Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a large-scale research facility hosting a natural history collection of over 37 million objects and over 100 researchers, who are experts in a wide range of organism groups. Naturalis has active partnerships with the Universities of Amsterdam, Leiden and Wageningen. Core expertise comprise theoretical systematics and the application of modern methods for taxonomy, evolutionary reconstructions, evo-devo research, ecological niche modelling, and biodiversity assessments. The joint capability of Naturalis includes a high profile on biodiversity informatics and a research community with proven project management experience.Currently the institute is distributed, but in the coming years all activities will be concentrated in a single site. In order to facilitate this the construction of a new extension to our current main building is foreseen. Our mission is: to explore, describe and understand biodiversity for the wellbeing of man and the future of our planet.