TDWG 2026: LifeWatch ERIC and LifeWatch Italy at the Biodiversity Information Standards annual conference

TDWG 2026

Oslo, Norway

Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) is a non-profit organisation, and a community, formed to establish international collaboration among the creators, managers and users of biodiversity information and to promote the wider and more effective dissemination and sharing of knowledge about the world’s heritage of biological organisms.

Initially called the Taxonomic Database Working Group (hence the acronym TDWG) the Biodiversity Information Standards organisation develops, ratifies and promotes standards, and guidelines, for the recording and exchange of data about organisms. It also acts as a discussion forum on all the biodiversity information management aspects.

Every year, TDWG holds its annual conference, and this year the event is taking place in Oslo, Norway, from 21 to 25 September, under the theme “Research and Robot-ready Biodiversity Data Standards”. This theme highlights the importance of data standards able to meet the needs of scientific research, but usable by automated processing systems. The conference is a major international event for researchers, data infrastructure managers, collection managers, developers, and experts from national and international organisations. This year, it is jointly organised by GBIF Norway, the University of Oslo Natural History Museum and the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre.

LifeWatch ERIC’s CTO Anne Fouilloux, and LifeWatch Italy members Andrea Tarallo, Cristina Di Muri, and Jessica Titocci will attend the event with presentations and panel discussions.

For more information about this event, visit: https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2026/#

SERE 2026

SERE 2026 Brest

Brest, France

From 24 to 28 August, the University of Brest’s Geoarchitecture Laboratory in close collaboration with SER-Europe and the ‘REVER’ network host SERE 2026: the 15th European Conference on Ecological Restoration.

The main objective of this 15th edition is to share knowledge and strengthen links between stakeholders in ecological restoration, with a focus on ecological, social, and political considerations.

The conference welcomes contributions on aspects of ecosystem restoration, types of ecosystems and territories, especially overseas, and includes topics that are usually less well-integrated, such as the restoration of ecological networks (particularly dark infrastructure) and marine ecosystems.

Particular attention is paid to the restoration of wetlands and coastal ecosystems, very present in Brittany, and the application of European Law on Nature restoration legislation and the implementation of National Restoration Plans.

For more information, visit: https://sere2026.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/6

ECSA 61: the Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association Conference 2026

Brussels, Belgium

From 24 to 27 August 2026, a global, multidisciplinary community of researchers and professionals is gathering in Belgium to discuss the urgent challenges posed by the triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – with threats to biodiversity representing a particularly major concern for both the planet health and human societies. This is the focus of “ECSA 61: Bridging the gap between science and policy in estuarine and coastal marine biodiversity: the way forward“. Organised by Elsevier and the ECSA Association, the conference features sessions and workshops across four main topics: Physics, Ecology, Biogeochemistry, and the Human Dimension.

The focus is on international collaborative actions across maritime areas where there is urgent need to assess and manage threats, and to plan future initiatives that ensure a sustainable use of estuaries, coasts, and seas.

Building on the results of several Horizon Europe projects, this will also be an opportunity to showcase the most recent advances in coastal marine research, and their application for European and international policies. For the first time, ECSA 61 also includes a “Science-meets-Policy” day on 27 August, providing an opportunity to discuss research findings with managers and decision-makers.

For more information on this event, visit: https://www.estuarinecoastalconference.com

OntoPortal Workshop 2026

OntoPortal Workshop September 2026

Paris, France

From 21 to 25 September, members of the OntoPotral 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.

The event is in person, but there will be an online public session, taking place on Wednesday, 23 September from 14:00 to 17:00 CEST to introduce OntoPortal to anyone who is interested in semantic technologies for FAIR data and interoperability. To attend the public session, register at the following link: https://zfrmz.eu/bAXGoKYQgWZwTw27fEPr.

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

2027 Ocean Decade Conference

Ocean Decade Conference

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The 2027 Ocean Decade Conference, organised in Rio de Janeiro, will welcome the global ocean community to accelerate science-based ocean action and shape the legacy of the Ocean Decade.

This Conference will be co-organised with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in its role as the lead agency of the Ocean Decade, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) of Brazil, and the City of Rio de Janeiro.

The three-day, in-person event will host up to 2,500 people: a unique opportunity for the ocean community to present new initiatives and generate partnerships for scalable and lasting impact during the three remaining years of the Decade. Moreover, participants will take stock of progress and discuss the post-Decade legacy.

In parallel, the Conference will provide the possibility to organise a series of satellite partners events, exhibitions, and networking events relevant to the conference themes.

For more information, visit the official event page: https://oceandecade.org/events/2027-ocean-decade-conference

BioMonWeek 2026

BioMonWeek

Montpellier, France

The inaugural edition of BioMonWeek, The European Conference for Biodiversity Monitoring, is taking place in Montpellier, France, from 4 to 8 May 2026.

The conference brings together monitoring experts to discuss international cooperation and coordination across scales. Science, policy, and business communities gather in Montpellier to exchange monitoring knowledge and build networks, with the common goal to help reverse the global biodiversity crisis.

Nine topics will shape the programme of plenary keynotes, contributed sessions, and workshops, mainly related to: monitoring in different environments (terrestrial, marine and freshwater), the technological aspects behind it, such as data management for monitoring and large-scale methods for mass monitoring, and finally, aspects related to the monitoring governance, public policy and funding, the private sector, and capacity-building.

The event is co-organised by biodiversa+, Alliance for Nature, bioagora, GBIF and MARCO-BOLO, and LifeWatch ERIC is attending the contributed talk on Data Infrastructure, coordination and interoperability, represented by Christos Arvanitidis (CEO). The session demonstrates how national monitoring systems and major data infrastructures are working together to integrate monitoring data.

For more information, visit the event page: https://2026.biomonweek.eu/page/home/

“Wetlands in Action” webinar

The Horizon Europe sister projects: ALFAwetlands – Wetlands Restoration for the future, RESTORE4Cs, REWET, WET HORIZONS are glad to host you on another session of the “Wetlands in Action” webinar series, focusing on the latest developments in wetland science, innovation, and cross-project collaboration.

The webinar takes place on 06 May 2026 from 10:00 to 11:30 CEST.

The sessions will focus on

  • Measurement of above-ground carbon inputs and losses in wetland soils
  • The RESTORE4Cs interactive platform and toolbox
  • Making natural areas and ecological restoration resilient to climate change by improving available information
  • The ServiPeat decision support tool/app for visualising spatial data products

For the detailed agenda and speakers, visit: https://alfawetlands.eu/register-for-wetlands-in-action-webinar-6

LifeWatch ERIC at Riding the Wave 2026

Riding the Wave

Ammochostos, Cyprus

The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union organises the Conference on “Riding the Wave: Advancing the EU Ocean Pact through Science, Innovation and Cooperation”, taking place in Ammochostos, Cyprus on 11 and 12 May 2026.

The conference will bring together representatives from EU institutions, Member States, research organisations, industry, and innovation platforms to explore how ocean science and maritime innovation can more effectively inform European policy, competitiveness, and sustainability.

Christos Arvanitidis (CEO at LifeWatch ERIC), will be one of the speakers in the Plenary Session 2: Restoring Ocean Health in Europe: From Marine Science to Policy, Innovation and Societal Action, on 11 May at 14:30. The session will explore how scientific knowledge, research infrastructures and innovative solutions can better support effective restoration policies and regulatory frameworks.

Moreover, LifeWatch ERIC will be present at the booth Exhibition on Day 1, presenting some of its services and relevant activities.

For more information about this event, visit: https://cyprusconferences.org/ridingthewave-cyprus2026

New ENVRI-Hub for Environmental Research

The ENVRI-Hub NEXT (https://www.lifewatch.eu/envri-hub-next) project supports the ENVRI Science Cluster in providing interdisciplinary science-based services. In particular, the project has the objective of creating a robust conceptual and technical framework that will facilitate the integration of environmental science communities into the European Open Science Cloud, guided by the science-based framework of Essential Climate Variables.

Over the past two years, ENVRI-Hub NEXT has reimagined and rebuilt the central platform for Europe’s environmental research infrastructures (RIs), and is now ready to officially launch the upgraded ENVRI-Hub!

This session, will provide an overview of its major changes and new architecture and offer live demonstration of new features, that will allow user to discover and access FAIR data and services. Researchers, data scientists, and anyone whose work relies on integrated environmental data, are welcome to join the session.

For details and registration visit: https://envri.eu/webinar-introducing-new-envri-hub-environmental-research

BEeS 2026

BEeS 2026 event banner

LifeWatch ERIC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience Conference is back for the 2026 appointment!

The Conference will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from 7 to 10 July 2026.

Get ready for the launch of the Call for Abstracts in February, and follow the updates here: https://www.lifewatch.eu/bees-2026