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The Natural Science Collections Facility is a network of South African institutions holding natural science collections, established as part of the Department of Science & Technology’s Research Infrastructure Roadmap and co-ordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Participating institutions are committed to collaborating to achieve the following objectives:
Collections secured and accessible physically and virtually for research
Data from specimens in collections accessible and used for managing collections, research and decision-making
Research on collections and associated data addresses issues of national and global relevance
Collections and associated research provide services to identify natural science specimens for a range of stakeholders including in the agriculture, health, environmental management and academic sectors
Latest News
Spotlight on Yolanda Michaels | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Yolanda “I am Yolanda, and I strive to change the world by being myself.” Yolanda’s role is to ensure that storerooms for Cenozoic Palaeontology and Taphonomy collections are maintained. She also manages administration in the designated collections...
Spotlight on Nonkululeko Ntshangase | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Nonkululeko “I have an herbal devotion. I live and breathe medicinal plants and have a profound love for anything database related. Working at the herbarium has led me to think that I am one of God's favorites, as I am managing the database and get to...
Spotlight on Tanya Mathe | Emerging Leaders Workshop
Getting to know Tanya Tanya is a science collections technician at the C.E. Moss Herbarium. She is involved in integrating orphaned collections into a fully functional herbaria. She has also been involved in the incorporation of three herbaria into the Bews Herbarium...
New species described from South African collections
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Iconic specimens
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Use of Collections

Shale Gas Exploration SEA

Barcode of Wildlife Project

Red List Assessments
Virtual Museum
The NSCF aims to increase the accessibility and use of natural science collections for research and also to secure collections.
One mechanism of achieving both these objectives is to establish a “virtual museum” which will take the form of detailed images of important specimens such as types, and to also provide digital access to documents such as historical field notes, old catalogue books and accession registers and other documents related to the collections. Over the next two years we will initiate a project to digitise specimens and important documents and to make these available online. We also aim to show some of the collection store rooms online to provide a sense of the scope and scale of these for the public who rarely have the chance to see these hidden treasures.