BRAHMS is developed at the Department of Biology, University of Oxford.
Updated January 2026
BRAHMS includes a diverse range of practical tools for managing preserved and living collections together with features that support research in systematics, biogeography and the analysis of diversity, all encouraging and facilitating publication of data otherwise locked up in collection archives.
BRAHMS development started around 1990 with an initial focus on taxonomic research and herbarium management, hence the name Botanical Research And Herbarium Management System. Over the years, the system broadened its capabilities with heavy investment in managing data for botanic gardens, seed banks and field surveys and, in particular, integrating data across collection types in larger institutions.
Fast forwarding to 2026, the system is now deployed globally with projects ranging in size from the taxonomic revisions of small genera to managing some of the world's largest herbaria, botanic gardens and seed banks. The largest single database with over 7 million museum specimens runs at the Naturalis Museum in the Netherlands. The country with the largest number of individual projects is Brazil.
Software updates are issued several times each year, these documented on our software revisions page. Full user guidelines are provided in the BRAHMS user guide.
The project, developed and managed by Denis Filer and Andrew Liddell, is based in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford. Software licensing is managed by Oxford University Innovation (OUI).
Click here to see a range of BRAHMS projects.
BRAHMS project
Department of Biology
University of Oxford
South Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3RB
UK
Technical queries: brahms@biology.ox.ac.uk
Licensing queries: brahms@innovation.ox.ac.uk