University of Coimbra Herbarium Hosts Training for Angolan Technicians
From June 11 to 18, 2025, the University of Coimbra Herbarium (COI) welcomed two technicians from Angola’s Agronomic Research Institute (IIA) — Augusto Sivalele Songue and Eduardo Cassumala Chipala — for an intensive training program in botanical collection management.
The training was held under FRESAN (Strengthening Resilience and Food and Nutrition Security in Angola) / Camões, I.P., specifically within Component III, which focuses on institutional strengthening and multisectoral information management, with particular emphasis on sustainable agriculture and food security.
The main goal was to train participants in the curation and digitization of herbarium collections, and to deepen their understanding of the role of herbaria in biodiversity conservation. The program included:
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Plant collection, preparation, mounting, and pest prevention techniques;
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Restoration of herbarium specimens;
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Digitization using Specify6 software;
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Accessing and sharing data through platforms such as GBIF, POWO, and JSTOR;
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Principles of herbarium organization and management;
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An introduction to citizen science with the “Explorator” platform.
The course was conducted by the Herbarium’s team: Prof. Dr. Fátima Sales (Curator), Filipe Covelo, and Joaquim Santos (Collection Managers), and included study visits to the University of Coimbra’s Botanical Garden and Algotheque (ACOI).
This training reflects the University of Coimbra’s commitment to international cooperation, scientific knowledge exchange, and institutional capacity-building for biodiversity and food security in challenging environments.
