Thoughtworks is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build a new data platform for the Natural History Museum in London.

The ‘Data Ecosystem’ will support the biodiversity monitoring already happening at the museum, starting with its ‘Urban Nature Project’, which aims to transform the museum’s five-acre site into a biologically diverse green space.

This initiative will develop new scientific tools and provide people across the UK with the skills needed to monitor, understand and protect urban nature. Understanding how wildlife is responding to change requires large volumes of data and the gardens will become a hub for urban nature identification and field survey skills.

The museum’s new Data Ecosystem will be part of a multi-year collaboration with AWS to accelerate scientific research. The Data Ecosystem will be built using AWS technologies with the museum able to capture, store, combine and compare data through AWS Cloud.

Thoughtworks was selected by the Natural History Museum to develop and build the core of this Data Ecosystem. This will include:

● An easy to onboard Data Ecosystem platform using AWS technologies, which will act as a single store for all the Natural History Museum’s UK biodiversity data

● Providing domain context and structure on how biological observations are stored and processed from various sources such as physical samples, visual observations and audio devices.

● Enhancing data analysis equivalencing observations coming from different sources.

Patrick Sarnacke, Managing Director, at Thoughtworks UK, commented, “As a business, Thoughtworks has a strong, ongoing commitment to deliver a positive social impact in the communities we serve. We are thrilled to be working with the Natural History Museum and AWS on this ground-breaking initiative that will be a catalyst for enormous positive change.”

Richard Hinton, CIO at the Natural History Museum, added, “The home to more than 80 million  specimens – and with more than five million visitors annually – the Natural History Museum is also a centre of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation. The ‘Urban Nature Project’ gives us the opportunity, through data, to advance research, to support education and help people to reassess humanity’s impact on UK biodiversity. We are delighted to work with AWS and Thoughtworks on the delivery of this ambitious project.”