The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership Trainer Certification Scheme

The MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme is a Kew pilot initiative that certifies qualified individuals to deliver training in seed conservation techniques across the globe.

Training content covers the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP) Seed Conservation Standards, and is designed to provide participants with knowledge and skills to successfully conserve seeds to a high standard, helping professionals meet critical global seed conservation targets.

Why do we need it?

The global demand for training in seed conservation is greater than ever before and growing. Our Trainer Certification Scheme aims to increase the global availability of training, overcome barriers, and scale up the number of professional trainers with seed banking expertise.

Launching the MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme

In June 2025, a founding cohort of qualified and experienced professionals were selected to represent their institutions as MSBP Certified Trainers. The participating institutions are supporting the trainers to manage, oversee and deliver a specially designed training course, called Seed Conservation Techniques international (SCTi).

This training course covers the main aspects of seed banking as a conservation tool, combining theory sessions with practical field and laboratory work, enabling practitioners to improve their understanding and skills. The first SCTi training courses are being delivered within the first year of this scheme.

Seven individuals pose for a photo in two rows infront of a meadow. — The participants of the inaugural MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme workshop and the MSBP's Training Certification Officer (third from right), at Wakehurst, June 2025 © RBG Kew

Three individuals examine seeds on a clipboard — Examining seeds collected from Wakehurst meadows during the inaugural MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme workshop © RBG Kew

Three scientists work around seeds in a lab — Some of the first participants of the MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme workshops practice the teaching of laboratory skills within the Millennium Seed Bank © RBG Kew

Access training from the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership

Are you interested in receiving training from the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, including training offered by a Certified Trainer?

Or perhaps you want to know more about how to become a Certified Trainer on our scheme?

Please reach out to us at MSBTraining@kew.org to explore further!

Current MSBP Certified Trainers

James Amponsah

Research Scientist and head of the National Tree Seed Centre at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana

Meg Engelhardt

Seed Bank Manager at Missouri Botanical Garden, USA

Nathan Emery

Manager Seedbank & Conservation Collections at Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Australia

Pedro León

Research Leader at Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Chile

Spyros Oikonomidis

Postdoctoral researcher, associate researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Seed Bank, Greece

Victor Otieno

Germplasm Resources Manager at Centre for Ecosystem Restoration, Kenya

Seed conservation techniques course

Learn how to collect, conserve and manage high quality, ex-situ collections of wild plant seeds.

Cryogenics work at the Millennium seed bank

Plant cryopreservation: theory and practice course

Learn how to apply different cryopreservation approaches for ex situ plant conservation.

The development, testing and launch of this scheme is part of the Global Tree Seed Bank: Unlocked project, funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation.