High-throughput biodiversity monitoring workshop by BMD project:

BMD Biodiversity Monitoring Workshop

Seville, Spain

The Biodiversity Meets Data project (BMD), aims to enhance access to high-throughput biodiversity monitoring tools, analyses, and data to support evidence-based conservation efforts across Europe.

On 5 and 6 November 2026, BMD is offering another exciting opportunity to learn how to use new monitoring and AI analysis tools, focused on the detection of species listed under the Habitats and Birds Directives. The workshop will take place in Seville, Spain, right after the Eurosite Annual Meeting, where the project’s team will be facilitating various interactive sessions under the theme Conservation & Monitoring.

Workshop participants will gain practical training on biodiversity monitoring and analyses, including camera traps and acoustic recorders with AI species identification, and publication of biodiversity data in GBIF.

Participation is limited to 30 places! Express your interest via this online form until 1 September 2026: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdS-6zwzYOGeOZliCGukApDgLy08QJolk-uEjHmHHzj6IaXpw/viewform

More info about the workshop: https://bmd-project.eu/news/biodiversity-meets-data-high-throughput-biodiversity-monitoring-workshop-analysing-and-mobilising-camera-trap-acoustic-recorder-data

ENERGYTRAN: Advancing a Sustainable Energy Transition in Ibero-America

environmentally sustainable energy transition

In the framework of the EULAC ENERGYTRAN Project, a virtual thematic event titled “Towards an Environmentally Sustainable Energy Transition” will take place on 8–9 October, providing a forum to examine the ecological implications of alternative energy systems and to share successful cases in public policy and regulation.

Date: 8–9 October
Time: 16:00 – 18:00 (CEST)
Open event with prior registration
Audience: civil society, private sector, policymakers, and all those interested in the topic.
The event will feature simultaneous subtitles in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

Key speakers will include experts such as Fernando Valladares (Spain) and Natalia Andrea Restrepo Vélez (Commission for Environmental Cooperation), among others.

The objective of this event is to foster the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and best practices among researchers, policymakers, civil society, and the private sector from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. By doing so, it aims to address the shared environmental challenges of the energy transition and to promote collaboration in research and innovation.

We invite you to join the dialogue, explore collaborative paths, and help disseminate this initiative’s relevance in promoting innovation, equity, and sustainability across Ibero-America.

Registration link: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=RCDnxlDvVUG4M1R-c13LgrfJnaUTBTJMmr50KbQZVqRUOENFNE1XTFMySjVOQTNOVEdOSURUTjBPVC4u&route=shorturl

ERSAC 2025: European Services on Agroecology Conference

European Research Services on Agroecology

Kaunas, Lithuania

The second ERSAC – European Research Services on Agroecology Conference takes place in Kaunas, Lithuania, on October 1 and 2, 2025. Organised in partnership with the Department of Agriculture at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), the event shares the program with the Rural Development international scientific conference.

The AgroServ project (of which VMU is a consortium partner), will also be present at the Rural Development event with a keynote speech by its coordinator Michel Böer, on sustainable agrifood systems. The project will also curate the second day’s scientific sessions on Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Technologies, and conclude the conference with its General Assembly.

Info: https://agroserv.eu/blog/ersac-2025

LifeWatch ERIC at EUROSOIL 2025

Eurosoil

Seville, Spain – VII EUROSOIL 2025

EUROSOIL is the official meeting of the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies (ECSSS): a great opportunity for knowledge transfer in the Soil Sciences community, and one of Europe’s most important international conferences on soil sciences and sustainable land management.

Every four years the meeting gathers a large audience to share their scientific and technical findings through presentations, workshops, and products or services exhibitions. The objective: raising awareness in society, encouraging communication by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information, and creating business opportunities.

The VII EUROSOIL 2025 edition takes place in parallel with the Iberian Congress of Soil Sciences (CICS), from 8 to 12 September 2025 at the FIBES Seville Congress Palace (Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos), spanning a wide range of topics relevant for society, academia, and industry.

Xavier Rotllan-Puig will represent LifeWatch ERIC with the oral presentation: “Empowering Soil Research through Virtual Research Environments: LifeWatch ERIC Services under the AgroServ and SUS-SOIL Projects”. The talk will demonstrate how LifeWatch ERIC services are advancing soil research, education, and policy across Europe, within the framework of the SUS-SOIL project. It will also present services developed under the AGROSERV project, in collaboration with UTAD (Portugal) and Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

Learn more about the event here: https://eurosoil2025.eu/EUROSOIL2025

PATH2DEA Consortium meeting

Seville, Spain

PATH2DEA is a project co-funded by the European Union and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). Its objective is to enhance the potential of agroecological farming systems by promoting the use of digital tools and technologies to cope with environmental, economical and health challenges.

Building on farmers’ competences, PATH2DEA matches them with the rich repertoire of already existing digital solutions for agriculture, with the objective to tailor them to users’ needs and fostering wide-range adoption of digital agroecology farming in EU and associated countries.

Started in November 2022, the project has already launched some important achievements as the Digital Agroecology Cluster, and a a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) to support knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation in the field of digital agroecology (read PATH2DEA’s December newsletter for more insights into these results).

Next Monday 27th of January, the consortium members will meet in Seville, Spain, for a two-day workshop organised by LifeWatch ERIC and hosted at the Facultad de Comunicación of the Universidad de Sevilla (FCom-US)

LifeWatch ERIC contributes to the project by leading the establishment and implementation of the PATH2DEA Open Repository (OR) of digital agroecology tools, where all the data generated in the project will be integrated. It also leads the co-creation of the PATH2DEA Virtual Research Environment (VRE), a secured and trusted environment for data management and exchange for R&I in agroecology and digitalisation, and the operationalisation of the Digital Agroecology Cluster. Moreover, it contributes to the mapping and integration of project assets.

The meeting, gathering more than 20 participants and additional online attendees, will be a chance to assess current progress and discuss the next steps and key goals for 2025: an important opportunity for collaboration, alignment, and planning, helping to ensure the successful continuation of the PATH2DEA project.

Eleventh CoP online meeting: Technical Tools to improve the efficiency of RIs staff

technical tools

Online

Organised by the RitrainPlus consortium on 15 November (from 12:00 to 13:00), the event is part of a series of meetings dedicated to the project’s Community of Practice. The focus is be on research infrastructure staff, with Cristina Huertas-Olivares (International Initiatives & Projects Manager) and Joaquin Lopez Lerida (Data e-Science Management Plan & BlockChain Officer), both from the LifeWatch ERIC Statutory Seat and ICT-Core offices in Spain, moderating and presenting during the session. 

The goal of the meeting is to promote the efficiency of distributed Research Infrastructures, through highly practical activities: attendants are presented with a suite of digital tools to enhance their daily workflow.

The recording of the meeting is available on the Ritrain Plus dedicated page: https://ritrainplus.eu/2024/10/14/next-cop-online-meeting-technical-tools-to-improve-the-efficiency-of-ris-staff/

Strengthening Europe – Latin America Cooperation in the Energy Transition

Online

In the EULAC EnergyTRAN Horizon Europe Project framework, the virtual thematic event on technology and energy transition, scheduled for the 26th and 27th of June 2024, aims to bolster cooperation between Europe and Latin America by exploring innovative technologies policies and practices. Organised by the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), the event will open with introductory presentations from the EU-Solaris ERIC, the OEI, and the European Research Executive Agency (REA). It will feature panels addressing key topics such as the exchange of scientific knowledge, challenges and opportunities in the energy sector, and the environmental and social impacts of energy transition.

Experts from both regions will discuss alternative energy sources, regulatory challenges, and innovative technological solutions like green hydrogen production and solar thermal energy applications. The event will also highlight the importance of international collaboration in advancing sustainable energy research and infrastructure, culminating in a session synthesising the discussions and outlining future steps for enhanced cooperation.

For more information please visit the OEI website: https://oei.int/oficinas/secretaria-general/eventos/fortaleciendo-la-cooperacion-europa-america-latina-en-la-transicion-energetica

To register, please fill out this form:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RCDnxlDvVUG4M1R-c13Lgjw00Q45XEtImjIDUep7g79UMUpBQzVUWlI4VEowNVBOSUNZN0RJSE43Ri4u

Agenda

ALL-READY Workshop – Accelerating the Agroecology Transition

ALL-Ready

Seville, Spain / online, 11 May 2023.

The upcoming 2nd ALL-READY Project Workshop, entitled “Accelerating the Agroecology Transition: Your potential role and benefits of contributing to a European Network of Living Labs and Research Infrastructures.”

 This interactive discussion session will take place on 11 May 2023, at the LifeWatch ERIC ICT-Core premises in Seville, Spain, and will also be available online as a hybrid event.

More information in our news item.

Register Here

34th ECS Conference

34th ECS Conference

Galicia, Spain, 18–20 April 2023.

LifeWatch ERIC will be sponsoring the 34th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society at O Grove, Galicia, Spain from 18–20 April 2023.

Conference Programme includes 2 days of workshops on 16–17 April before the 3 days of plenary sessions.

The 34th ECS Conference in O Grove 2023 will be conducted in the traditional in-person format and all oral and poster presenters will be required to attend the meeting in person. In addition, all scientific communications will be made available digitally after the conference. This will be a great opportunity to reconnect in person after the pandemic years and talk about marine mammals, science, conservation, discuss research, meet colleagues, have fun and make friends. 

To register for the ECS conference, please login first or create a personal profile.

Abstract submission is now closed.

The theme of the conference is: 

OUR OCEANS, OUR FUTURE. 

Marine Mammal Behavioural Ecology & The Sustainable Use of Marine Resources

When talking about sustainability and fair use of marine resources, it is inevitable to address and recognize the importance of a better understanding of the ecology and behaviour of marine mammals and their environment. Like marine mammals, many human communities depend directly or indirectly on marine ecosystems and their biodiversity for their livelihoods. This is the case in Galicia, where fishing and aquaculture are among the most representative economic activities associated with the use of marine resources. Effective management of marine biodiversity conservation is based on science. Likewise, the conservation of marine mammals represents a fundamental field of action to guarantee the balance of marine ecosystems. 

Therefore, under this theme, we are inviting the scientific community to submit any topic related to issues of marine mammal science and conservation.

Celebrating and calibrating Mediterranean forests

Mediterranean forests

The Mediterranean basin is the third-richest hotspot in the world in terms of plant biodiversity  and one of the greatest sources of endemic plants on Earth. Its plant diversity accounts for 25,000 plant species, 60% of which are endemic, of which more than 100 tree species are recorded in Mediterranean forests. It is estimated that the region has more than 25 million hectares of Mediterranean forests and about 50 million hectares of other Mediterranean wooded lands. The knowledge on Mediterranean forests is, however, fragmented.

To celebrate the importance of Mediterranean forest knowledge, ETC-UMA is pleased to announce the international workshop to take place in Malaga, Spain on 2 June 2023 addressing current policy, technologies and practices on Mediterranean forest data entitled “A knowledge baseline on Mediterranean forests supported by innovation”.

Co-organised by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Topic Centre on Spatial Analysis and Synthesis of the University of Malaga (ETC-UMA) in the frame of the ERDF-funded project EnBiC2-Lab for an Environmental and Biodiversity Climate Change Lab, this event on Mediterranean Forests and innovation aims to bring together a community of EU and Mediterranean key players to address the status of regional political and research agendas in support of forests.

The regional efforts of European projects in paving the way towards raising awareness and providing tools and solutions to consider in the post-2020 plans in the Mediterranean region will be part of the debate to ensure better protection and management of these sensitive key ecosystems, including a look into financing instruments needed for their future long-term sustainable restoration and conservation.

Check out some of the latest knowledge generated by ETC-UMA colleagues on forest types and maps:

We would be happy to welcome you to Malaga on 2 June 2023. If you are interested in attending the international workshop, please contact Virginia García.