Geobiodiversity Database (GBDB) Workshop
Over the past decade, the rapid growth of online paleontological and stratigraphic repositories has transformed our ability to trace Earth’s biodiversity through deep time. Numerous databases have been developed to address key questions in Earth sciences, enhancing our understanding of both the planet’s biological and geological history, as well as its future.
Despite these advances, researchers still face major challenges: harmonizing data across platforms, addressing sampling biases, and applying new analytical techniques to increasingly large and complex datasets.
The Geobiodiversity Database (GBDB), based at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, has been in development for over a decade. Its unique data infrastructure and high-resolution stratigraphic coverage have supported research in macrostratigraphy, biogeography, and lithogeography. With a continuous record of both fossiliferous and unfossiliferous strata, the GBDB has great potential to complement other major databases. Its integration with global platforms is no longer optional but part of a necessary trend in data-driven paleoscience.
To strengthen our engagement with modern analytical paleobiology and to better understand the possibilities of various data platforms, it is essential to stay connected with recent scientific findings, advanced methods, and the strengths and limitations of both GBDB and comparable systems.
We are pleased to announce the upcoming GBDB Workshop, which will serve as a regular platform for data-driven research rooted in the GBDB and its interaction with other international databases.
This workshop will feature presentations by invited experts as well as researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, on recent advances in database development, fossil data integration, phylogenetic and diversity analyses, and tools for improved data access and visualization. Topics will include macrostratigraphic synthesis, trait-based reconstructions, and quantitative biogeography. These sessions will highlight how collaborative, database-based research is contributing to new insights into the history of life on Earth. We hope the workshop will encourage new perspectives and strengthen cooperation across paleobiological data communities.
Invited Speakers (in alphabetical order)
· Adam Kocsis– University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
· Alycia Stigall – University of Tennessee
· Amelia Penny –University of Edinburgh
· Danijela Dimitrijevic – University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
· Daven Quinn– University of Wisconsin-Madison
· David Harper – Durham University
· Facheng Ye – Stazione zoologica Anton Dohrn di Napoli
· Lee Hsiang Liow – University of Oslo
· Melanie Hopkins – American Museum of Natural History
· Moriaki Yasuhara – University of Hong Kong
· Shan Ye – National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy
· William Foster – University of Hamburg
· Wolfgang Kiessling – University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
· Yanhong Pan – University of Nanjing
Workshop organizing structure
Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China; Key Laboratory of Palaeontology and Stratigraphic Applications in Oil and Gas; Big Data Center, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
Organizer: Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Convener：Li Qijian (Big Data Center, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Time & Location
Dates: September 22–23, 2025
Venue: Library Meeting Room, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
Address: 39 Beijing East Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing 210008, China
Schedule Overview
l September 21: Arrival and registration
l September 22: Macro-scale biodiversity patterns, phylogenetic and functional innovations, macroecology
l September 23 morning: Cross-database integration and data gap identification
Registration
We welcome all interested students and researchers. Please complete the attendance form and email it to gbdb@nigpas.ac.cn so we can estimate the number of participants.
Contacts
Qijian Li: +86 025-83288823
Lin Na: +86 025-83282281
Shasha Liu:+86 155-5311-1773
Jiangxue Deng:+86 132-8408-8586
Email: gbdb@nigpas.ac.cn
Presentation Format
Each talk is scheduled for 20 minutes, including time for questions and discussion.
The language of the workshop is English.
Download：