under the OPAL work programme
• September 2008 – Strategy Implementation Group has inaugural meeting
• September 2008 – Gateway servers moved to CEH Wallingford
• NSS and LRC liaison groups disband
• November 2008 – OPAL launches
• November 2008: NBN Eighth Conference : Making records count: exploring the many uses of wildlife data
• November 2008: Sixth Honorary Membership award given to Steve Cham
• November 2008: New NBN website launched and promotional material
• December 2008 – Biological Records Centre moves from Monks Wood to CEH Wallingford.  Monks Wood closes

2009

• March 2009 – 32.5 million records on the Gateway
• July 2009 – new version of web services released
• August 2009 – Richard Burkmar leaves the team
• September 2009 – Deryck Steer retires as MD of JNCC and steps down as Treasurer of NBN Trust
• October 2009: Kathryn McAuley joins the NBN Trust Secretariat as Communications Officer
• October 2009 – Indicia, the online recording toolkit (developed under OPAL) is rolled out
• 19th November 2009: One day technical seminar held at the Natural History Museum
• November 2009: Ninth NBN Conference - Non-native species: alien invaders or benign newcomers? Held at Royal Institution of Great Britain
• November 2009: Seventh Honorary membership Award given to Sam Berry
• 20th November 2009 – Darwin Guide to Recording Wildlife launched (produced under Defra contract)
• December 2009 – Paul Gilbertson and Selvameena Dhandapani join the Gateway development team. 
• December 2009 – Lynn Heeley joins the team as Technical Liaison Officer

2010

• January 2010 – Oliver Grafton leaves the NBN Trust team to work for BARS 
• 12th March 2010 - Ecological Consultant's Seminar held at the Natural History Museum
• March 2010 – 50 million records on the Gateway
• 23rd March 2010 - RISC (Recording Invasive Species Counts) Project launches at The Linnean Society
• August 2010 – NBN Trust is 10 years old
• August 2010 - Paula Lightfoot joins the team as Data Access Officer
• August 2010 - Easy maps become part of NBN website
• September 2010 - Jo Purdy leaves the NBN secretariat after 11 years with the NBN Trust
• September 2010 - Eighth Honorary membership awarded to Derek Lott
• October 2010 - Tenth NBN Conference "Opening opportunities for biodiversity - working with the NBN".  Held at The Royal Society
• October 2010 - Annual John Burnett memorial lecture delivered by Dr Andy Clements, BTO

2011

• January 2011 - Kathryn McAuley leaves the NBN Trust
• February 2011 - 60 million records on the Gateway
• 4th April 2011 - Gateway version 4 is released with new mapping functionality
• 4th April 2011 - Sarah Hyslop joins the NBN Trust as Business Administrator