Foram World
A planned open educational portal for the next generation of foraminiferal specialists — structured pathways, visual guides, and expert-curated materials built on the same data that powers Nomia and Testaria.
Planned · Not yet in development
Foram World is a future phase of the platform. No timeline is committed. Its development depends on the maturity of the Nomia data layer and Testaria identification engine. This page describes the vision so the research and educator community can follow its progress and offer input.
Growing the global pool of foram specialists.
The foram specialist community is small and geographically concentrated. Laboratory identification expertise is typically acquired through direct apprenticeship — a model that doesn't scale globally and leaves researchers at institutions without a local expert without a clear path into the field.
Foram World is designed to change that. It will make structured, expert-reviewed learning materials openly accessible, reduce the barrier to entry for new researchers, and build the morphological intuition that transforms a novice into a competent identifier — using the same character framework that powers the rest of the platform.
What Foram World will provide.
Progressive content sequences that move from foram biology fundamentals to morphological character recognition to practical identification — building competency step by step.
Expert-annotated specimen imagery and schematic diagrams that illustrate the diagnostic characters used by Testaria — closing the gap between described morphology and visual pattern recognition.
Shared Character Model
Learners work with the same standardized character definitions and vocabulary that power Testaria and Nomia — so competency built in Foram World transfers directly to research practice.
Materials authored and reviewed by foram specialists, grounded in the existing literature corpus. No AI-generated scientific claims; authoritative content only.
Who Foram World is designed for.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students encountering foraminifera for the first time through oceanography, palaeontology, or earth sciences courses.
PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers who need to develop species-identification competency without a foram specialist in their immediate institution.
Course instructors who need structured, peer-reviewed teaching materials on foram morphology, taxonomy, and their role in ocean science.
Scientists from adjacent fields and scientifically literate non-specialists who want to understand why foraminifera matter for climate and ocean research.
One data model, across learning and research.
Foram World will not introduce a parallel or simplified taxonomy. Learners will work with the same standardized morphological character definitions — chamber arrangement, aperture type, wall structure — that Testaria uses for identification and that Nomia extracts from the literature. Skills built in the educational context transfer directly into the research workflow, and vice versa.
Provides the curated literature corpus and structured character records that form the evidence base for educational content.
Shares the character model and controlled vocabulary; learners practice identification on the same framework.
Foram World
Feeds trained specialists back into the community — increasing the pool of reviewers and curators for Nomia and Testaria.
⟢ Common Questions
Questions about Foram World.
When will Foram World launch?
Foram World is a planned future phase — no launch date is set. It depends on the maturity of the underlying data (Nomia) and identification engine (Testaria). We are building the foundation first.
Will content be free and open?
Yes. All educational content will be openly accessible. Where possible it will carry open licences compatible with reuse and adaptation by other institutions.
How will Foram World connect to Testaria?
Learners will practice identification on the same character model used by Testaria. Exercises will share the same vocabulary and morphological framework, so skills transfer directly to the real search tool.
Can I contribute content or expertise?
We will need foram specialists and educators to contribute, review, and validate content. If you are interested in shaping this phase, we want to hear from you.
⟢ Help Shape It
Foram World is being designed with the community.
If you are a foram specialist, educator, or early-career researcher with a stake in what an open educational platform for this field should look like, we want to hear from you before we build it.