It discussed the latest developments, and where we go from here
When the first version of the Genesys portal was launched in 2011, it included accession-level data on around a third of the worldwide total, from the databases of three of the world’s largest genebank networks: EURISCO, CGIAR and USDA-NPGS.
Since then, the Genesys portal has evolved to include a plethora of new tools and functionalities, 37 new data providers joined the community, and the passport data available on the platform doubled to around 4,200,000 accessions.
The development of Genesys in the past decade has been guided by a small group of international specialists on the documentation of PGRFA - initially called the Genesys Task Force, then the Oversight Committee. The name of this expert group finally settled on the Genesys Advisory Committee, after the Terms of References were formalized six years ago.
The Advisory Committee is currently composed of six experts:
Peter Wenzl, CIAT/CGIAR
Semíramis Rabelo Ramalho Ramos, EMBRAPA, Brazil
Stephan Weise, IPK, Germany
Francisco Lopez, ITPGRFA
Sunil Archak, NBPGR, India
The Secretariat of the ITPGRFA and the Crop Trust are represented by an ex officio member. The group selects one of the members as a Chairperson every two years. Currently the Committee is chaired by Dr Christopher Richards from USDA-ARS.
The Committee convenes on a quarterly basis to catch up on the latest Genesys developments, and provide their opinions on the organization, operations and activities of the Genesys Management Team.
The latest committee meeting took place virtually on Wednesday, 23 June 2022 - and the agenda was packed. The session started with a brief update on the new data and user interface of the platform, as well as the latest presentations and webinars made by the Genesys team. This was followed by a discussion on various options for increasing user engagement on the portal and on how to approach more genebanks to join Genesys as new data providers.
The Crop Trust thanks the Committee members and Chair for their commitment and continued support.