ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN EDINBURGH

Their core work

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is one of the world's leading centres for plant science, taxonomy, and biodiversity research, with living collections spanning over 13,000 plant species. In H2020, they contribute botanical and taxonomic expertise to large-scale European research infrastructure initiatives, particularly around digitising and networking natural science collections. They also engage in public science communication on food security and train the next generation of plant identification specialists through molecular systematics research.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

RBGE's early H2020 involvement (2016-2018) centred on public engagement around food security (BigPicnic) and training in plant molecular identification (Plant.ID) — applied botany with an outreach dimension. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward research infrastructure: digitising scientific collections, building pan-European data systems (SYNTHESYS PLUS, DiSSCo Prepare), and contributing to ESFRI roadmap initiatives. This represents a clear move from individual research topics toward becoming a node in Europe's distributed natural history infrastructure.

RBGE is positioning itself as a key participant in the DiSSCo distributed research infrastructure, signalling long-term commitment to European-scale digitisation and data sharing for natural science collections.

How they like to work

RBGE exclusively participates as a partner rather than leading consortia, joining large networks — their 81 unique partners across 25 countries from just 4 projects indicates they operate in very large consortia typical of research infrastructure projects. This makes them a reliable, well-connected contributor who brings deep domain expertise without seeking the coordination burden. For potential partners, this means RBGE is experienced at integrating into complex multi-national teams.

Despite only 4 projects, RBGE has collaborated with 81 unique partners across 25 countries — a remarkably wide network driven by participation in large-scale infrastructure consortia. Their reach is genuinely pan-European, with no apparent geographic concentration.

What sets them apart

RBGE is not just a garden — it holds one of the most significant herbarium collections globally and brings centuries of taxonomic authority to European digitisation initiatives. Unlike university botany departments, RBGE combines active living collections, a world-class herbarium, and field research programmes, making it a uniquely credible partner for any project involving plant biodiversity data or natural history collection access. Their direct involvement in DiSSCo (an ESFRI landmark) positions them at the heart of Europe's emerging natural science data infrastructure.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SYNTHESYS PLUS
  Largest single grant (EUR 474,954) and part of the flagship initiative to synthesise and provide transnational access to Europe's systematic biology resources.
• DiSSCo Prepare
  Preparatory phase of an ESFRI-roadmap research infrastructure — participation signals RBGE's strategic commitment to Europe's long-term scientific collections network.
• Plant.ID
  Marie Curie training network that directly reflects RBGE's core taxonomic expertise in molecular plant identification.