AEGIS Plus
Reinforcing European ex situ conservation through AEGIS implementation and capacity building
Short title: AEGIS Plus
| The project 'AEGIS Plus' is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity |
Activity Coordinator: ECPGR Secretariat
- Project proposal (212,1 KB)
Timeframe
15 November 2025 – 31 December 2026
Project short description
Building on the New AEGIS project, the follow-up initiative AEGIS Plus will continue strengthening the European genebank system by:
- Improving operational quality
Advancing quality monitoring tools and updating core operational guidance - Strengthening genebank capacity
Supporting technical skill development and promoting consistent procedures across AEGIS partners - Enhancing accessibility and impact
Assessing the availability, use and distribution of AEGIS material to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement.
Planned activities include:
- Metrics Tool Integration Workshop: A 2-day training for documentation officers to install and implement the metrics tool at an AEGIS genebank
- Operational Manual Template: Preparation of a revised and more accessible manual template by a dedicated expert group
- Technical Hackathons: Two 2-day, hands-on workshops in different locations for curators to align best practices for core operations (e.g. germination testing, drying)
- Safety Duplication Support: Facilitation of safety duplication for up to 700 AEGIS accessions in a foreign genebank
- Peer Review Visits: Reciprocal reviews among 12 genebanks – including at least three field orchards – to exchange knowledge and improve standards
- Accessibility Desk Study: A CGN–ECPGR-led analysis of request levels, accessibility, and distribution of AEGIS accessions over the past five years, supported by a questionnaire and bilateral follow-up. Findings will be synthesized in a report, with potential publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Implementation
February 2026
The Workshop on Genebank Metrics, developed within the framework of the New AEGIS project, was held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 24-25 February 2026, hosted by CARC. The workshop brought together 11 documentation specialists from 9 European countries, guided by trainers Theo van Hintum (CGN), Stephan Weise (IPK) and Filippo Guzzon (Kew), and observers from the Crop Trust and Japan.
Participants focused on reviewing, testing and planning the implementation of genebank metrics across European genebanks – an important step towards more consistent and comparable quality management and monitoring practices within the AEGIS network.
The metrics discussed and tested during the workshop are published and freely available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S147926212510021X
The report of the meeting is available here
Agenda (280,9 KB) | List of participants (221,2 KB) | Photos | Presentations | Report
Genebank Metrics Workshop – Presentations
| Title | Author(s) |
| AEGIS Plus Genebank Metrics Workshop (1,9 MB) | Theo van Hintum |
| Metrics description (1,8 MB) | Filippo Guzzon |
| Use of the genebank metrics in aggregatorinformation systems like EURISCO and Genesys (1,5 MB) | Stephan Weise, Matija Obreza |
| Genebank Metrics – Insights in the CGN collection (1,0 MB) | Laura Reiniers |
| Application of the genebank metrics to the German Federal Ex Situ Genebank for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (1,2 MB) | Stephan Weise, Ulrike Lohwasser, Markus Oppermann |