Accelerated Taxonomy

Head of department: Dr Isabel Larridon

Taxonomy is the science of naming, identifying and classifying living organisms.

It is the bedrock of the scientific study of life: any research involving living organisms needs a taxonomic point of reference and it is therefore hugely important to the global scientific community, yet in need of increased resource and focus.

Taxonomy has been the backbone of Kew’s scientific research since the organisation’s establishment, and our collections and taxonomic experts are essential to the processes of discovering, describing and conserving biodiversity.

Drawing on increased data availability and new tools and technologies, including phylogenomics and machine learning, we will push the frontiers of taxonomic research to accelerate the characterisation and identification of species in near real-time.

We will also develop methods for speeding up the discovery of hidden diversity in natural history collections.

Department initiatives

Documenting Biodiversity: accelerating the description, naming and classification of plants and fungi
The Tree of Life: expanding and populating the tree of life for plants and fungi
Innovating Species Identification: developing and implementing new identification tools for recognising species
Tropical Important Plant Areas: identifying priority areas for plant conservation in biodiverse tropical countries