Many fields of biological research, for example, genetics and cellular biology, biofuels development, plant ecology, and human disease transmission, depend on collections of living organisms that have documented origins and genetic histories. Maintaining these "living stocks collections" while providing for their innovation and enhancement over time requires strategic planning for long-term financial sustainability. An award is made to the Ecological Society of America to host the workshop "Strategies for Developing and Innovating Living Stocks Collections," to bring together principal investigators of NSF-supported living stocks collections to explore current and future needs, discuss existing sustainability strategies, enhance understanding of strategic planning as a tool for achieving collection sustainability, and discuss opportunities for continuing information exchange and collaboration.
The intellectual merit of this workshop consists in helping make sustainability planning a formal, core element of living stocks collections management. The broader impacts of the workshop are its contributions to ensuring collections' long-term viability and capacity to innovate, and consequently the long-term sustainability of a wide range of biological research important to energy development, human health, and other areas of direct societal concern.
