News
OBIS Nodes Awards 2025 - Celebrating the Community and its collective achievements!
22 December 2025
OBIS Nodes Awards 2025 at OBIS-SG-13 in Bogotá, Colombia
Held during the Nodes Coordination Group meeting at the 13th session of the IODE Steering Group for OBIS, in Bogotá, the first OBIS Nodes Awards celebrated the dedication, generosity, and collaborative spirit that define the OBIS Community. The awards highlighted the vital work carried out by OBIS Nodes, from developing local contribution capacity to actively mobilizing and publishing data in OBIS. Through the presentation of the first six Community Hero Awards—attributed to Martha Vides, Yi-Ming Gan, Carolina Peralta, Leen Vandepitte, Ei Fujioka, and Ruben Perez Perez—and the first OBIS Node Acknowledgement Award—attributed to the OBIS Black Sea Node—we celebrated the collective achievements of the entire OBIS Community, in all its diversity and collegiality. Each of the awardees embodies the spirit of open science and the belief that shared data can drive better understanding and stewardship of the ocean. Their work, from regional leadership and capacity building to advancing standards and data mobilisation, represents the very best of what our community can achieve together.
Martha Patricia Vides Casado
Martha Patricia Vides Casado is a marine biologist with nearly 30 years’ experience, working at INVEMAR in Santa Martha, Colombia. Martha has served as OBIS Co-Chair and is the current OBIS Colombia Node Manager. She has been instrumental in strengthening regional and global OBIS coordination and championing inclusivity and capacity building across Latin America and beyond. She also largely co-organized the OBIS-SG-13 meetings, demonstrating her incredible commitment to the work that OBIS achieves.
Yi-Ming Gan
This award recognizes Yi-Ming Gan, a data manager and data engineer who has been tirelessly active in OBIS as a core team member of Antarctic OBIS. Ming has co-authored and led OBIS data-quality and data-model efforts and is a key figure in our collaboration with GBIF and TDWG. Ming’s technical leadership in standards, data quality, and FAIR data practices - and willingness to share expertise with the community - have been vital to OBIS’s ability to deliver trusted biodiversity data. Her consistent good advice and expertise in the field are invaluable
Ana Carolina Peralta Brichtova
We proudly recognise Ana Carolina Peralta Brichtova, Caribbean OBIS Node Manager, researcher, and educator with strong links to a wide range of regional institutions. Through her leadership in building OBIS-LAC connections and advancing regional biodiversity data mobilisation, she has strengthened collaboration and capacity across the Caribbean and Latin America.
Leen Vandepitte
We are very pleased to acknowledge Leen Vandepitte’s long-term commitment to aligning OBIS taxonomy with global standards. As the coordinator of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), Leen has greatly improved the accuracy, consistency, and usability of species identifiers within OBIS data. The WoRMS taxonomy underpins OBIS data publishing and has been a key to our success in providing a reliable and standardised global dataset. Her dedication to quality and collaboration ensures that OBIS remains a trusted source of marine biodiversity information worldwide.
Ei Fujioka
We are honoured to acknowledge Ei Fujioka, coordinator of OBIS‑SEAMAP. Quiet in temperament but powerful in impact, Ei Fujioka has published an extraordinary ~1,234 datasets to OBIS, vastly enriching global marine biodiversity data coverage. He is an Associate in Research at the Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory (MGEL), Duke University, where he leads technical development of OBIS-SEAMAP’s data architecture, mapping tools, and visualisation workflows. Ei was the developer of the OBIS website and mapper, which ran from 2010 to 2017, and therefore was instrumental in OBIS. His leadership has supported data integration of marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, rays, and sharks into a globally accessible platform.
Ruben Perez Perez
We have a special acknowledgement that goes to Ruben Perez, who has played a key role in OBIS data coordination and quality initiatives and has contributed professionally as a data manager in European marine data networks. Ruben’s steady leadership as co-chair of the Data Coordination Group and his practical work on data standards and node support have helped OBIS stay reliable and accessible. He no longer works with an OBIS Node, but his dedication to our work has continued, and this is exceptional.
OBIS Node Acknowledgement: OBIS Black Sea Node
Last, but not least, we want to recognise the ongoing commitment of the OBIS Black Sea node. Despite incredibly difficult and adverse circumstances in the region, the Black Sea Node has continued to mobilize and share marine biodiversity data, maintain node services, and support the Black Sea ocean biodiversity community — an inspiring example of resilience and commitment to OBIS’s mission.
