Building shared standards for biodiversity genomics in Europe

ERGA has been awarded a new COST Action focused on making biodiversity genomics easier to use, compare, and apply across Europe. Genomic data can provide detailed insight into genetic diversity, harmful variation, and introgression, but these data remain difficult to translate into shared practice. Here, the focus is not on reference genome production itself, but on the downstream use of genome-wide data, including WGS-based analyses, metadata, interpretation, reporting, and communication. Studies often differ in how samples are collected, how data are processed, how metadata are recorded, and how results are reported. This makes it harder for researchers, conservation practitioners, and policymakers to compare evidence across species, regions, and time.

The new Action will address this gap through a pan-European network built around shared standards and practical exchange. Its working groups will focus on experimental design and genome-wide analysis, metadata, conservation applications, training, and communication. The aim is not to prescribe one rigid route for every project. It is to create a common language and a set of usable practices that can help different communities work together with greater clarity. This includes people already working in biodiversity genomics, as well as groups that need genomic evidence but may not yet have the same access to training, infrastructure, or specialist support.

For ERGA, the COST Action is a natural extension of the community’s work on reference genomes. It moves from producing high-quality genomic resources towards helping those resources support biodiversity assessment, conservation planning, and policy-facing work. The Action will create opportunities for training, knowledge exchange, stakeholder engagement, and participation from countries and groups that have had fewer opportunities to contribute to this field. In this sense, it is both a scientific and a community effort: a way to make biodiversity genomics more consistent, more accessible, and more useful for the people who need to interpret and apply it.

Stay tuned!!!!