Annual Report
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ANNUAL REPORT 2015 - 2016 CONTENTS BUSINESS REVIEW OF THE YEAR Introduction 7-8 Chairman’s Report 10 Interim Chief Executive Officer’s Report 11- 12 Chief Executive Officer’s Report 13 NBN IN NUMBERS 15- 16 PUTTING PARTNERSHIP INTO PRACTICE Working to achieve the NBN vision together 17-18 A word from our members 19- 32 Realising the NBN Strategy 2015 - 2020 together 33-34 Strategic Aim 01 35- 40 Strategic Aim 02 41- 46 Strategic Aim 03 47- 54 Strategic Aim 04 55- 58 Strategic Aim 05 59- 64 FINANCIAL REVIEW Statement of financial activities 67-78 Administrative information 79-80 w Photocredits: Natural England: www.flickr.com/photos/naturalengland/ Andy Howard: www.andyhoward.co.uk; pages 8, 35, 47, 59 Allan Drewitt: Front cover image, pages 5-6, 14, 40, 53-54, 58, 62; Julian Dave Kilby: www.davekilbeyphotography.co.uk; pages 15-16, 78, Dowse: p4; Ross Bullimore: p9, 28, 70; Peter Wakely: pages 17-18; Jenny back cover Wheeldon: pg 22; Andrew Mackintosh: pg32; Bruce Cutts: pages 43-44; Chris Gomersall: pages 65-66 Matt Berry: www.butterflyconservation.org; page 41 James Shooter: www.jamesshooter.com/index; pages 33-34 John Sawyer: pg 55 3 Contents Contents 4 BUSINESS REVIEW OF THE YEAR The NBN Strategy provides a clear mandate for sharing biodiversity information so that it can be used by all interested parties to improve the quality of decisions that affect biodiversity. 55 Business review of the year Business review of the year 66 Strategic Aim 01 Record, collect, diversify, enhance and mobilise biological data: We will grow our capacity and capability to record and collect high quality INTRODUCTION biological data. Strategic Aim 02 The National Biodiversity Network is a membership Make biological data and organisation built on principles of collaboration and sharing. information available to everyone: Our vision is that: We will continue to collaborate to embed our collective data Biological data, collected and shared openly by the Network, and knowledge creation at the are central to the UK’s learning and understanding of its heart of biodiversity learning and biodiversity and are critical to all decision-making about nature environmental decision-making. and the environment. To achieve that vision the Network authoritative understanding of Strategic Aim 03 must deliver improvements to the our natural world and will use that Captivate and engage people recording, collection, verification, knowledge effectively to educate about wildlife: We will promote the curation, aggregation, analysis and and inform. natural world, the enjoyment and use of biological data in the UK. This review of 2015 – 2016 highlights importance of observing nature and The Network’s priority is to grow the work that has taken place over biological recording and the utility the national commitment to sharing the last year to support the new NBN and power of our shared data. biological data and information. Strategy 2015 – 2020. To that end, Through this we will provide a we have information on project work comprehensive, unparalleled and that supports the five strategic aims: Strategic Aim 04 Provide the best biological information management infrastructure: We will ensure stability, security and usability for an increasingly mature data management infrastructure. Strategic Aim 05 Support the development of the NBN, its Board and its members: We will support and grow our Network as an indispensable partnership for nature and in the successful implementation of this Strategy. Phrases or terms “National Biodiversity Network”, “NBN Trust” and “NBN” all refer to the people and organisations that are members of the NBN Trust or share data via the Network. The Network employs a team to facilitate and coordinate its growth and development and that is referred to as the “Secretariat”. This Annual Report is produced by the Network’s Secretariat. 7 Business review of the year Business review of the year 8 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The past year has been a tumultuous The NBN Conference underwent one for the NBN, and overshadowing major changes in 2015. From the it all has been the sudden and tragic previous pattern of a one-day event death of our CEO, John Sawyer. held at the Royal Society, London, John was an inspirational leader of the venue moved to York and the Professor Michael Hassell the NBN and had been CEO only Conference was held over two since May 2014. During that short days. Also inaugurated, was the time he has had an enormous impact ceremony to present the new UK on the NBN, with his vision, his Awards for Biological Recording enthusiasm and energy as well as and Information Sharing, and we are This is the his hugely motivational leadership very grateful to Swarovski Optik UK first step in of his team at the Secretariat, for their sponsorship. 180 people the NBN Atlas and all his colleagues across the from across the Network attended Project for Network. John was making a huge the Conference and gave us very the whole UK difference in the way that the NBN positive feedback to continue with was moving forwards. In 18 months a two-day format in different UK that should he had started to revolutionise the locations around the country. transform our Network and its way of thinking and During the year the NBN Secretariat biodiversity working. He was the driving force has grown and we welcome Ella infrastructure. behind our new Strategy and he was Vogel and Purba Choudhury who enthusing our partners to be part of have joined the team. As usual, the exciting new direction in which the team has been the epitome of we were heading. Our thoughts are efficiency and cheerfulness. As often with his partner, Karlene Hill, I write this, our new CEO, Dr Jo and their newborn son, Rowan. Judge, has just started her new We have been very fortunate in role and we are looking forward having Rachel Stroud as Interim CEO to working with her as the NBN and she and the rest of the NBN continues to develop and flourish. team have done an excellent job Finally, I would like to thank the of making sure that this momentum NBN Board of Trustees for their is maintained and that our new wise guidance and support during Strategy continues to develop. It is the year. particularly exciting to see the NBN Atlas Scotland unfold; this is the first step in the NBN Atlas Project for the whole UK that should transform our biodiversity infrastructure. 9 Business review of the year Business review of the year 10 continuous ‘can-do’ attitude and overwhelmingly positive personality never INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE failed to shine through, even during the toughest of times. This annual report reflects John’s infectious positivity and can-do approach OFFICER’S REPORT that impacted not just his team at the NBN Secretariat but hundreds of people across the UK, but it is also an opportunity to look forward to the future and the start of a new, and exciting chapter for the NBN under the leadership of If I could use one word to sum up 2015 it has to be ‘collaboration’. 2015 feels Jo Judge. I would like you to join me in welcoming Jo into our family. We like the year that 15 years of hard work by our Network came together and have endless exciting opportunities ahead of us to continue to grow our really started to blossom. Network as the world class leaders in recording, managing, sharing, analysing and using biodiversity data that we are. Rachel Stroud Together we have seen the Strategy 2015-2020 published and implementation started, the development of the supporting Action Plan, the I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Network family creation of a new NBN Website, the NBN Atlas Scotland developed, uptake for all of your time and hard work you have put into developing the NBN of data licences on the NBN Gateway and a shift towards open data take Strategy. Now we must continue to work closely together as we move to traction across the Network. implementing the Strategy and realising our vision that: Never has The Network has started to look at how we can mobilise historic data using there been We must create a landscape we can be proud of and one crowdsourcing platforms, we had an amazing two day conference in York a more in which a new generation of biological recorders can and launched a new UK Awards Scheme, including the John Sawyer NBN pertinent Open Data Award presented to the Mammal Society who has submitted over enter, inheriting the skills and knowledge of our diverse time to work 43,000 open records to the NBN Gateway as part of their National Mammal Network and continuing to realise and harness the power together Atlas Project. We had our first two students join the NBN Secretariat and of our collective biodiversity data holdings. to show secured a PhD studentship with the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Together we can change the way biodiversity data are collected, managed, our future Exeter University to work with the Network to improve non-native species data flows. shared, analysed and used. We have custodians of a legacy of hundreds generations of years of recording time and expertise. Never has there been a more that we cared We saw a surge in social media traffic, our collective profile being raised in pertinent time to work together to show our future generations that we cared for this legacy. mainstream media and over 20,000 records being shared by consultants for this legacy. We must create a landscape we can be proud of and one in across the UK.