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/#

BBCC2026 – Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Conference

BBCC2026

Naples, Italy

The 21st edition of the Annual Conference “BBCC2026 Bioinformatics and Computer Biology” will be held in Naples, Italy, from 21 to 23 October 2026, in the Chiostro San Francesco.

The three-day event brings together researchers and professionals working in bioinformatics, computational biology, and related fields, combining high-level scientific discussion, with practical learning experiences. The scientific programme will explore some of the most relevant developments in modern biomedical and computational research, with particular attention to artificial intelligence, quantum computing, structural biology, gene engineering, and data science.

Invited talks will provide insights into innovative approaches and emerging technologies that are changing biological and biomedical research. Alongside the conference keynote and thematic sessions, the programme will also offer practical training opportunities designed to strengthen participants’ computational skills, focusing on topics such as the analysis and interpretation of omics data, biological network analysis, and reproducible computational workflows.

For more information, visit: https://www.bbcc-meetings.it/bbcc2026/bbcc2026-program-and-venue

MARBEFES Autumn School 2026

MARBEFES Autumn School 2026

Lecce, Italy

From October 26 to 29, 2026, the Autumn School “Protecting marine biodiversity with the MARBEFES Toolbox” will be held in Lecce, Italy.

Its objectives include: showcasing the various tools and services integrated in the Toolbox created under MARBEFES to enhance its uptake, demonstrating practical applications of these tools and their impacts in real contexts to maximise their exploitation, and conducting an hands-on session where participants can experiment with the Toolbox and its services.

Participants will also learn how to best help practitioners and policy makers maximise the ecological value, and optimise a sustainable socio-economic use of the marine system for present and future generations.

For the duration of the programme, MARBEFES will provide participants with travel, lodging, and lunch (according terms and conditions).

More details in the coming weeks, stay tuned!

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

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.

15th International Polychaete Conference | IPC15

IPC15

Frankfurt, Germany

From 27 to 31 July 2026, the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum of Frankfurt (Germany) hosts the 15th International Polychaete Conference (IPC15).

The Conference brings 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. The programme also include contributed session and a poster exhibition.

LifeWatch ERIC is attending the event and presenting the abstract “From Ecology to Omics: Dataset Publication and the Role of Research Infrastructures in Polychaete Biodiversity Science“.

Info: https://polychaete-association.com/ipc15-frankfurt

EVERSE webinar: a Training Catalogue for Research Software Quality

EVERSE Network Webinar

The EOSC EVERSE Project aims to create a framework for research software and code excellence, collaboratively designed and championed by research software engineering communities and the five EOSC cross-disciplinary Science Clusters.

On 23 June, EVERSE is launching a webinar to introduce EVERSE Training: a training catalogue for early career scientists and engineers, designed as a one-stop-shop for trainees to discover content (such as course materials, tutorials, workshops and schools) and for trainers to showcase their work.

In fact, with training materials on research software quality often scattered across different platforms and formats, it can be hard to find the right content at the right time. This webinar, open to everyone with no prerequisite knowledge needed, can support trainers, research software engineers, or people involved in research software training or training metadata.

It will also be a chance to explore the underlying infrastructure behind the catalogue, and get metadata recommendations for useful, findable and reusable training resources.

Info and registration: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1697013

Marine SABRES in Fairs in Iceland for Fishermen’s Day

Marine SABRES in Fairs - Iceland

Hafnarfjörður, Iceland

On 7 June 2026, on the occasion of the Fishermen’s Day, celebrated annually on the first Sunday of June in Iceland, the Marine SABRES in Fairs will take part in a rich outreach and educational programme hosted and organised by the Marine & Freshwater Research Institute in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland.

Visitors of all ages will be welcomed to a diverse programme combining science, education, and hands-on activities. They will have the opportunity to discover how marine scientists work in practice: from field data collection and species monitoring to ecosystem analysis and interpretation of environmental change.

More info: https://www.lifewatch.eu/2026/05/29/marine-sabres-in-fairs-joins-fishermens-day-in-iceland/

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