OBIS Community Heroes Awards: celebrating the people behind the data
2025 awardees
Photo: IOC/OBIS
OBIS has reached a very special moment in its story: the presentation of the first ever OBIS Community Hero Awards, celebrating the dedication, generosity, and collaborative spirit that define the OBIS community.
The establishment of the Node Coordination Group has been a real step-change for engagement across OBIS. It has created a space where ideas, expertise, and support can flow between Nodes and regions. And it provides the perfect forum to reflect on shared achievements, and to recognize a number of colleagues who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to this network and to open ocean biodiversity data.
These Community Hero Awards are about people: those who, through their daily work and quiet persistence, strengthen the foundation of OBIS. They are data managers, educators, and scientists who ensure that knowledge is shared, standards are advanced, and connections are strengthened across regions and generations.
This year, there are six awards. The nominations came from across the Node community and from the OBIS Executive Committee, whose guidance, energy, and support of this initiative deserve particular thanks. Together, they have helped identify individuals who exemplify what it means to be part of the OBIS community: people who make collaboration possible and easier, and who remind us that the strength of OBIS lies not in its systems or databases, but in its people.
In celebrating six outstanding contributors, OBIS also celebrates its own collective achievement: a global partnership that continues to grow, evolve, and inspire. 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 mobilization, represents the very best of what this community can achieve together.
Martha Vides
Martha Patricia Vides Casado is a marine biologist with nearly 30 years’ experience, working at INVEMAR in Santa Marta, 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. The meeting at which these awards were presented was organized by Martha and with financial support from INVEMAR, which demonstrates 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 the 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.
Carolina Peralta
Ana Carolina Peralta Brichtova is 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 mobilization, she has strengthened collaboration and capacity across the Caribbean and Latin America.
Leen Vandepitte
This award acknowledges 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 OBIS’s success in providing a reliable and standardized global dataset. Her dedication to quality and collaboration ensures that OBIS remains a trusted source of marine biodiversity information worldwide.
Ei Fujioka
Ei Fujioka is coordinator of OBIS-SEAMAP. Quiet in temperament but powerful in impact, he has published an extraordinary ~1,234 datasets to OBIS, vastly enriching global marine biodiversity data coverage. He is 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 visualization workflows. Ei was the developer of the OBIS website and mapper which ran from 2010 to 2017, and was therefore 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
A special acknowledgement goes to Ruben Perez, who has played key roles 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 the work has continued: this is exceptional.
OBIS Node acknowledgement: OBIS Black Sea Node
Last, but not least, OBIS recognizes 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.
