Man and the Sea | Presenter: Anastasios Eleftheriou, HCMR
Sharing and re-using computational workflows – WorkflowHub and FAIR Workflows in Biodiversity | Presenter: Carole Goble, University of Manchester, ELIXIR-UK | Download
The Dark Matter in Biology | Presenter: Nikos Kyrpides, JGI, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Priorities and challenges for ESFRI in the next programming period | Presenter: José Luis Martínez Peña, ESFRI
The support of LifeWatch ERIC to high-mountains research | Presenter: Antonello Provenzale, CNR IGG
Shifting Baselines: Patterns and Trends Linking Ocean Productivity and Biodiversity in a Changing Climate (OEMC) | Presenter: Francesco De Leo, CNR IRET | Download
Biodiversity and ecological responses to climate change: the PLKP perspective from Holocene Palynology | Presenter: Anna Maria Mercuri, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Reconciling short- and long-term ecological predictions for assisting decision making: a challenge for LifeWatch ERIC community | Presenter: Marta Magnani, Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, CNR | Download
New tools to identify refugia for biodiversity in mountain landscapes | Presenter: Maria Begoña García, Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) | Download
Tracking functional performance of Water hyacinth across aquatic ecotopes | Presenter: Leticia Brito, University of Aveiro | Download
What is the energetic cost of warming for invertebrates? | Presenter: Milad Shokri, University of Salento
Climate change stress in benthic marine invertebrates: insights from multidimensional analysis | Presenter: Thanos Dailianis, HCMR | Download
Emerging Nesting Activity of Loggerhead Sea Turtles ( Caretta caretta ) at the Northern Margins of Nesting Range in the Greek Seas: Insights from the Aegean and Ionian Seas | Presenter: Drosos Koutsoubas, University of the Aegean
LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Biogeography | Presenter: Alessandro Chiarucci, University of Bologna | Download
Biogeographical monitoring of Europe’s islands: harnessing opportunities for multiple wins | Presenter: Richard Field, University of Nottingham | Download
BiCKL The Biodiversity Knowledge Hub traverses obstacles to FAIR and linked biodiversity data usage | Presenter: Teodor Georgiev, Pensoft Publisher
Cataloguing for findability: software tools, workflows, and learning materials for biodiversity and ecology research | Presenter: Matúš Kalaš, University of Bergen, and ELIXIR Norway | Download
The Linnean Approach to Nomenclatural Accuracy: A Framework for Enhancing Taxonomic Harmonisation in Biodiversity Records | Presenter: André Menegotto, University of Sheffield
Integrated checklist of marine annelids along the Salento Peninsula unravels gaps of knowledge in their diversity and distribution | Presenter: Joachim Langeneck, CoNISMa | Download
Global Orchid Diversity in the Mediterranean Biome: identifying hotspots and exploring automated extinction risk assessment with deep neural networks | Presenter: Michele Lussu, University of Bologna | Download
Mapping past elevation bounded biogeographic systems at continuous temporal scale | Presenter: Johannes De Groeve, University of Amsterdam
Integrating Biologging Data and Destination Earth Digital Twins for Marine Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries: The Global Fish Tracking System (GFTS) | Presenter: Tina Odaka, Ifremer | Download
Insect-flower interactions in the Mediterranean area: a Citizen Science dataset collated within the LIFE 4 Pollinators project | Presenter: Marta Barberis, University of Bologna | Download
LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Taxonomy | Presenter: Leen Vandepitte, Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
What is in a name? The importance of clear taxonomic communication for biodiversity science & management | Presenter: Tammy Horton, National Oceanography Centre | Download
From names to networks: marine species knowledge in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and its role in LifeWatch ERIC | Presenter: Leen Vandepitte, Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
The Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) Project: Europe’s drive to reverse biodiversity loss through genomics research | Presenter: Robert Waterhouse, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB)
“Mere Schoolboys to Old Aristotle?” Testing Darwin’s Claim Through Taxonomic and Functional Evidence | Presenter: Christos Arvanitidis, LifeWatch ERIC | Download
Safeguarding Greek and European biodiversity – The Biodiversity Genomics EU project | Presenter: Alexandros Triantafyllidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Download
The Italian taxonomic backbone. Cooperation and interoperability in the LifeWatch Italy community | Presenter: Stefano Martellos, University of Trieste | Download
Not so cosmopolitan: What species complexes teach us about hidden diversity | Presenter: Maria Lampa, University of Crete, HCMR
Waking up from a taxonomist’s nightmare: Ophrys species delimitation meets AI in the phylogenomic era | Presenter: Elisa Addonizio, University of Naples Federico II | Download
Reconstruction of the functional anatomy of Phascolosoma stephensoni Stephen, 1942 (Annelida: Sipuncula: Phascolosomatidae) through micro-CT: a potential tool for taxonomy | Presenter: Desirée Dimichele, CoNISMa | Download
LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Habitat mapping | Presenter: Olga Ameixa, University of Aveiro | Download
RESTORE4Cs | Presenter: Alberto Basset, LifeWatch ERIC
Predicting butterfly species presence from satellite imagery using soft contrastive learning | Presenter: Thijs van der Plas, Wageningen University & Research | Download
Climate Change: An Innovative Solution Using AI for Vineyards | Presenter: Nikos Minadakis, LifeWatch ERIC, Advance deep tech Services
ParAquaBase: a centralised resource for zoosporic parasite observations and host interactions | Presenter: Andrea Tarallo, CNR-IRET
Mapping the unknown – habitat characterisation in deep-sea environments | Presenter: Heliana Teixera, University of Aveiro
Scale matters in seagrass mapping and the needs of reporting of carbon stocks in NDCs under Paris Agreement | Presenter: Dimitris Poursanidis, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH)
Mapping the Supply and Demand of Insect-Driven Ecosystem Services in Ria de Aveiro Saltmarshes: A Habitat-Based Approach | Presenter: Olga Ameixa, University of Aveiro
LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Observation systems | Presenter: Andreja Ramšak, National Institute of Biology | Download
Advancing Biodiversity Monitoring through FAIR and Interoperable Research Infrastructures: The OSTrails Approach
| Presenter: Tassos Stavropoulos, OpenAIRE | Download
DTO BioFlow – Building a biodiversity component for the Digital Twin of the Ocean | Presenter: Klaas Deneudt, Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
BioDT´s biodiversity digital twin prototypes: examples from species distribution models to population dynamics | Presenter: Gabriela Zuquim, CSC – IT Center for Science
ANERIS: Towards a network of Operational Marine Biology | Presenter: Berta Companys, Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) | Download
Challenges in automation of monitoring and modeling in karst forest ecosystems | Presenter: Saša Šercer, Slovenian Forestry Institute | Download
Integrating Earth Observations, eDNA and Computer Vision for automated assessment of soil health | Presenter: Spyros Theodoridis, National Observatory of Athens | Download
Assessing the spillover: metabarcoding reveals contrasting non-indigenous species dynamics inside and outside a port
| Presenter: Adrià Antich González, Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes | Download
Towards a Monitoring System for Agroecology in Europe: Results from Expert Consultations | Presenter: Salvador Fernandez, LifeWatch ERIC | Download
LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Animal behaviour & Space use tracking | Presenter: David Casals, VLIZ – Flanders Marine Institute
From Coasts to Continents: Coordinated Animal Tracking for Biodiversity Monitoring in European Waters | Presenter: Sarah McLean, Loughs Agency | Download
Animal Sentinels: near real-time environmental monitoring via automated bird tracking analysis | Presenter: Eldar Rakhimberdiev, University of Amsterdam | Download
Pangeo-fish: Scalable Geolocation Modelling of Fish Movements Using Biologging and Earth Science Data in the Pangeo Ecosystem | Presenter: Tina Odaka, Ifremer | Download
Sub-surface behaviors of Hector’s dolphins could increase their risk of bycatch | Presenter: Ilias Foskolos, Aarhus University
First Documentation of Migration Dynamics of European Eels in Cyprus through Acoustic Telemetry | Presenter: Sotiris Meletiou, Bournemouth University | Download
Tracking Elasmobranch Responses to Submarine Power Cable Electromagnetic Fields in the Belgian North Sea | Presenter: David Casals, VLIZ – Flanders Marine Institute
Spatiotemporal segregation drives predator-prey coexistence in the deep sea | Presenter: Antoni Sánchez-Márquez, Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM – CSIC) | Download
Programme
Click on “Previous Events” to see the full programme of the LifeWatch ERIC BEeS Conference 2025, or use the filters if you’re looking for a specific session.
09:00 – 13:00 Working Table European RIs on Life component of the Biosphere: complementarities and synergies – On invitation only (see here the RIs involved)
09:00 – 13:00 Conference Registration
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 15:15 Session Institutional Opening Addresses
15:15 – 16:00 Man and the Sea | Prof. Anastasios Eleftheriou, HCMR
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 17:15 Sharing and re-using computational workflows – WorkflowHub and FAIR Workflows in Biodiversity | Prof. Carole Goble, University of Manchester
17:15 – 18:00 The Dark Matter in Biology | Dr. Nikos Kyrpides, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
18:00 – 19:30 Round Table of the Biodiversty & Ecosystem European RIs
08:30-10:30 Session Ecological responses to Climate Change
- LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Ecological responses to Climate Change (15′)
- Keynote Presentation (30′)
- 1 Selected Project presentation (15′)
- 6 Selected Scientific Presentations (prioritised user stories/research, using the infrastructure research products, 10′ each)
- Poster presentations within the poster session
10:30 -11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 13:00 Session Mapping life on planet: Biogeography in a changing world
- LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Biogeography (15′)
- Biogeographical monitoring of Europe’s isnalnds: harnessing opportunities for multiple wins | Dr. Richard Field, University of Nottingham (30′)
- 1 Selected Project Presentation (15′)
- 6 Selected Scientific Presentations (prioritised user stories/research, using the infrastructure research products, 10′ each)
- Poster presentations within the poster session
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:30 Session Taxonomy: Identifying the units of diversity in life
- LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Taxonomy (15′)
- What is in a name? The importance of clear taxonomic communication for biodiversity science & management | Dr. Tammy Horton, National Oceanography Centre (30′)
- 1 Selected Project Presentation (15′)
- 6 Selected Scientific Presentations (prioritised user stories/research, using the infrastructure research products, 10′ each)
- Poster presentations within the poster session
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
16:30 – 18:30 Poster presentations
16:30 – 18:30 Booth activities
- Hands on sessions on key LifeWatch ERIC services, vLabs and VREs
18:45 Departure from HCMR premises to Social Dinner
19:30 Winery Tour, Wine Tasting & Social Dinner at Scalarea Estate
08:30 – 10:30 Session Exploring boundaries of life hosting spaces: Habitat mapping
- LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Habitat mapping (15′)
- 1 Selected Project Presentation (15′)
- 6 Selected Scientific Presentations (prioritised user stories/research, using the infrastructure research products, 10′ each)
- Poster presentations within the poster session
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 13:00 Session Biodiversity Observatory: Smart Systems for a Living Planet – Revolutionising Biodiversity Monitoring with Automation
- LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Observation systems (15′)
- 1 Selected Project Presentation (15′)
- 6 Selected Scientific Presentations (prioritised user stories/research, using the infrastructure research products, 10′ each)
- Poster presentations within the poster session
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:30 Session Tracking the Wild: Unlocking Insights into Animal Movement, Behavior, and Biologging
- LifeWatch ERIC thematic service on Animal behavior & Space use tracking (15′)
- 1 Selected Project Presentation (15′)
- 6 Selected Scientific Presentations (prioritised user stories/research, using the infrastructure research products, 10′ each)
- Poster presentations within the poster session
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
16:30 – 18:00 Poster presentations
16:30 – 18:00 Booth activities
- Hands on sessions on key LifeWatch ERIC services, vLabs and VREs
18:00 – 18:30 Concluding remarks and future perspectives
Please check the table below to find out the training sessions of your interest. Click on the “+” icon to read its full description.
Plenary
Get a rapid tour of the MyLifeWatch portal and its Single Sign-On hub—the entry point to all LifeWatch ERIC services. Discover how a single credential unlocks datasets, analytical tools, and Virtual Research Environments (VREs) without extra log-ins. A live demo shows account setup and service browsing, followed by a short hands-on exercise. Leave knowing how to access, manage, and personalise LifeWatch ERIC resources in minutes, setting the stage for smoother, integrated research.
Room 1
Explore LifeWatch ERIC’s powerful search portal to pinpoint datasets, services, and publications in seconds. Learn advanced techniques such as federated queries that weave results from multiple research infrastructures into one coherent view. Discover LifeBlock, the blockchain layer that tracks provenance and ensures every record meets FAIR and trust-by-design standards. Hands-on exercises guide you through crafting queries, filtering results, and contributing new assets to the catalogue. Leave able to retrieve, integrate, and verify biodiversity data with confidence, boosting transparency and collaboration in your research.
Navigate LifeWatch ERIC’s visual Workflow Engine to build code-free analyses. Through the MyLifeWatch portal, you can drag-and-drop data sources, services, and external tools into a single pipeline. Watch live demos of smart scheduling, provenance capture, and one-click reruns for full reproducibility. Hands-on practice lets you design, execute, and monitor your own workflow end-to-end. See how templates and sharing options accelerate collaboration across projects and teams. Leave equipped to automate complex research tasks and reuse workflows throughout the LifeWatch ERIC ecosystem.
During this session, participants will go through the main functionalities of the new version of the LifeWatch ERIC Metadata Catalogue, designed and implemented to improve biodiversity digital resource discoverability by promoting the information exchange and sharing among organisations and research infrastructures. Participants will learn about the relevant challenges for the effective use of biodiversity digital resources, the importance of metadata, the FAIRness assessment, and will benefit from the new features of the Metadata Catalogue to address such challenges.
Room 2
Description Coming Soon
Join us for an engaging training session where we’ll explore some of the key functionalities and products of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and the LifeWatch Species Information Backbone. We’ll kick things off with a fun surprise activity to test your marine species knowledge— don’t worry, all the answers will be revealed as we dive into how WoRMS can help you find them! This session is a great opportunity to discover valuable tools and data while enjoying a light and interactive start.
This session will guide participants through the CIMPAL index workflow for mapping and assessing the Cumulative IMPact of invasive ALien species, implemented as an e-tool under LifeWatch ERIC. This cloud computing webservice offers a flexible tool through a code-free friendly GUI to facilitate reproducibility of the assessments. Participants will learn about the CIMPAL main components, the new algorithm implementations, the user-tailored options available and how to prepare the data to run the CIMPAL index calculator. This webservice was implemented in a collaboration within LifeWatch ERIC Internal Joint Initiative, involving researchers from different national nodes, namely Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. This work is also supported by developments within the HEU projects GES4SEAS and B-Cubed. Participants will benefit the most if they bring their own laptops to try along during the session.
13:00 – 14:30 | Lunch Break
Discover how LifeWatch ERIC connects IoT devices to near real-time dashboards and interactive maps. Learn how time series from sensors are visualised for environmental monitoring, and explore the LifeWatch Viewer to consult and publish GIS services. A live demo and hands-on session will guide you through connecting a sensor stream and exploring spatial data using interoperable tools across different platforms.
In this workshop, users will use the Radar Aeroecology Virtual Lab (RAVL) to investigate bird movement in The Netherlands. By using publicly available Meteorological Radar data from The Netherlands – users will collect, process and investigate data to identify peak-migration moments. To get started, an introduction will be given where readily available code can be executed to explore migration moments identified by the UvA AME-group. Afterwards, users will conduct their own analysis by using external datasets such as wind direction to identify potential migration moments. These potential migration moments are then investigated by collecting, processing visualising and verifying data.
Get an in-depth overview of the full lifecycle of semantic artefacts, from their conceptual planning to publication. With live demos, we will explore how semantic artefacts can be built using standards like SKOS or OWL using VocBench, a web-based platform that supports collaborative editing, version control, and semantic validation. The workflow continues with the publication of semantic artefacts on EcoPortal, where they are catalogued, registered with metadata, and made accessible for wider reuse. To contextualise the application of semantic artefacts, a real-world case study will be presented showing how they are integrated and used within a broader data ecosystem. The session concludes with an open discussion of lessons learned, best practices, and potential for reuse.
DataLabs is a cloud-based environment that enables collaborative coding in R, Python, and MATLAB to support biodiversity and ecosystem research. Seamlessly integrated with the LifeWatch Italy Data Portal, it provides direct access to curated datasets and allows you to enrich your work with structured metadata, ensuring alignment with FAIR data principles. With DataLabs, you and your team can work together in a shared environment to develop and refine code, seamlessly integrate analyses with high-quality datasets, and turn your workflows into deployable web services. The platform is designed to foster transparency, ensure reproducibility, and actively support the principles of Open Science. Join a community of researchers accelerating knowledge through shared data, tools, and results.
Description Coming Soon