Tides of Balance: the new documentary by Marine SABRES on the conservation of marine ecosystems

Marine SABRES video documentary

The EU-funded project Marine SABRES is preparing to launch Tides of Balance, a video documentary on the importance of protecting the delicate balance between marine biodiversity and the communities that depend on it. Marine SABRES, acronym for MARINE Systems Approaches for Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem Sustainability is dedicated to improving the management of Europe’s oceans and seas. Part of this effort involves bringing scientific research closer to the public, showing what it means to live with the sea, and why healthy marine ecosystems are essential for both nature and society.

The documentary is built on the voices and experiences of researchers, stakeholders, and local communities. Their stories engage a reflection on how small, practical actions can contribute to protect marine life in the face of climate change and the environmental transformations rapidly affecting our planet.

Tides of Balance follows scientists and coastal communities across Europe as they work together to understand – and respond to – these threats. Directed by Fabrizio Lecce, the documentary is set across three regions, the Tuscan Archipelago, the Arctic Northeast Atlantic and Macaronesia. Moving between landscapes and cultures, it offers an in-depth perspective on the intertwined relationship between people and the sea.

Through interviews, field research, and wildlife footage, it explores issues such as the impact of climate change on fisheries, the pressures of tourism, and the effort to find a balance between conservation and economic needs, between protecting the environment, and sustaining the local communities.

The documentary will soon be available on the LifeWatch ERIC Science Channel:
https://www.lifewatching.tv/tv-show/marine-sabres.

Stay tuned!

With the Marine SABRES team and:

  • Sveinn Agnarsson – Professor at School of Business – University of Iceland
  • Thor Sigfusson – Founder and Chairman of Iceland Ocean Cluster
  • Juana Ojeda García – Secretary of the Fishermen Association of Agaete & President of the Coastal Action Group of Gran Canaria
  • Raúl García Brink – Councillor for Environment, Climate, Energy, and Knowledge at Cabildo de Gran Canaria
    Island Government of Gran Canaria
  • Yonathan Ojeda Santana – Delegate in the Canary Islands at ARCOS Nautical Academy
    and the Madrid Federation for Motorboating
  • Javier Zaera Fernández – Owner of Spirit of the Sea

Wetland restoration projects join forces and speak to policy: read the joint White Paper

wetlands projects joint white paper

Collaboration is at the hearth of real impact in research. It is especially encouraging when members of research projects work together, combining their expertise, scientific evidence, and practical knowledge to deliver a shared message with one strong, science-based voice.

We are glad to announce the release of a joint, landmark white paper from a group of EU-funded projects on wetlands restoration: RESTORE4Cs, ALFAWetlands, REWET, WET HORIZONS, ForPet, Wetland4Change, and Palus Demos.

The paper is called “Prioritising Wetland Conservation and Restoration in Europe | United voices for more policy impact”. It collects scientific evidence, policy analysis, and direct experience from research actions across Europe, with the shared objective to push for urgent and coordinated action to halt wetland degradation, and accelerate its restoration.

In particular, drawing on evidence gathered from the collaborating projects, the white paper has identified four priority areas for policy action:

  • Improving policy coherence across sectors
  • Mobilising public and private financing
  • Enabling landscape scale implementation
  • Strengthening monitoring systems and stakeholder participation

You can read more information and download the full document here:

https://www.restore4cs.eu/sister-projects-release-joint-white-paper-calling-for-stronger-eu-action-to-protect-and-restore-europes-wetlands

Participating projects:

15th International Polychaete Conference: the role of RIs in Polychaete Biodiversity Science

IPC15 Conference

From 27 to 31 July 2026, the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum of Frankfurt (Germany) is hosting the 15th International Polychaete Conference (IPC15), bringing together researchers and students working on all aspects of polychaete biology.

From systematics and morphology, to ecology, physiology, development and evolution, each day of the conference is centred around a specific aspect of polychaete research, and is introduced by a keynote talk:

  • Thomas Bartolomaeus, from Bonn University in Germany, introduces “Morphology and Physiology”;
  • Joana Zanol, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, introduces “Taxonomy, Systematics and Phylogenomics”;
  • Monika Bright, from Vienna University in Austria, introduces “Ecology, Biodiversity & Conservation”;
  • Elaine Seaver, from Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience – USA, introduces “Model Annelids & Evo-Devo”.

The programme includes 15-minute contributed sessions and a poster exhibition. Christos Arvanitidis, LifeWatch ERIC’s CEO, is attending the Conference and presenting the abstract “From Ecology to Omics: Dataset Publication and the Role of Research Infrastructures in Polychaete Biodiversity Science“, a work involving also Daniel Martin and Rafael Sardá from the Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB, CSIC), Spain.

The talk analyses current shifts in the way marine biodiversity knowledge is produced, disseminated, and reused, taking Polychaete research as an ideal model for the investigation of these dynamics. According to this comparative analyses, genetic/genomic datasets are associated with substantially higher publication growth rates than conventional ecological datasets, particularly since the 2000s. These patterns may suggest a stronger amplification potential of properly published, standardised, interoperable, and reusable datasets, where FAIR-compliant publication practices, and the facilitating role of Research Infrastructures, have the potential to enable long-term scientific reuse of knowledge. The full abstract is available in the IPC15 Book of Abstracts.

For more information about the conference, visit: https://polychaete-association.com/ipc15-frankfurt

Join the public session of the OntoPortal Alliance 5th Workshop, in September 2026

OntoPortal Workshop Public Session

The OntoPortal Alliance is a consortium of research and infrastructure teams dedicated to promoting semantic and ontology services, in science and beyond, based on the open, collaboratively developed OntoPortal open source software (https://ontoportal.org).

The teams participating in the Alliance develop and maintain several openly accessible semantic resource repositories. This includes, among others, LifeWatch ERIC’s EcoPortal: an online space designed to collect biodiversity and ecosystem semantic resources and provide the necessary services for enabling discovery and interoperability.

From 21 to 25 September, members of the Alliance and invited guest will meet for the OntoPortal Workshop 2026 in Paris, France, hosted by the Observatoire de Paris (home to the OntoPortal-Astro team). This collaborative workshop, now at its 5th edition, revolves around technical, content, and management sessions (the details of the programme will be announced in the coming weeks). The workshop’s main goal is to consolidate the OntoPortal Alliance organisation and shared agenda.

Moreover, the organisers have also scheduled an online public session, taking place on Wednesday, 23 September from 14:00 to 17:00 CEST. It consists of a general introduction to OntoPortal, and its relation with Research Infrastructures, Data Spaces, AI and users, followed by an open Q&A session. The meeting will end with a hands-on tutorial on how to use OntoPortal.

The online workshop is suitable for those who already use an OntoPortal appliance, and also for anyone who is interested in semantic technologies for FAIR data and interoperability, such as ontology repositories, FAIR semantic artefacts, and knowledge graphs: an opportunity to discover the ecosystem, hear from community members and discuss future directions.

The workshop is completely free, but registration is required from the form at this link in order to receive the Zoom connection details by email: https://zfrmz.eu/bAXGoKYQgWZwTw27fEPr.

For more information, visit: https://ontoportal.org/happenings/news/2026/06/23/ontoportal-workshop-2026-announced.

Project RECUP-DAS members at the University of Huelva for the 3rd Executive Monitoring Committee meeting

RECUP-DAS Monitoring meeting

On 24 June, the Faculty of Experimental Sciences at the University of Huelva hosted the third Executive Monitoring Committee meeting for the RECUP-DAS project, an initiative co-funded by the European Union through the Andalusia ERDF Programme 2021–2027.

The aim of RECUP-DAS is to apply DAS (Dispersed Alkaline Substrate) technology to reduce the presence of metals resulting from acid mine drainage and to develop advanced scientific monitoring and digitalisation capabilities that will enable the assessment and tracking of the environmental recovery of the River Odiel.

The meeting was attended by Susana Benavides, Director-General for Water Resources at the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and Javier Marcial de Torre, Managing Director of the Andalusian Environment and Water Agency (AMAYA), organisations which are collaborating on the project alongside the University of Huelva and LifeWatch ERIC.

During the meeting, progress was reported on the design and planning of the new DAS plant planned for the area around Mina La Poderosa, as well as the status of the work that will enable a comprehensive assessment of its environmental impact. Among them are the development of an advanced environmental monitoring system; the integration and scientific analysis of data; and the development of digital solutions that will enable land-use managers and the scientific community to assess the progress of the environmental recovery of the river Odiel.

The day concluded with a visit to the laboratories of the Mineralogy and Environmental Geochemistry Unit at the University of Huelva, led by José Miguel Nieto, principal investigator of the Tharsis Group and a leading figure in the development and application of DAS technology in the Iberian Pyrite Belt.

About RECUP-DAS:

RECUP DAS is a project co-funded by the European Union through the Andalusia ERDF Programme 2021–2027, and launched in January 2026 as a result of a collaboration agreement between the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, the University of Huelva and LifeWatch ERIC. With a budget of 10.4 million euros, it falls under Specific Objective 2.9 of the Andalusia ERDF Programme 2021–2027, within Priority 2D STEP, which is aimed at promoting clean technologies, the ecological transition and the protection of biodiversity. As well as tackling a long-standing environmental problem linked to the discharge of water contaminated by mining activities into the ocean, the project incorporates a significant circular economy component. In this regard, research will be carried out into the reuse of solid waste generated following the treatment of acid mine drainage, as this waste may contain critical metals of strategic interest to Europe.

More info: http://lifewatch.eu/2026/01/28/recup-das

FAIR2Adapt secures EOSC Gravity funding and launches FAIR Solution webinar series

ROHub and FAIROs

FAIR2Adapt (https://www.lifewatch.eu/fair2adapt) is a multidisciplinary Horizon Europe project coordinated by LifeWatch ERIC, aiming to enable the development of comprehensive, and scientifically-sound climate adaptation strategies and plans, by transforming data into actionable knowledge.

The project has recently been selected for funding under the EOSC Gravity Inter Projects Grants call. The funded initiative, ROH-ON (https://eosc.eu/horizon-europe-projects/roh-on), will onboard two core FAIR Digital Object services -ROHub (https://www.rohub.org) and FAIROs (https://ostrails.eu/fairos) – into the EOSC Federation through the EOSC Polish Node (EOSC-PL) over the next six months.

Led by Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), with LifeWatch ERIC contributing through its connection to the OSCARS-FIESTA project (https://oscars-project.eu/projects/fair-image-analysis-across-sciences), ROH-ON establishes sustainable FAIR infrastructure for the Climate Change Adaptation community. This creates a concrete onboarding pathway for further FAIR2Adapt services.

In parallel, FAIR2Adapt launched its FAIR Solution webinar series, offering practical insights into the FAIR tools and workflows developed as part of the project. Recent episodes cover the FAIRification of urban flood risk data across Hamburg and Bremen; the use of the TIB Knowledge Loom and Knowledge Dashboard to transform scientific findings into actionable insights for city planners; and an AI-assisted literature review and claim-extraction pipeline that will support Portugal’s National Adaptation Hub.

Additional webinars will be released in the coming months.
Watch the full series on the FAIR2Adapt YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EOSCFair2Adaptproject

Highlights from BEeS 2026: Four days of biodiversity science in Plovdiv

BEeS 2026 Conference

From 7 to 10 July, the biodiversity and ecosystem research community gathered in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for LifeWatch ERIC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience Conference (BEeS 2026), bringing together 216 registrants from 28 countries (and co-located with LifeWatch ERIC’s General Assembly).

Across four days of scientific exchange, discussions, and hands-on activities, researchers and infrastructure experts explored how digital technologies (including artificial intelligence) have the potential to shape the future of biodiversity and ecosystem research.

As LifeWatch ERIC’s flagship event, each edition of BEeS is hosted by one of its Distributed Centres, and this year the spotlight was on LifeWatch Bulgaria, with the conference taking place at the Agricultural University – Plovdiv (AUP). The event opened with welcoming remarks from AUP Rector Prof. Boryana Ivanova, and Vice-rector Prof. Dimo Atanasov, alongside Prof. Alberto Basset, Interim Director of LifeWatch ERIC’s Service Centre, and Christos Arvanitidis, LifeWatch ERIC’s CEO.

The expertise of the Bulgarian Distributed Centre inspired many of this year’s conference topics, and provided the ideal setting for the official launch of the LifeWatch ERIC’s Thematic Service Working Group on Agroecology. During this pre-conference session on 7 July, the Working Group members worked together to align agroecological priorities and digital services, and to define the future roadmap and action areas of the WG.

The pre-conference programme also included updates from the other Thematic Services Working Groups: an open discussion with coordinators presenting their current activities and exploring future priorities.

From 8 to 10 July, the conference moved into its main scientific programme with 5 keynote sessions from Prof. Tatyana Bileva (Agricultural University Plovdiv), Dr. Dessislava Dimitrova (IBER-BAS), Prof. Carl Beierkuhnlein (University of Bayreuth/Universidad de Granada), Prof. Vladislav Popov (Agricultural University Plovdiv) and Dr. Anne Fouilloux (LifeWatch ERIC). The Key Notes focused on biodiversity conservation, responses to climate change, agroecology, as well as new frontiers for eScience. The speakers bios and summaries of each keynote are available here: https://www.lifewatch.eu/bees-2026-meet-the-speakers.

The contributed programme featured 70 talks distributed over several parallel sessions covering 12 scientific topics (the Book of Abstracts will be published and announced soon!). These contributions showcased the wide breadth and ranges of application of current biodiversity and ecosystem research, from ecological and environmental modelling, to data infrastructures and emerging digital tools. Presentations slides (only those where permission for publication has been granted by the authors) are available online on this page: https://www.lifewatch.eu/bees-2026-presentations.

Beyond the contributed sessions, BEeS 2026 offered opportunities for practical learning and community engagement. Participants joined 6 Masterclasses, 11 Training Sessions, a documentary screening, networking sessions, and the BioBEeS, a citizen science bioblitz dedicated to documenting Bulgaria’s animal, plant and fungal biodiversity. The initiative, launched by LifeWatch Italy, concluded during the conference Social Dinner with the announcement of the two winners: Lorenzo Braga and Sara Strah.

Acting as a platform for international collaboration in biodiversity and ecosystem research, BEeS 2026 has raised many positive comments among participants. One of them, shared in the post-conference feedback read: “This conference demonstrated that to save nature, we must first understand it in detail. Thanks to platforms like LifeWatch ERIC, science now has the digital senses to decipher ecological crises and offer real, timely technological solutions”.

We are already looking forward to the next edition. Until then, stay tuned for updates!