3.5.1 Visiting scientists and associates

Background

The Gardens encourages bona fide members of the public and other organisations who have a need or desire to study Australia's plants to use its collections and facilities provided this does not interfere with the normal duties of staff. The quality of the collections is enhanced through study by active and qualified researchers. Such researchers are formally acknowledged by the Gardens and are accorded specific access privileges.

The Gardens has established a nationwide program of associate, or affiliate, collectors, who are enthusiastic amateur or professional botanists who spend much of their time in the field searching for particular taxa of interest. They are able to take advantage of detailed regional knowledge and seasonal variability of flowering and fruiting patterns to collect material that may otherwise not be available to the Gardens. These collectors are formally accredited by the Gardens and their names are included, where possible, and the collecting permits issued to the Gardens.

Management prescriptions

Objective

The objective is to encourage collection and study of, and contribution to, the botanical collections by bona fide individuals external to the institution.

Implementation

The Gardens will maintain an associate staff program whereby accredited individuals are accorded free access to the collections and facilities for the purpose of study. Botanists from other institutions will be encouraged to visit and study the collections and will be provided free access and such equipment and facilities as may be necessary for their work.

Associate collectors will be enthusiastic individuals who have demonstrated competence and responsibility in field collecting and who are strategically located in regions of particular botanical interest. They will be trained in the techniques of botanical collecting and instructed in the obligations imposed by permits for plant collecting. Where this is acceptable to the permit-issuing bodies, associate collectors will be provided with institutional collecting permits.