Genomic Observatories Network Workshop (GOs2)

The Genomic Observatories (GOs) Network was launched to bring together a premier set of geographic sites with rich histories of environmental/ecological data collection and a long-term commitment to future genomic studies. GOs are leading sites where biodiversity is digitized into its most fundamental layer for streaming to global repositories and major analytical centers.  At both the landscape and organismal scales of biological organization, understanding the ecological dynamics of a system is likely to have important applications in maintaining its health and productivity. 

This meeting will follow on from GSC14 in Oxford (the first meeting dedicated to the development of the GOs Network) where strong support was expressed by a range of candidate genomic observatories and partners, and where Ocean Sampling Day (OSD) built further momentum as the first “GOs Action”.  The meeting established a GOs core group with an overarching focus on biodiversity genomics, and at least one working group was set up in areas of key importance to the GOs: science, informatics, technologies, and policy. The  GOs core group agreed to work towards a mission statement, a founding charter, defining membership and recruitment of further GOs and Partners.  The GOs Network agreed to continue to incubate within the GSC for the foreseeable future.  
The second meeting will focus on further developing the Network, in particular through its first co-ordinated action, Ocean Sampling Day.  Discussions will focus on how how we leverage this set of premier long-term research sites to understanding biodiversity using DNA-technologies with an ultimate goal of using these data to be able to predict response and trajectories in order to make informed decisions in a changing world. While the agenda and talks will reflect a  specific focus Ocean Sampling Day, the overall goal is to seed other collaborative projects and work on defining how the Network should develop. 

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