Across November and December 2025, the NBN Trust’s NBN Atlas and Better Biodiversity Data teams kept the spotlight on the Trust’s growing achievements. This included further showcasing of the NBN Atlas’ development through the Accelerator Projects as well as building confidence in the new NBN Record Manager tool.
From 3 – 6 November, Michael Tetley and Neil Harris joined the annual online Better Data Community of Practice Conference in Scotland, presenting progress on BBD+1, the NBN Record Manager, and the developing data migration plan. The session on 5 November attracted around 50 attendees from public bodies, local authorities and research organisations (including NatureScot, Scottish Government, SEPA, and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), underlining strong appetite for shared solutions, practical learning, and clear next steps towards a National Hub for Scottish Biodiversity Data.
The team then headed to Bristol for the NBN Conference on 20 November, alongside meetings with the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies and NBN Atlas Stakeholder Advisory Group on 19th. With 170 delegates at the Conference, spanning NGOs, national recording schemes, local recording groups, statutory agencies, researchers, LERCs and commercial partners, the Trust’s BBD and NBN Atlas teams hosted an exhibition stand, shared BBD project updates, and offered a guided demo plus a recorded showcase of the NBN Record Manager – helping delegates see how the tools and workflow are quickly developing.
At the end of November, Christine Tansey headed to Belfast for a conference in celebration of 30 years of the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR), Northern Ireland’s hub for biodiversity data. Presenting an update of the NBN Trust’s work in connecting people, data and nature, the role of the NBN Atlas Northern Ireland was highlighted to delegates.
Back in Scotland, a BBD+1 update at the final BRISC AGM on 26 November introduced around 30 attendees to the successor-system work for Scotland and the collaborative co-design process underpinning it.
Momentum later continued at the British Ecological Society (BES) Annual Meeting in Edinburgh (15–18 December). Michael Tetley and Christine Tansey engaged ~1,600 delegates, connected with researchers from around 35 UK universities, and tracked discussions on strengthening statutory biodiversity metrics, while joining the UKCEH workshop which looked at the potential for a future UK Biodiversity Observation Network (UK BON) linked to GEO BON.