Mr Laurence Livermore
Innovation Manager
Division: LS Diversity and Informatics Division
Summary
I am a digital project manager with 5 years of experience at the Natural History Museum and specialise in digitisation, biodiversity informatics and data. I have a background in entomology and am a subject editor (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) for the Biodiversity Data Journal and Zootaxa.
My current projects include:
• Project managing the development of the museum's standards and policy for mass digitisation
• Managing the delivery of web-based rapid data entry applications
• Compiling a report on the application of crowdsourcing technology in the GLAM sector
Previously I gave specialised training and support to a large (7,000+) international community of users as part of the EU-funded ViBRANT project and also eMonocot, a collaboration between RBG Kew, Oxford University and the Natural History Museum. Both projects were based on an open source Drupal-based content management system for biodiversity data (Scratchpads).
I enjoy working with data, promoting open access and collaborating widely to solve digital challenges faced by similar organisations.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, Lancaster University, United Kingdom
- MSc Entomology, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Degrees
Employment history
- Innovation Project Manager, Natural History Museum, United Kingdom, 2016 - ongoing
- Digital Analyst, Natural History Museum, Life Sciences, United Kingdom, 2013 - 2016
- e-Taxonomy Specialist, Natural History Museum, Life Sciences, United Kingdom, 2011 - 2013
- Research Entomologist, Natural History Museum, Entomology, United Kingdom, 2009 - 2011
Academic
Grants
SYNTHESYS+ Synthesis of systematic resources
Role: Principal investigatorSmith V
Co-investigator: Knapp S
Funding: H2020 Excellent Science
Total value £10,000,000 (to Museum £1,561,559.53)
Dates: 2019 - 2023
Bringing back Malaysia's Natural Heritage Held Overseas in Digitized Format (Wallace's Type Collection)
Role: Principal investigatorHardy H
Role: Co-investigator
Funding: Yayasan Hasanah Foundation
Total value £70,000 (to Museum £70,000)
Dates: 2017 - 2018
Consultancy
AntCat Technical & Editorial Workshops
2013 - 2013.
Editorships
Editor, ZooKeys, Pensoft, 2016 - on going.
Editor, Zootaxa, Magnolia Press, 2014 - on going.
Managing editor, Biodiversity Data Journal, Pensoft, 2013 - on going.
Publications
Allan EL, Livermore L, Price B, Shchedrina O, Smith V (null) A Novel Automated Mass Digitisation Workflow for Natural History Microscope Slides. Biodiversity Data Journal, 7 : doi: 10.3897/bdj.7.e32342
Dillen M, Groom Q, Chagnoux S, Güntsch A, Hardisty A, Haston E, Livermore L, Runnel V, Schulman L, Willemse L, Wu Z, Phillips S (null) A benchmark dataset of herbarium specimen images with label data. Biodiversity Data Journal, 7 : doi: 10.3897/bdj.7.e31817
Roux MML, Wilkin P, Balkwill K, Boatwright JS, Bytebier B, Filer D, Klak C, Klopper R, Koekemoer M, Livermore L, Lubke R, Magee A, Manning J, Paton A, Pearce T, Slingsby J, van Wyk B-E, Victor J, von Staden L (2017) Producing a plant diversity portal for South Africa. Taxon, 66 (2) : 421 - 431. doi: 10.12705/662.9
Broad G, Dale-Skey N, Askew R, Noyes J, Livermore L (null) Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - Chalcidoidea and Mymarommatoidea. Biodiversity Data Journal, 4 : e8013 - e8013. doi: 10.3897/bdj.4.e8013
Hudson LN, Blagoderov V, Heaton A, Holtzhausen P, Livermore L, Price BW, van der Walt S, Smith VS (null) Inselect: Automating the Digitization of Natural History Collections. PLOS ONE, 10 (11) : e0143402 - e0143402. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143402
Fernandes JAM, Mitchell PL, Livermore L, Nikunlassi M (2015) Leaf-footed bugs (Coreidae), In: True Bugs (Heteroptera) of the Neotropics, Panizzi AR, Grazia J (Eds). Springer : 924.
Livermore L, Lemaître VA, Dolling WR, Webb MD (2014) Coreoidea Species File Online .
Liston A, Knight G, Broad G, Livermore L, Sheppard D (null) Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - Sawflies, ‘Symphyta’. Biodiversity Data Journal, 2 : e1168 - e1168. doi: 10.3897/bdj.2.e1168
Broad G, Livermore L (null) Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - Ceraphronoidea. Biodiversity Data Journal, 2 : e1167 - e1167. doi: 10.3897/bdj.2.e1167
Broad G, Livermore L (null) Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - Evanioidea. Biodiversity Data Journal, 2 : e1116 - e1116. doi: 10.3897/bdj.2.e1116
Hudson L, Livermore L, Blagoderov V (null) Developing Edge Detection Technology for Natural History Images. 1 - 6.
Livermore L (2014, 1 1) Scratchpads – an online platform for biodiversity data. National Forum for Biological Recording
Smith V, Georgiev T, Stoev P, Biserkov J, Miller J, Livermore L, Baker E, Mietchen D, Couvreur T, Mueller G, Dikow T, Helgen KM, Frank J, Agosti D, Roberts D, Penev L (null) Beyond dead trees: integrating the scientific process in the Biodiversity Data Journal. Biodiversity Data Journal, 1 : e995 - e995. doi: 10.3897/bdj.1.e995
Blagoderov V, Kitching I, Livermore L, Simonsen T, Smith V (null) No specimen left behind: industrial scale digitization of natural history collections. ZooKeys, 209 : 133 - 146. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.209.3178
Smith V, Rycroft S, Brake I, Scott B, Baker E, Livermore L, Blagoderov V, Roberts D (null) Scratchpads 2.0: a Virtual Research Environment supporting scholarly collaboration, communication and data publication in biodiversity science. ZooKeys, 150 : 53 - 70. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.150.2193
Garner BH, livermore L, Price B, Allan L, durrant J, vogler A (null) Combining natural history collections and large-scale image analysis for a novel taxonomy of ground beetles (Lebiinae: Carabidae). Entomological collections Network, 411 11 - 4 11 11
Livermore L (null) Coreoidea Species File Online: Learned in Creating a Comprehensive Taxonomic Inventory.
Courses taught
MSc: Taxonomy and Biodiversity
2/2013.
MSc: Plant Diversity (Biodiversity Informatics tools; Scratchpads)
2/2013 - on going.
Invited and keynote speaker
Invited speaker, Transcription Platforms: Improving access, usability and enriching data natural history specimens, SPNHC 2017 - Biodiversity Informatics 101: The Curtis, Denver, United States, 18/6/2017.
Invited speaker, Setting 4.5 billion years of natural history data free, Over the Air 2016: Over the Air 2016, St John's Hoxton, London, United Kingdom, 25/12/2016.
Invited speaker, Mass digitisation at the NHM, London, Computer Vision Workshop: Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden, 24/10/2016.
Invited speaker, Troubleshooting industrial insect digitisation, International Congress of Entomology: Orange County Convention Centre, Orlando, United States, 26/9/2016.
Invited speaker, Inselect - applying computer vision to facilitate rapid record creation and metadata capture, Entomological Collections Network 2016 annual meeting: Orlando, United States, 24/9/2016.
Emerging Informatics Technologies, Royal Entomological Society - Insect Taxonomy Special Interest Group: 3/12/2015.
Invited speaker, Crowdsourcing Europe, NBN Crowdsourcing Data Capture Summit: 25/9/2015.
Digital Collections Programme: A structured approach to mass digitisation, SPNHC Conference 2015 - Specimens Full Circle: Collection to Digitization to Data Use. 21 May 2015.: 21/5/2015.
Inselect: an innovative tool for automating digitisation of natural history collections, SPNHC Conference 2015 - Specimens Full Circle: Collection to Digitization to Data Use: 21/5/2015.
Invited speaker, Scratchpads: An online platform for biodiversity data, NFBR and BES Conference: 23/4/2015.
Invited speaker, Scratchpads: Virtual Research Environments for taxonomic and biodiversity related data, e-Flora of South Africa to Online World Flora Workshop: 27/11/2014.
Rapid Data Entry: Supporting high-throughput digitisation workflows in EMu, Taxonomic Data Working Group (TDWG) Conference: 28/10/2014.
Applied Edge Detection in Zoological Collections: Inselect Prototype, SYNTHESYS3 AGM - JRA Highlights: 7/9/2014.
Invited speaker, Coreoidea Species File Online: Lessons Learned in Creating a Comprehensive Taxonomic Inventory, Fifth Quadrennial Meeting of the International Heteropterists' Society: 22/7/2014.
Making molehills out of mountains: Crowdsourcing digital access to natural history collections, SPNHC Conference 2014 - Progress in Digitisation: 26/6/2014.
Click to submit: rapid publication through Scratchpads and the Biodiversity Data Journal, MONOCOTS V: 5th International Conference on Comparative Biology of Monocotyledons: 8/7/2013.
A paradigm shift in publishing: Scratchpads Publication Module, RGB Kew Science Seminar: 17/4/2013.
Coreoidea Species File: Writing an online catalogue for the leaf-footed bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae), 14/11/2012.