That’s a wrap! Marine SABRES fair at FIMAR 2025

marine sabres in fairs at FIMAR 2025

On June 6-8 2025, LifeWatch ERIC and ULPGC-ECOAQUA (University Institute for Research in Sustainable Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems) presented the project Marine SABRES at FIMAR 2025, the Feria Internacional del Mar (International Sea Fair) in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, co-organising one of the “Marine SABRES in Fairs” series events.

The event, which symbolically ended on World Oceans Day, was a truly inspiring international event, confirming itself as an important event for the blue economy of the Canary Islands and the other archipelagos of Macaronesia: the estimated number of visitors at FIMAR 2025 over the weekend was around 14,000 people (as declared in digital press and social networks of FIMAR 2025). World Oceans Day fitted perfectly with the philosophy of FIMAR 2025, which was organised with the important vocation of disseminating scientific knowledge accumulated around the oceans. This event not only invites us to reflect on the challenges facing our oceans, but also reinforces our collective commitment to their conservation through innovation, education and responsible action.

Approximately 1,000 visitors, including students, families with children, and the general public at large, stopped by ULPGC-ECOAQUA stand and learned more about the importance of marine biodiversity and ecosystems, or how to restore marine biodiversity and support a sustainable blue economy by increasing the uptake of ecosystem-based management.

More in detail, the “Marine SABRES in fairs” event highlighted the activities carried out in the Macaronesia DA in the framework of the project Marine SABRES, with a special focus on the marine biological corridor between the Azores, Madeira and Canary archipelagos, as well as ecotourism best practices that partners aimed to promote in this area to foster a sustainable blue economy.
Researchers of the ECOAQUA-ULPGC team got a chance to show Macaronesian rich biodiversity and valuable marine ecosystems in the Canary Islands through samples and other materials, e.g. telling people about the importance of rodolith beds as a benthic habitat for biodiversity conservation.

The team also showed the videos realised by the LifeWatch Italy Multimedia Production Centre in the framework of Marine SABRES documentary activities; research aims and results achieved so far were also presented with the help of a project brochure and a poster.

For more information about the project, visit Marine SABRES official website:
www.marinesabres.eu

Have a look at our photogallery, enjoy all the moments of this incredible event exploring marine biodiversity and ecosystems, sustainability and blue economy!

Watch our documentary trailers on LifeWatching YouTube Channel and WebTV platform

Upscaling biodiversity

upscaling biodiversity bill kunin

“Biodiversity is intrinsically scale-dependent”. Bill Kunin, Professor at the University of Leeds, in this second BioDT Talks tackles one of spatial ecology’s biggest challenges: how do we accurately upscale biodiversity data?

One of the reason that makes upscaling biodiversity challenging is that biodiversity is an unusual variable. Unlike simple additive variables, biodiversity is subadditive: two areas with 6 and 4 species don’t necessarily contain 10 species together due to potential overlap in the species you had in the different samples. This makes scaling from local observations to regional or global assessments particularly complex.

Why does upscaling biodiversity matter? Prof. Kunin explains how it helps us to estimate biodiversity in little-know areas; to predict larger-scale effects from fine-scale experiments; to monitor biodiversity changes across multiple scales; to model spatially realistic futures (e.g. developing more accurate digital twins of ecosystems, linking local and coarser scale patterns); to understand how threats like habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and climate change impact biodiversity differently at various scales.

Enjoy the video on LifeWatching Channel website!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Digital Twins solutions for all companies!

Digital Twins solutions for all companies!

What are the barriers still preventing the adoption of ICT technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises?
There are still many obstacles to overcome, such as the high initial costs to develop and exploit Digital Twins, the lack of in-house technical expertise needed to manage and maintain Digital Twin solutions, limitations and fluctuations in human resources available for innovation projects, the resistance to change, the lack of awareness and understanding of the benefits and potential applications of Digital Twins, regulatory and compliance issues. Moreover, companies frequently worry about the time and efforts required to achieve a return on investment from Digital Twin implementations. The uncertainty about measurable economic benefits may prevent them from investing in innovation.

In this sixth and last episode of BioDT Talks, Francesca Flamigni, Innovations Project and Funding Manager at TTTech, shares insights of the Change2Twin project, a collaborative initiative that aimed at accelerating the digital transformation of companies across Europe by harnessing the power of Digital Twin technology.
More in detail, Change2Twin project has crafted a comprehensive framework designed to provide targeted support tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
This framework is based on the best practices developed within the I4MS initiative, which stands for ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs, and comprises an array of services, including training programs, financial incentives, and scalable Digital Twin solutions.

Watch the video and find out more!!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Ecological systems: new insights from ecoinformatics

ecological systems

Imagine standing on the edge of a vast forest, its canopy alive with the chatter of birds, the rustle of leaves, and the occasional flash of colour from a darting butterfly. Now picture this forest fading: a vibrant, thriving ecosystem replaced by silence, its trees felled one by one. What would we lose? What might we gain? This scene isn’t a distant possibility – it’s unfolding now. From the peaks of the highest mountains to the depths of the oceans, life thrives. Yet, the biodiversity that sustains humanity is in steep decline. The benefits we once relied upon – clean air, fertile soil, food, and protection – are increasingly uncertain.
With this vivid visualisation of the current biodiversity crisis, Alejandro Ordonez Gloria, Associate Professor at the Aarhus University Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), opens the first episode of the BioDT Talks, a new 6-part series exploring how data, science, and technology are reshaping our response to the biodiversity crisis.

A theme that is very timely with International Biodiversity Day 2025, celebrated on 22 May 2025 under the theme “Harmony with nature and sustainable development”, to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the urgent need to stop its loss, as recognised by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

In this opening talk, Dr. Ordoñez introduces the field of ecoinformatics, where AI, remote sensing, and ecological theory are combined to forecast the future of nature and guide proactive decision-making. From predicting species shifts to building Digital Twins of ecosystems, today’s tools give us a historic opportunity: not just to see what’s coming, but to choose a different outcome.
By illustrating the current, different approaches of ecoinformatics, he underlines how computational models generate plausible scenarios of biodiversity change while highlighting the role of computational approaches in assessing and prioritising conservation actions, allowing policymakers to focus on the most impactful strategies.

“We can no longer afford to be passive observers of ecological change. We must become active drivers of it […] The ecoinformatics toolbox is transforming science from a reactive perspective of change to a proactive perspective of change, one in which we can think about which actions do we need to take to get us to the future where we want to be in. And by doing this, we will be able to model where do we want nature to be into the future”, he says.

Enjoy the video on LifeWatching Channel website!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Fighting pandemics with urgent computing in drug discovery

Fighting pandemics with urgent computing in drug discovery

What does computer science have to do with fighting pandemics?
In our fifth BioDT Talks episode, Prof. Gianluca Palermo of Politecnico di Milano reveals how in-silico drug discovery and urgent computing are revolutionising medicine.

With drug development costing up to $2 billion per medication, computer simulations are accelerating research by evaluating thousands of potential treatments against disease targets before expensive lab testing begins.
We all have in mind what happened five years ago during the COVID19 pandemic. During a pandemic, time is a critical factor: finding a medical treatment or a vaccine in short time can limit and reduce the spread of a virus. Well, supercomputers helps a lot in this.
Discover how supercomputers with urgent computing protocols helped combat COVID-19 by tracking viral spread, understanding infection mechanisms, and identifying potential treatments, all at unprecedented speed.

Watch now to see how computational power is becoming one of our most powerful tools against future health crises!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

A revolution in conservation research with FAIR data and biodiversity Digital Twins

A revolution in conservation research with FAIR data and biodiversity Digital Twins

Remember struggling to find all the data you needed for a research project? You’re not alone!
In our fourth BioDT Talks episode, Joana Castro Paupério, Biodiversity Project Manager at the European Nucleotide Archive (EMBL-EBI), shares how her PhD frustrations with incomplete biodiversity data led to her passion for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles.

Imagine trying to model genetic diversity of European beetles across environments. Would you find all the necessary data? Would you be able to access crucial context information like geographic coordinates? Could you interpret the data correctly on the basis of the information available? Probably not, as unfortunately not all data produced is published in a way that it is easy to find by users. Moreover, data may often be accessible, but hard to find and interpret because it does not have enough metadata or the metadata is not structured in a standardised way.
Joana reveals how making biodiversity data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable is transforming conservation research and enabling effective Digital Twins.

Watch now to discover how the BioDT project is ensuring valuable biodiversity data doesn’t just exist but can be found, understood, and used effectively!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Transforming data into new knowledge: data pipelines for biodiversity research

Transforming data into new knowledge data pipelines for biodiversity research

“As a little girl, I was roaming around in the forest in spring, enjoying the fact that the snow had melted.
I grew up in Norway; we have long winters and looking for the spring flower was one of the favourite activities for kids…And looking for Epatica nobilis (Liver leaf) was one of the most important things we did because we got to get in the local newspaper if you were the first ones. We knew about specific places where the snow melted first and we had some hints of leaves etc that indicated that this is the place where we could find this precious flower.”

Remember searching for the first spring flowers as a child?

In our third BioDT Talks episode, Bente Lilja Bye, founder of the research and consulting company BLB, shares how her childhood quests for Hepatica nobilis in Norway and her mother’s meticulous nature diaries evolved into groundbreaking work in biodiversity data science!
The information about the first Epatica nobilis of the year and the “metadata” around these spring flowers, carefully handwritten in her mother’s diary, were her first experience collecting data, and the first repository of her life. An important channel for her to get involved in her current job.

In her talk, Bente Lilja Bye explains in particular why is worth learning about data pipelines and to build Digital Twins for biodiversity.
So, first of all, what is a Digital Twin? A Digital Twin for biodiversity is a sophisticated digital representation of ecosystems, species, and their interactions with the environment. This technology integrates various data sources to create a dynamic simulation that mirrors real-world biological systems. “A simple representation of a Digital Twin is that you have a physical system and a virtual system”, Bente Lilja Bye says. “Data or observations of the physical system are used to create the virtual system. Now, the virtual system is running models etc giving feedback into the physical system and in this way we have a loop called Digital Twin”.

The data is the core of a Digital Twin, we would not have Digital Twins without data. There are currently many sources and many types of data, and the challenge is to collect, harmonise, standardise, processing all this amount of information to put all these different types of data together. Data pipelines are essential for efficiently processing vast amounts of data and providing real-time insights for Digital Twins. In simpler words, they are systems leading from the collection and acquisition of data, to their final transformation into new knowledge or possible decisions. Moreover, data pipelines enable industry, academia, and the public sector to more efficiently share data, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration.

“By being a foundational component of a Digital Twin, a data pipeline represents a transformative approach to biodiversity conservation, offering enhanced monitoring capabilities, improved decision-making processes, predictive insights, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. And these benefits are instrumental in addressing the pressing challenges facing global biodiversity today”.
Watch the video, and find out how we can transform data into new knowledge.

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

LifeWatch ERIC & Marine SABRES at the Tropical Summit 2024

LifeWatch ERIC and Marine SABRES at Tropical Summit 2024

On 4-8 November 2024, LifeWatch ERIC attended the Tropical Summit 2024 in Lisbon, being present with a stand in the “Biodiversity and digitalisation” section of the Exhibition Hall.
The event was a key opportunity to present our Research Infrastructure to the people stopping at our booth, highlighting its main services and tools, and presenting some demos on Metadata Catalogue and EcoPortal. We also proposed a survey we prepared for the participants, that people can fill as an additional form of engagement.

Moreover, LifeWatch ERIC presented the project Marine SABRES, showing the project brochure, and the videos we produced in the framework of the project, with a special focus on the Macaronesia DA, where the climate of the islands varies from subtropical to tropical – a region that for this reason was even more connected to the themes of the conference. Here, the project is focusing on promoting a marine biological corridor between the Azores, Madeira and Canary archipelagos, especially paying attention to the management of migratory species like marine birds, mammals and big pelagic species like tuna. The benefits of ecotourism, and of conservation and restoration actions are also being evaluated. The booth promoted best practices and examples, fostered by the project’s approach, of sustainable use of marine resources and tourism, raising awareness on the importance of governance solutions to address the impacts of future economic and climate scenarios.

Approximately 50-70 people, including passionate university students and researchers, experts and representatives from the world of NGOs, start-ups and businesses coming from different tropical countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, Colombia, India etc, amongst others, visited our stand and learned more about how to restore marine biodiversity and support a sustainable blue economy by increasing the uptake of ecosystem-based management. During the event, LifeWatch ERIC also engaged with some participants to promote its Serious Game School Competition (more information here).

Have a look at our photogallery, enjoy all the moments of this incredible event exploring sustainability, resilience, and inclusive growth!

The summit
The Tropical Summit 2024 was a truly inspiring global gathering: more than 400 hundreds of individuals, representing over 50 nationalities, came together under one roof to discuss, collaborate, and drive progress toward the 2030 Agenda goals. The harsh lessons of the past, in fact, evidenced in the many unfulfilled global agendas, underlined the imperative of not treating the 2030 deadline as a distant point in the time horizon, but as an urgent reality, which requires immediate attention.

The summit sought to embrace everyone who contributes to the sustainable development of tropical regions. Therefore, the main objectives of the Tropical Summit were to promote the transfer of knowledge, catalyse stakeholder engagement, foster multidisciplinary collaboration, and contribute to the co-creation of innovative projects, accelerating the implementations of concrete and robust solutions. The focus was on driving investments, forging new partnerships, and advancing multi-actor actions through South-South-North triangular cooperation across four key domains:

  • Planetary Health: Nurturing life within the global boundaries
  • Agricultural Development: Sustainability as a path to socioeconomic progress
  • Territorial and Social Transitions: Building resilient spaces and societies in every dimension
  • Human Growth: Empowerment and technology for the times ahead

Have a look at our photogallery, enjoy all the moments of this truly inspiring conference!

For more information, please visit Marine SABRES official website: www.marinesabres.eu

Watch our documentary trailers on LifeWatching WebTV platform: www.lifewatching.tv/tv-show/marine-sabres/

That’s a wrap! Marine SABRES at the EU Researchers’ Night 2024

LifeWatch ERIC presented the project Marine SABRES at the European Researchers’ Night, a unique event to meet researchers, learn more about their work and get closer to their world for one night (and beyond). LifeWatch ERIC organised in particular the first Marine SABRES fair, that is, the initiative “Marine SABRES in fairs: biodiversity conservation and restoration, sustainable blue economy and the benefits of ecotourism”.

More than 100 people, including enthusiastic children, young people, families and the general public at large, passionate university students and researchers visited our stand and learned more about how to restore marine biodiversity and support a sustainable blue economy by increasing the uptake of ecosystem-based management in Europe (see our photo gallery here).

More in detail, during the event LifeWatch ERIC presented results and activities carried out in the framework of the project, with a special focus on this simple socio-ecological system framework designed and developed with the active support and participation of local stakeholders in three European marine regions, where researchers are developing and testing ways to balance varying combinations of conservation priorities and economic activities. The booth promoted best practices and examples, fostered by the project’s approach, of sustainable use of marine resources and tourism, raising awareness on the importance of governance solutions to address the impacts of future economic and climate scenarios.

The event was also an opportunity to premiere the last trailers of Marine SABRES’ documentary realised by the LifeWatch Italy Multimedia Production Centre (the two video trailers focused on Macaronesia and Tuscan archipelago will be soon available online – the trailer focused on the Arctic Northeast Atlantic Demonstration Area is available on LifeWatching YouTube Channel and on the Marine SABRES dedicated web platform).

During the event, LifeWatch ERIC also engaged with some teachers and students to promote its Serious Game School Competition.
The first school competition will be launched on World Fisheries Day, Thursday 21st November 2024. Marine SABRES online serious game will introduce students between 10 and 18 years old to basic concepts of marine biology and coastal ecology and increase their awareness of the strong relations between us and the ocean. Moreover, they will have the unique opportunity to meet teachers and students from across Europe and learn from peers and a European network of researchers.
Download this presentation for more information about Marine SABRES and this international educational activity at the following link! More information here.

Have a look at our photogallery, enjoy all the moments of this incredible night!

For more information, please visit the official European Researchers’ Night ERN Apulia Med 2024

For more information, please visit Marine SABRES official website: www.marinesabres.eu

Watch our documentary trailers on LifeWatching WebTV platform: www.lifewatching.tv/tv-show/marine-sabres/

Sandy Beaches Symposium: the world’s leading experts gather in Lecce

The IX International Sandy Beaches Symposium was held in Lecce, Italy, on June 24-27 2024. The event was an opportunity to bring the world’s leading experts on sandy coastal ecosystems together in the city.
Past, present, and future of sandy beaches were at the center of the symposium: biodiversity loss, abundance, distribution and dynamics of species of sandy beach ecosystems, climate change impacts, anthropogenic pressures (fisheries, tourism, etc), urbanization, the key role of marine protected areas, and the challenges of creating a network between them, coastal erosion and mitigation strategies, insights from environmental DNA metabarcoding and advanced statistical models, are some of the many topics brought up for discussion by experts from all over the globe.

From Orkney sandy beaches, in Scotland, to the coastal ecosystems of Namibia and Costa Rica, to the sandy beaches of California and Apulia region: the event gathered some of the most renowned experts in the field, offering a unique opportunity to explore the latest research and developments in this disciplinary area, while illustrating to the public the importance of sandy beaches and the challenges we are facing in safeguarding these fragile and threatened ecosystems.

The symposium was an opportunity to present and discuss the state of the art in the field of sandy beach research, from a national, regional and global perspective. The event was organized by the University of Salento, with the support of LifeWatch ERIC.

Among the scientists invited as high-level keynote speakers were: Prof. John M Baxter, University of St Andrews and Heriot-Watt University; Prof. Omar Defeo, Unidad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay; Prof. Mike Elliott, Professor of Estuarine and Coastal Sciences at the University of Hull, UK; Dr. Shinji Sassa, Chair of the International Technical Committee on Scour and Erosion National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology, Japan; Prof. Alberto Basset, Full Professor of Ecology at the University of Salento and LifeWatch ERIC Service Centre Director; Dr. Lucia Fanini, researcher at the University of Salento, etc.

To learn more about the International Sandy Beaches Symposium, please visit the dedicated website: https://isbsymposium.org/