News End of Term: Thank You to Our Chair and Vice Chairs! As we approach the end of the current 3-year term, we want to thank our Chair Rob Waterhouse and Vice Chairs, Ann Mc Cartney and Olga Vinnere Pettersson, for their dedicated service to ERGA. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a call for participation in the ERGA Nominations Working Group, a great opportunity to get involved in ERGA governance and help ensure our election process remains robust and true to our principles of diversity and inclusion. The Working Group will identify candidates and organise the ERGA Council voting, with the goal of announcing the new Chair and Vice Chairs at the November Council meeting. Stay tuned for more details on how to get involved! Biodiversity Genomics Europe plus (BGE+) Call for Project Proposals The ERGA community is preparing proposals for the upcoming BGE+ Call for Project Proposals, offering EUR 30K to 60K for reference genome production and/or application. See the June Plenary slides for full context. We're assessing country readiness and helping teams form ahead of the call. Council representatives play a supportive role — sharing information and connecting interested members, rather than coordinating a single national submission. Note: terms, eligibility, and evaluation criteria are still being finalised by BGE+, so details may change. More updates will follow at ERGA Plenary Meetings throughout 2026. Bulgaria at center stage of Lepidoptera Genomics 🦋 From 15–19 June 2026, Vlahi in Bulgaria's Kresna Gorge hosted a first-of-its-kind expedition: over 50 entomologists, genomics experts, and conservationists from 17 countries gathered to collect specimens for sequencing Europe's butterflies and moths. Led by the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the event brought together three collaborating initiatives — Project Psyche Project Psyche, COST Action CA23122 (10kLepGenomes), and LepEU.— with partners including Lund University, Stockholm University, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The expedition's emblematic species was Janthinea forsterorum, a Balkan endemic moth described in 2025. The event marks an important step toward building a regional genomics hub in the Balkans. Check out some photos: CONSENSA – Consensus Standards for Applied Biodiversity Genomics The new CONSENSA COST network funding offers ERGA Members a great opportunity to develop solutions to improve standards in biodiversity genomics research using reference genomes. Its aim is to establish consensus-based standards for generating, analysing, and applying genome-wide biodiversity data — making genomic evidence accurate, comparable, and usable for research, conservation, bioeconomy, and policy. You can apply to join one of the 5 CONSENSA Working Groups directly via the COST website — membership also makes you eligible for funded networking activities and small grants (e.g. conference registrations). We're also recruiting Management Committee members from ERGA countries; see the current list here. This is a separate role from ERGA Council country representative, though some may hold both. More details will follow at ERGA Plenary Meetings, make sure to attend! BGE+ European Historical DNA Capability Survey As part of the Biodiversity Genomics Europe Plus (BGE+) project, we are developing methods to help the museum genomics community work more efficiently, cost-effectively, and at greater scale. This survey aims to identify the approach and capacity currently available in laboratories across Europe that deal with historical DNA. The information collected will help ensure that the methods we develop are as widely applicable and accessible as possible. Events Integrating Scales in Planetary Biology Uppsala, 28–30 October 2026 From genomes to ecosystems: how does biology at every scale shape resilience on a changing planet? SciLifeLab's follow-up to the 2025 EMBO Lisbon workshop, with a dedicated Biodiversity Decline session and speakers including Anne Magurran, Arnau Sebé-Pedrós and Detlev Arendt. Abstracts by 7 September. https://lyyti.events/p/Integrating_Scales_in_Planetary_Biology_5919 LRUA 2026 – Long-Read Sequencing Uppsala Uppsala, 2–4 November 2026 The annual long-read sequencing meeting from NGI and Clinical Genomics Uppsala, this year with a Biodiversity workshop and speakers including Evan Eichler, Rosa Fernández and Linnea Smeds. The week after Planetary Biology – one trip, two meetings. Abstracts by 26 August. https://lrua.se/ Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Conference 2026 21-25 September | Oslo, Norway / Hybrid Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes 5 - 10 October | San Feliu, Spain BioHackathon 2026 9-13 November | Barcelona, Spain 2027 Student Conference on Conservation Science 30 March - 01 April, 2027 | Cambridge, UK Featured conferences with sessions organized by ERGA members: Are you attending events or organizing sessions/workshops not listed here? Let us know here, we can help you reach more attendees from the biodiversity genomics community! From the #ERGABlog When genomes meet local knowledge Building shared standards for biodiversity genomics in Europe The Biodiversity Genomics alphabet 2: RNA Useful links HAVE ANYTHING TO SHARE? Click and Submit to ERGANews! Click here to become an ERGA Member Public EVENTS calendar here - add this to your Calendar or iCalendar! 💬 Follow us on social media! BlueSky LinkedIn YouTube

News SMBE 2026 - Let's connect! ERGA is proud to support SMBE 2026 as a sponsor. The ERGA Awards have already been granted, and we will soon share more about the winners. If you are joining the meeting, stop by the ERGA booth. We would love to meet you and connect in person!! Join the new ERGA Pangenomes Working Group! We are excited to launch the new ERGA Pangenomes Working Group, starting on May 25th during the DAC regular meeting. Open to beginners and experts alike, this group will focus on one of the most pressing challenges in the field of pangenomes, which is the need for standards. We also want to create a space to share ideas, discuss best practices, and learn from each other’s experiences. ERGA is a bottom-up community, and everyone’s perspective is welcome. Whether you are just getting started or already working in this area, we would love to build this together with you! Your Input for EBP Phase II As the Earth BioGenome Project moves toward Phase II, this is a key moment to understand the current capacity, priorities, and challenges across our global community. They invite everyone involved in biodiversity genome sequencing to complete a short 5-minute survey. Your responses will help provide a snapshot of who is doing this work, where it is happening, and what is needed to scale genome production effectively. The results will help EBP identify technical barriers, coordination needs, and opportunities where shared standards, support, and collaboration could accelerate progress. Unless otherwise indicated, responses will be reviewed in aggregate and will help inform Phase II planning discussions across the EBP community. 🐐 GoaT Update New data visualisation features in Genomes on a Tree ( GoaT), including a toggle to show value ranges and the use of the tilde (~) symbol to distinguish estimated ancestral values from direct measurements. These updates make it easier to interpret metadata across the eukaryotic tree of life. Events MCEB 2026 Mathematical and Computational Evolutionary Biology 4-8 May - Heraklion, Crete European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB) 2026 6-10 July - Leiden, The Netherlands European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB 2026) 31 August - 3 September | Geneva, Switzerland 2nd Molluscan Genomics Workshop 30 August - 3 September | Frankfurt, Germany Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Conference 2026 21-25 September | Oslo, Norway / Hybrid BioHackathon 2026 9-13 November | Barcelona, Spain Featured conferences with sessions organized by ERGA members: Are you attending events or organizing sessions/workshops not listed here? Let us know here, we can help you reach more attendees from the biodiversity genomics community! From the #ERGABlog: watch and explore How do you turn many individual experiences, workflows, and challenges into something the whole community can use? Watch Katja Reichel discuss the writing behind a recent publication and how individual contributions can come together to create a resource with real value for the wider community. How many species do we walk past every day without ever noticing them? We introduce Leviellus thorelli as one of the species selected for sequencing in the Community-Driven Reference Genomes under BGE. What does it actually take to move from a biological specimen to a sequence-ready sample? Rita Monteiro presents BGE WP5 and the coordination between sample providers, specimens, and sequencing centres. Useful links HAVE ANYTHING TO SHARE? Click and Submit to ERGANews! Click here to become an ERGA Member Public EVENTS calendar here - add this to your Calendar or iCalendar! 💬 Follow us on social media! BlueSky LinkedIn YouTube

News A new ERGA Framework for community-engaged biodiversity genomics A new ERGA-associated article in Biological Conservation presents a five-step framework for engaging European Local Communities in biodiversity genomics research. The article argues that genomic data can better support conservation, management, and policy when research is developed with attention to the people who live in, work with, and care for the species and places being studied. Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) can help shape sampling, interpretation, communication, and the practical use of results, while early dialogue is especially important for projects involving biological materials, genomic data, locality information, repository deposition, and future reuse. The framework guides researchers through early relationship building, respect for local context, co-created roles, transparent benefit sharing, and long-term knowledge transfer. For ERGA, the article contributes to ongoing efforts to make biodiversity genomics more open, locally informed, and useful for conservation decision-making. More information is available here. SMBE 2026 - Wrap up Thank you to everyone who passed by the ERGA booth at SMBE 2026 to meet us, ask questions, and discuss the future of biodiversity genomics. It was motivating to hear about the directions in which genomics-based research is moving, and to connect with so many members of the community in person. We would also like to thank all participants in the Pangenomes symposium for contributing to such a thoughtful and timely discussion. A special thank you goes to our two fantastic ERGA ambassadors, Roisin Long and Sonia Cebrian Camison. The new ERGA Voices series will begin with their interview, so stay tuned for this new project!!! Call for ERGA proposal leads: Biodiversa+ 2026–2027 The ERGA Executive Board invites short Expressions of Interest from ERGA members who would like to lead a proposal for the upcoming Biodiversa+ 2026–2027 Joint Call, Novel ecosystems: biodiversity, socio-ecological consequences and future trajectories. EOIs should briefly describe the research idea, main objectives, partners or expertise sought, and relevant data, resources, or infrastructures. Possible themes include population connectivity, urban ecosystems, and caves or other systems under novel environmental pressures, although ideas across the full scope of the call are welcome. Selected proposal leads will receive support from the ERGA Executive Board in building consortia and aligning proposals with ERGA priorities. EOIs should be submitted between 17 August and 4 September 2026 to funding@erga-biodiversity.org. More information about the call is available here. Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes: Exceptions to the rules ERGA is pleased to help share CGUE26, the 2026 edition of Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes: Exceptions to the rules, taking place in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain, from 5–10 October 2026. The meeting will bring together researchers working across comparative genomics, molecular evolution, cell biology, and the diversity of unicellular eukaryotes. With invited and contributed talks, poster sessions, early-career researcher activities, and opportunities for discussion, CGUE26 offers a valuable space to explore how protist genomes are reshaping our understanding of eukaryotic biology. Registration is open on a rolling basis, with limited capacity and a current deadline of 15 July 2026. More information and registration details are available on the official CGUE26 website. 🌍 BGE+ Cascade Funding BGE+ Cascade Funding will provide a route for community-led activities that contribute to the objectives of the project and support the wider development of biodiversity genomics across Europe. Beginning at the September Plenary, we will make a series of presentations to explain the scope of the funding, the expected application process, and the types of applicants and partnerships that may be eligible. These updates will continue in the period leading to the opening of the official call, which is currently planned for February 2027. In the meantime, members who are interested in developing potential proposals or identifying partners within and outside their countries are encouraged to contact their national representatives and/or the ERGA Secretariat (secretariat@erga-biodiversity.org). 🪢 ERGA CONSENSA - COST Action Community members will soon be able to express their interest in participating in the ERGA COST Action through the official COST website. Once the Action page is available, participants should read the Memorandum of Understanding, identify the Working Group or Working Groups most closely aligned with their expertise, and apply through the Action page using an e-COST profile. This is the standard route described by COST for joining a COST Action as a Working Group member. Members who are interested in a Management Committee role should follow the separate national nomination process through the COST National Coordinator in their country. Further information will be shared with the ERGA community as soon as the Action page and application link are available. Useful COST links are available here: how to participate in an ongoing COST Action, browse COST Actions, create or access an e-COST profile, and find your COST National Coordinator. The ERGA Pangenomes Working Group! We would like to thank the people who have already expressed their interest in participating. This strong response shows the value of creating a shared space to discuss pangenomes within ERGA, from first steps to more advanced applications. Everyone in the ERGA community is welcome to subscribe and take part, including members who are beginning to explore pangenomes and those already working with pangenome methods, tools, or data. The Working Group has also started defining its first actions, with the aim of completing this initial phase by the next meeting in September. Members who have not yet expressed an interest can still do so using the link below. The form will remain open for the coming months, so people can join as the group develops. Further information is available in the meeting agenda here. Events European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB 2026) 31 August - 3 September | Geneva, Switzerland 2nd Molluscan Genomics Workshop 30 August - 3 September | Frankfurt, Germany Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Conference 2026 21-25 September | Oslo, Norway / Hybrid BioHackathon 2026 9-13 November | Barcelona, Spain Featured conferences with sessions organized by ERGA members: Are you attending events or organizing sessions/workshops not listed here? Let us know here, we can help you reach more attendees from the biodiversity genomics community! Useful links HAVE ANYTHING TO SHARE? Click and Submit to ERGANews! Click here to become an ERGA Member Public EVENTS calendar here - add this to your Calendar or iCalendar! 💬 Follow us on social media! BlueSky LinkedIn YouTube

Executive Board Council of Countries Committees Our Partners Pilot Project Former Contributors top OUR COMMUNITY ERGA is an bottom-up initiative based on people, consisting of hundreds of scientists across the entire European continent and beyond. Research institutions, infrastructure facilities as well as partner genome projects will play an important role within ERGA. Finally, ERGA will have a focus on societal needs particularly related to Biodiversity conservation. For that purpose, ERGA will work engaging governmental and non-governmental entities and will closely involve citizens in different actions. Executive Board Executive Board executive-board@erga-biodiversity.eu Robert Waterhouse Chair Ann Mc Cartney Vice Chair Olga Vinnere Pettersson Vice Chair Tyler Alioto Scientific Officer Kay Lucek Partnership Officer Stefaniya Kamenova Dissemination Officer Lada Lukić Bilela Social Integration Officer Camila Mazzoni Funding Opportunities Officer Jaakko Pohjoismäki Genomic Outreach Officer List of Former Executive Board Members > Council of Country Representatives Contact the national representatives for more information on the ERGA community in your country! Andorra Andorra@erga-biodiversity.eu Manel Niell Bernat Burriel List of Former Council Members > Council of Countries Committees SSP - Sampling & Sample Processing samples@erga-biodiversity.eu More > DAC - Data Analysis Committee analysis@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Media & Communications media@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Social Justice Committee socialjustice@erga-biodiversity.eu More > SAC - Sequencing and Assembly Committee assembly@erga-biodiversity.eu More > ITIC - IT & Infrastructure Committee itinfra@erga-biodiversity.eu More > CS - Citizen Science citizenscience@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Annotation Committee annotation@erga-biodiversity.eu More > ELSI - Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues elsi@erga-biodiversity.eu More > TKT - Training and Knowledge Transfer training@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Committees Our Partners Our Partners ERGA is the pan-European partner of the Earth Biogenome Project (EBP) Affiliated Initiatives Associated Partners Pilot Project Pilot Project Committee Coordinators pilot@erga-biodiversity.eu Giulio Formenti Alice Mouton Ann Mc Cartney Learn more about the Pilot Project Former Contributors SSP - Sampling & Sample Processing Committee Filter by Type Astrid Böhne (Former Committee Chair) Former Contributors

Committees SSP - Sampling & Sample Processing samples@erga-biodiversity.eu More > DAC - Data Analysis Committee analysis@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Media & Communications media@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Social Justice Committee socialjustice@erga-biodiversity.eu More > SAC - Sequencing and Assembly Committee assembly@erga-biodiversity.eu More > ITIC - IT & Infrastructure Committee itinfra@erga-biodiversity.eu More > CS - Citizen Science citizenscience@erga-biodiversity.eu More > Annotation Committee annotation@erga-biodiversity.eu More > ELSI - Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues elsi@erga-biodiversity.eu More > TKT - Training and Knowledge Transfer training@erga-biodiversity.eu More >

samples@erga-biodiversity.eu < Back SSP - Sampling & Sample Processing samples@erga-biodiversity.eu The Sampling and Sample Processing Committee (SSP) gathers and gives information on all steps from choosing which species to generate sequences for, to sending correctly prepared samples to sequencing centers. This also includes vouchering, biobanking and standardized metadata collection, as well as exchange on best practices for sampling and lab protocols for the whole variety of organisms that ERGA aims to include. This committee is thus often the first port of call for new sequencing projects within ERGA, and closely collaborates with scientific collections and sequencing centers, as well as several other ERGA committees, on issues such as collection permits and equal opportunities for projects from all over Europe. To accomplish these diverse tasks, we depend upon input from taxonomic experts on the whole eukaryotic tree of life. ( V.1.0 02.05.2023) Co-Chairs Katja Reichel Jaakko Pohjoismäki Coordinator Rita Monteiro Steering Committee Astrid Böhne Jennifer Leonard Olga Vinnere Pettersson Torsten Hugo Struck Committee Resources 💡 ERGA Knowledge Hub ▶️ ERGA SSP Youtube Playlist Böhne, A., Fernández, R., Leonard, J.A. et al. Contextualising samples: supporting reference genomes of European biodiversity through sample and associated metadata collection. npj biodivers 3 , 26 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-024-00053-7 ERGA News #39 - June 2026 ERGA Newsletter When genomes meet local knowledge Press Releases ERGA News #38 - May 2026 ERGA Newsletter