

the e-Science Infrastructure for
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research
Resources & Services
Access and use the resources and services for biodiversity and ecosystem researchers made available through our catalogues.
Towards the ENVRI Community International Summer School: Webinars on Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users
In the run-up to the ENVRI Community International Summer School in July, LifeWatch ERIC and ENVRI-FAIR will be organising two webinars on "Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users". Participation in the webinars can be in preparation for the School or as stand-alone sessions, for those who cannot attend the School, or those who are still considering registering. For more information on the ENVRI Community International Summer School "Road to a FAIR ENVRI-Hub: Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users", please visit the dedicated minisite. The webinars are particularly aimed at IT architects, Research Infrastructure (RI) service developers...
Biodiversity Day 2022: Gender equality is essential to accelerate progress towards biodiversity
Gender (SDG 5) is a game-changer to accelerate progress towards achieving biodiversity objectives.[1] The stakes are high, and it is therefore critical to ensure that women also have the opportunity to contribute to supporting biodiversity goals. In many parts of the world, specific daily roles for women and men mean that they have specialised knowledge in different areas of biodiversity, and also different priorities. This means both women and men have a lot to contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem management. However, women’s perspectives are often not taken into account, even though they are often more vulnerable than men to the ecological crises that arise from issues such...
ZEEKERWETEN, the citizen science festival on the Belgian coastline
Citizen science can play a major role in data collection and processing. LifeWatch Belgium always champions greater collaboration between scientists and citizens because it enhances research and strengthens support among the wider public. The LifeWatch VLIZ initiatives 'SeaWatch-B' and the annual 'Big Seashell Survey' are good examples of this invaluable citizen-scientists cross-fertilisation. In order to give people a taste of this kind of initiative, on Sunday 8 May 2022, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) organised, with many other partners, the first citizen science festival on the Belgian coastline: ZEEKERWETEN (which translates as “knowing for sure/shore”). Under the watchful eye of...
Unravelling Biodiversity in Parque das Serras do Porto
To celebrate International Biodiversity Day 2022, LifeWatch Portugal and partners are organising a 4-day BioBlitz, from 19–22 May, in collaboration with Vila do Conde – Ciência Viva Center – and the Serras do Porto Natural Park (Parque das Serras do Porto). The first two days will be dedicated to school groups and the weekend will be open to families and adults. Researchers from the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto (MHNC-UP) and the Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (BIOPOLIS/CIBIO-InBIO) are inviting everyone to step out into the wild and unravel the beautiful biodiversity of some...
LifeWatch ERIC to Collaborate in New Observatory in the Mar Menor
Three members of the LifeWatch ERIC Executive Board, alongside collaborator Professor Angel Pérez-Ruzafa, attended the Life Transfer Summit in Murcia today, to mark the opening of an observatory in the Mar Menor, an initiative in which the research infrastructure will actively collaborate. CEO Dr Christos Arvanitidis, CTO Dr Juan Miguel González-Aranda, Service Centre Director Professor Alberto Basset and Professor Ruzafa all made presentations at the meeting, which was attended by Mr Antonio Luengo, Environmental Minister of the Murcia region, to bring his support of the infrastructure on the occasion. The Life Transfer project, Seagrass Transplantation for Transitional Ecosystem Recovery, aims...
CTO Live on ‘Despierta Andalucía’ to Speak on Ecological Crises
This morning, LifeWatch ERIC CTO, Juan Miguel González-Aranda, went live on Andalusian TV to discuss the ecological crises we are facing and to explain the role, the structure, and the ambition of the research infrastructure. He spoke on the programme ‘Despierta Andalucía’ of Canal Sur, noting that the region home to the LifeWatch ERIC Statutory Seat and ICT-Core is known for its excellence in the fields of open software and sustainability research. During his interview, Dr González-Aranda explained how LifeWatch ERIC makes use of vast amounts of data and cutting-edge technology, such as remote sensing, to monitor and predict changes...
Gender Equity Consultant Africa Zanella appointed to the Climate Investment Fund
On behalf of the infrastructure, LifeWatch ERIC CEO, Christos Arvanitidis, would like to congratulate Gender Equity Consultant, Africa Zanella, for her appointment as Gender Initiatives Focal Point for the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) at the World Bank. “This is not only a fantastic achievement for Africa, but also an important honour for LifeWatch ERIC as an organisation,” said the CEO – “This is a crucial role at the Climate Investment Fund, with great responsibility – one that we know she is well-equipped to carry out, not only due to her specialisation in social science and her experience in themes of...
Rolling Out Season 2 of the LifeWatch ERIC Podcast “A Window on Science”
While the first LifeWatch ERIC podcast season focused on the Internal Joint Initiative, the construction of that Virtual Research Environment, this second season draws on the experiences of the scientists and ICT specialists involved in the five validation cases used to develop said Virtual Research Environment. Five investigations into the impact of Non-indigenous and Invasive Species on a range of environments suffering from climate change and anthropogenic pressures. Over the next three months, therefore, you will hear from the terrestrial and marine researchers, ICT technicians and software engineers, molecular geneticists and data managers who worked together in trans-disciplinary teams to construct...
Wrapping up the first year with a BiCIKL ride in Seville
One year after the debut of the BiCIKL Project, partners and research infrastructures will meet all together in person for the first time. A three-day of presentation of the tasks completed, bilateral meetings and technical forums will take place in Seville (Spain) between 2 – 4 May 2022. "We are all thrilled about this convention," Project Coordinator Prof Lyubomir Penev comments. "It is going to be a huge step forward and an important moment for planning the activities to come." During the meeting, which will be held at La Casa de la Ciencia, Seville, LifeWatch ERIC and GBIF will be presenting The Biodiversity Knowledge Hub (BKH), a structure at the core of...
Doctoral Thesis Defence on AI, Biodiversity and Sustainable Ecosystem Management
On 27 April 2022, a presentation of a doctoral thesis by doctoral candidate Francisco Pérez-Hernández, entitled "Pre- and Post-Processing Strategies in Deep Learning for Multi-class Problems in the Field of Security and Biodiversity" took place at the "Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Informática" (ETSII) of the University of Granada. This thesis is one of the results of the Thematic Centre on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning, and High Mountains Ecosystems, under the umbrella of the so-called LifeWatch ERIC SMART ECOMOUNTAINS Andalusia ERDF project, hosted by the University of Granada as one of the distributed facilities engaging with LifeWatch ERIC. This...
LifeWatch Slovenia Publishes New Research Paper
Researchers affiliated with LifeWatch Slovenia have published the research paper: “Karst Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems—Typology, Vulnerability and Protection” (Nataša Ravbar, Tanja Pipan). You can read the abstract below and click on the link to access it in full. Karst Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems—Typology, Vulnerability and Protection Nataša Ravbar, Tanja Pipan Karst groundwater dependent ecosystems (KGDEs) represent an important asset worldwide due to their ecological and socioeconomic values. In the contribution the main KGDEs of the Dinaric karst in Slovenia are presented. The main hydrological processes (i.e., extent, duration and frequency of groundwater inflow), the main biota and indicator communities, and the factors limiting the...
ENVRI Community International Summer School is back in person!
We are delighted to announce the 2022 edition of the ENVRI Community International Summer School. And this summer, we are back in person! The Summer School, now at its fifth edition, is organised by ENVRI-FAIR and LifeWatch ERIC and will take place in Lecce, Italy, from 10–15 July. This edition's title is “Road to a FAIR ENVRI-Hub: Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users”, and it will cover topics such as user interfaces, packaging of services, reusability and validation of services, and building and supporting networks through the lens of the ENVRI-Hub approach. This School is therefore mainly aimed...
IFAPA Visit LifeWatch ERIC
On Tuesday 19 April 2022, LifeWatch ERIC had the honour of receiving Lourdes Fuster Martínez, President of the Andalusian Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries, Food and Organic Production Research and Training (IFAPA) at the LifeWatch ERIC facilities in Seville, in the Italian Pavilion in La Cartuja. LifeWatch ERIC is carrying out a series of strategic collaborations with IFAPA, within the framework of agrobiodiversity, agroecology and fisheries, with a strong European and international impact.
ALL-Ready Pilot Network on Living Labs and Research Infrastructures for Agroecology
On 11 April 2022, as part of the preparatory work for the EU Partnership on Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures (ALL-Ready), LifeWatch ERIC Agroecology Officer, José Manuel Ávila-Castuera, participated in a meeting with several German ministries such as the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and funding agencies such as BLE and Project Management Jülich (JÜLICH), to demonstrate how Research Infrastructures (RIs) are a key instrument to in the transition towards agroecology. The European Commission has proposed a new initiative provisionally entitled “Accelerating farming systems transition: agroecology living labs and research...
WoRMS Video Tutorials available on LifeWatch ERIC Training Platform
Last year, the WoRMS Data Management Team (DMT), which is supported by LifeWatch Belgium, created instruction videos for the WoRMS editors, to assist them in their online editing activities. Now, the WoRMS DMT has released a series of short tutorial videos specifically aimed at its users, which have also been made available on the LifeWatch ERIC Training Platform. Are you sometimes a bit at a loss on how you can find species-related information through the WoRMS website? Maybe you are just curious on how you can efficiently search through the available distributions, specimens or literature in WoRMS? Or you want...
Towards the ENVRI Community International Summer School: Webinars on Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users
In the run-up to the ENVRI Community International Summer School in July, LifeWatch ERIC and ENVRI-FAIR will be organising two…
Biodiversity Day 2022: Gender equality is essential to accelerate progress towards biodiversity
Gender (SDG 5) is a game-changer to accelerate progress towards achieving biodiversity objectives.[1] The stakes are high, and it is…
ZEEKERWETEN, the citizen science festival on the Belgian coastline
Citizen science can play a major role in data collection and processing. LifeWatch Belgium always champions greater collaboration between scientists…
Unravelling Biodiversity in Parque das Serras do Porto
To celebrate International Biodiversity Day 2022, LifeWatch Portugal and partners are organising a 4-day BioBlitz, from 19–22 May, in collaboration…
LifeWatch ERIC to Collaborate in New Observatory in the Mar Menor
Three members of the LifeWatch ERIC Executive Board, alongside collaborator Professor Angel Pérez-Ruzafa, attended the Life Transfer Summit in Murcia…
CTO Live on 'Despierta Andalucía' to Speak on Ecological Crises
This morning, LifeWatch ERIC CTO, Juan Miguel González-Aranda, went live on Andalusian TV to discuss the ecological crises we are…
Gender Equity Consultant Africa Zanella appointed to the Climate Investment Fund
On behalf of the infrastructure, LifeWatch ERIC CEO, Christos Arvanitidis, would like to congratulate Gender Equity Consultant, Africa Zanella, for…
Rolling Out Season 2 of the LifeWatch ERIC Podcast "A Window on Science"
While the first LifeWatch ERIC podcast season focused on the Internal Joint Initiative, the construction of that Virtual Research Environment, this…
Wrapping up the first year with a BiCIKL ride in Seville
One year after the debut of the BiCIKL Project, partners and research infrastructures will meet all together in person for the…
Doctoral Thesis Defence on AI, Biodiversity and Sustainable Ecosystem Management
On 27 April 2022, a presentation of a doctoral thesis by doctoral candidate Francisco Pérez-Hernández, entitled “Pre- and Post-Processing Strategies…
Empowering Biodiversity Research Conference II
Tervuren, Belgium, 24–25 May 2022. The Empowering Biodiversity Research conference, EBR II, will take place 24–25 May 2022 at the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren.…
Green Week 2022
Brussels + online, 30 May–5 June 2022. EU Green Week is an annual opportunity to debate European environmental policy with…
DOORS General Assembly 2022
Burgas, Bulgaria, 7–9 June 2022. After a very long year of working remotely on DOORS, we are all thrilled to…
EOSC Future HPC Webinar
Online, 7 June 2022. Starting in February 2022, EOSC Future (one of the projects in which LifeWatch ERIC is currently involved) will organise ‘ask me anything’…
Assemble Plus Conference 2022 - Marine biological research at the frontier
Online, 13–24 June 2022. Participate in the Assemble Plus Conference 2022 – “Marine biological research at the frontier” which will…
BioDT Kick-Off Meeting
Espoo, Finland, 14–15 June 2022. The BioDT kick-off meeting will take place on 14 and 15 June 2022 in Espoo,…
Towards the ENVRI Community International Summer School: Webinars on Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users
Online, 17 & 23 June 2022. In the run-up to the ENVRI Community International Summer School in July, LifeWatch ERIC and ENVRI-FAIR will be…
International Data Week 2022
Seoul & online, 20–23 June 2022. The founding organisations, the International Science Council’s Committee on Data (CODATA) and World Data System (WDS), and…
World Biodiversity Forum
Davos Congress Centre, Switzerland. 26 June – 1 July 2022. Under the theme Inspiration for Action, the second World Biodiversity Forum…
AnaEE Conference 2022 – “Ecosystems services under pressure: the role of experimentation”
Prague, Czech Republic, 27–30 June 2022. AnaEE Conference 2022: Ecosystems services are crucial for society and human welfare. It is…