RitrainPlus Knowledge Exchange Workshop:

Online

Organised jointly by ICOS and ACTRIS in the scope of the RitrainPlus project, the online workshop is dedicated to the management of European projects, and it is organised in three independent sessions on 14, 15 and 29 November. Participants can register for one or more of the sessions, depending on their interest.

The three sessions will cover essential topics: methods for identifying emerging themes and assessing project portfolios; practical strategies for managing multiple projects simultaneously; and ways to ensure the sustainability and long-term legacy of projects.

Please note that space is limited, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

For details on this workshop, visit this page: https://ritrainplus.eu/2024/10/16/ritrainplus-knowledge-exchange-workshop-project-portfolio-management/

“Marine SABRES in fairs” at the European Researchers’ Night

european researchers' night

Lecce, Italy

LifeWatch ERIC participates in the European Researchers’ Night with the project Marine SABRES (www.marinesabres.eu), in the scope of the initiative “Marine SABRES in fairs: biodiversity conservation and restoration, sustainable blue economy and the benefits of ecotourism”.

During the event, LifeWatch ERIC presents results and activities carried out in the framework of the project, promotes best practices and examples of sustainable use of marine resources and tourism, and also presents some videos realised by the LifeWatch Italy Multimedia Production Centre relating to project activities.

Moreover, the event is a chance to promote the Serious Game School Competition just launched by the project.

More info: https://www.lifewatch.eu/2024/09/13/marine-sabres-european-researchers-night-2024/

BioSpace25

biospace25 banner

Frascati (Rome), Italy

The BIOSPACE25 international conference – the first of its kind – is dedicated to the application of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) across the various dimensions of biodiversity. It addresses Earth Observation from the perspective of its different kinds of ecosystems.

The conference is organised by ESA, the European Commission, the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Newtowk (GEO BON), the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), and a number of partner organisations. The objective is to bring together an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral community of experts in biodiversity and conservation, with the goal to offer insightful exploration of critical biodiversity challenges object of Earth Observation systems, and how SRS solutions can contribute.

Julien Radoux, from LifeWatch Belgium, is taking part in the capacity of co-organizer of this unique event. There is also the possibility to submit workshop proposals and abstracts.

Visit the event page for more details: https://biospace25.esa.int/

BES Annual Meeting 2024

BES 2024

Liverpool, UK

In December 2024, ecologists worldwide will gather in Liverpool for Europe’s largest conference dedicated to ecology.

The British Ecological Society Annual Meeting attracts over 1200 delegates each year in its flagship event, and provides opportunities to meet new colleagues, develop careers, learn new skills, engaging and sharing research with the global ecological community.

This welcoming conference offers each year an exciting programme of plenary sessions with internationally renowned speakers. This year, the event will feature Rob Fish, Professor of Environmental Sustainability at the Imperial College of London, Ana Carnaval, Professor in the Department of Biology of the City College of New York, Lucy Waruingi, Executive Director of the African Conservation Centre, and Nathalie Seddon, Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford and Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative.

Besides these interesting plenary sessions, the attendees will have the chance to attend a number of thematic sessions, workshops, networking events and exhibitions.

The conference is especially relevant for LifeWatch ERIC due to the rich programme of its Thematic sessions, addressing the biodiversity crisis, nature restoration policies and practices, novels tools and technologies to tackle current challenges and much more.

LifeWatch ERIC will attend the event with a booth dedicated to research communities facilities, services and resources (including ENVRI-Hub NEXT), and a set of talks dedicated to biodiversity monitoring, conservation strategies, and more. We have summarised here the details of our interventions:

  • 11 December at 17:15, Room 3A | Michele Lussu (University of Bologna): “Conservation strategy: spatial prioritization approach using Orchids.” (S11).
  • 12 December at 15:15, Room 11B | Andreja Ramšak (National Institute of Biology): “Towards automated biodiversity monitoring -a set-up of Biodiversity Observatory Automation (Thematic Topic under LifeWatch ERIC).” (S34).
  • 12 December from 17:00 to 18:30, Hall 2A | Milad Shokri (University of Salento): “Metabolic responses to climate change in invertebrates.” (poster presentation).
  • 13 December at 14:00, Room 3B | Francesco De Leo (CNR): “Toward a global relationship between net primary production and biodiversity in marine ecosystems.” (S50).

The full programme is available online. For more information, please visit the official website: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/events/bes-annual-meeting-2024

Photo credit: @BritishEcolSoc on X

Tropical Summit 2024

tropical summit 2024

Lisbon, Portugal

The Tropical Summit 2024 aims to bring people together to address the ongoing challenges and opportunities in the tropics: a multi-stakeholder forum committed to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda. The lessons from the past, including unmet global agendas, highlight the importance of not treating the 2030 deadline as a distant future event but as an urgent reality that requires immediate attention.

The main objectives of the Tropical Summit are to promote the transfer of knowledge, stimulate multidisciplinary collaboration, involve stakeholders, and contribute to the co-creation of innovative projects.

The focus will be on South-South-North triangular cooperation and four thematic areas:

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

LifeWatch ERIC will be present in the “Biodiversity and digitalisation” section of the Exhibition Hall. Two members of our Service Centre in Lecce will be there. Laura Caciagli and Ant Türkmen will provide presentations about our services and present the MarineSABRES project.

They will be also joined by members of PORBIOTA, representing LifeWatch Portugal.

To learn more on the Tropical Summit 2024, please visit the official website: https://www.tropicalsummit2024.com/

ZEEKERWETEN – Science Festival at the coast

15-16 June, Oostende, Belgium

The Zeekerweter is a science festival located on the Belgian coast. At the festival, attendees can experience rising sea levels through an immersive Virtual Reality experience. Additionally, participants can explore the rich biodiversity of the sea at the beach of Oosteroever in the “sea workshop”. The festival also offers sustainable seafood and comedy centred around the sea theme.

On June 15, LifeWatch Belgium will host two sessions. One will focus on Virtual Reality, climate, and plankton, while the second will take place at Oosteroever Beach, where participants can discover what lives in the sea and on the sand.

On June 16, the Ostend Marine Station will be a fusion of science, art, and creativity.

To learn more about this event, please visit this website: https://lifewatch.be/en/events/zeekerweten-science-festival-coast.

IX International Sandy Beaches Symposium

Lecce, Italy

The International Sandy Beaches Symposium invites sandy beach researchers, students, and managers to share their research, interact, and establish links. The IX ISBS is returning after a 6-year break to align research with emerging needs of multi-disciplinarity and representativeness. During the Symposium, two workshops will aim to harmonise research and address gaps in the context of sandy beaches. The workshop will have two topics: Research Integrity and Validating a standard vocabulary for beach ecosystem studies.

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

Research Integrity

Integrity is essential for research, impacting data reliability and societal scientific trust. With heightened attention to research integrity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s crucial to ground theories, principles, and guidelines into our research practice. During the workshop, guidelines from Hazel Newton, Dr Ed Gerstner, Dr Jo Appleford-Cook, Christina Emery, and Laura Graham-Clare at Springer Nature Ltd. will be used to delve deeper into this topic.

Validating a standard vocabulary for beach ecosystem studies

Data sharing is increasingly important, but creating machine-interoperable data is still challenging. Standard terminologies are crucial for achieving FAIR principles. This workshop will create a common vocabulary for data harmonisation in sandy beach ecosystem research. It will focus on understanding standard terminologies, presenting a vocabulary for beach-related research, and validating it for improved data consistency and sharing within the research community. 

Coastal Wetlands: Evidence for Climate and Nature Targets Workshop

Online, 23 May 2024

On 23 May 2024, at 10:00 CET, RESTORE4Cs will organise an online workshop to broaden the perspectives available for countries in finding solutions for achieving and reporting success in coastal conservation towards international and EU commitments.

European Union policies emphasise the importance of wetlands in achieving EU objectives related to climate neutrality, biodiversity protection, zero pollution, flood protection, and the circular economy. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritise assessing the current extent and condition of European wetlands, their greenhouse gas emissions, and their potential for mitigation through restoration or other measures. These priorities are essential to stopping biodiversity decline, restoring the environment, and achieving climate goals.

The workshop aims to identify countries’ needs, shared priorities, and activities for restoring wetland ecosystems. It also aims to establish indicators for assessing coastal wetland habitats and ensure the quality of evidence for policy development and investment in nature-based solutions.

For more information and to register, please visit this page: https://www.restore4cs.eu/coastal-wetlands-evidence-for-climate-and-nature-targets-workshop/

SC23 Conference

Denver and online, Colorado, 12-17 November 2023.

SC23 is the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis. The conference will occur in Denver, Colorado, from November 12-17. This conference is a platform for researchers, practitioners, and industry experts worldwide to share advances in HPC technologies and their applications.

The program for SC23 includes various technical presentations, papers, workshops, and more. This program focuses on sharing best practices in areas such as algorithms, applications, architectures, and networks. It also covers topics like clouds and distributed computing, data analytics, visualisation and storage, machine learning and HPC, performance, programming systems, system software, and the state of practice in large-scale deployment and integration.

For more information, please visit this page.

52nd Congress of the Italian Society of Marine Biology

52nd Congress of the Italian Society of Marine Biology.

Messina, Italy, 12–15 June 2023.

The 52nd Congress of the Italian Society of Marine Biology, organised by the University of Messina, will be taking place from 12-15 June at the Science Department of the University of Messina, in Italy.

The congress of SIBM (Società Italiana di Biologia Marina) will see the participation of LifeWatch ERIC with LifeWatch ERIC’s marine biologist Alessia Scuderi, who will present the Alborán project. During the session dedicated to the vulnerability of the species, habitat and resources of the coastal marine environment, Scuderi will present ‘Cetaceans and marine traffic in the Strait of Gibraltar: difficult but possible coexistence’ and part of her presentation will be dedicated to LifeWatch ERIC’s project Alborán.