Marine SABRES in Fairs – at FIMAR 2025

Marine Sabres in FAIRS FIMAR

On June 6-8 2025, LifeWatch ERIC and ULPGC-ECOAQUA (University Institute for Research in Sustainable Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems) will co-organise one of the “Marine SABRES in Fairs” series events, at FIMAR 2025, the Feria Internacional del Mar (International Sea Fair).

This year’s edition of FIMAR focuses on the sustainability of the Canary islands’ coastal border: an important event for the nautical and marine-maritime sector of the Canary Islands archipelago organised by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Ciudad de Mar Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Infecar Feria de Gran Canaria.
FIMAR is, in fact, a key opportunity for companies and professionals, as well as a great chance for marine and coastal researchers and experts to communicate the importance of these ecosystems to the general public.

The last edition counted 80,000 to 100,000 visitors, mainly citizens from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, but also tourists and people from other regions of Spain and Europe.

LifeWatch ERIC and ULPGC-ECOAQUA will contribute to the programme and engage with its participants at their exhibition booth. The initiative will highlight the activities carried out in the Macaronesia DA in the framework of the project Marine SABRES, with a special focus on the marine biological corridor between the Azores, Madeira and Canary archipelagos, as well as ecotourism best practices that partners aimed to promote in this area to foster a sustainable blue economy.
Researchers of the ECOAQUA-ULPGC team will get a chance to show Macaronesian rich biodiversity and valuable marine ecosystems in the Canary Islands through samples and other materials.

The team will also get a chance to share the videos realised by the LifeWatch Italy Multimedia Production Centre in the framework of Marine SABRES documentary activities; research aims and results achieved so far will be also presented with the help of a project brochure and a poster.

For more information about the project, visit Marine SABRES official website:
www.marinesabres.eu

Watch our documentary trailers on LifeWatching YouTube Channel and WebTV platform:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyXexZtV6trRxFOOO7EvgIPUQ3lhwXD9Y
https://www.lifewatching.tv/tv-show/marine-sabres/

Further details about the event can be found on the official website:
https://feriainternacionaldelmar.com/

Upscaling biodiversity

upscaling biodiversity bill kunin

“Biodiversity is intrinsically scale-dependent”. Bill Kunin, Professor at the University of Leeds, in this second BioDT Talks tackles one of spatial ecology’s biggest challenges: how do we accurately upscale biodiversity data?

One of the reason that makes upscaling biodiversity challenging is that biodiversity is an unusual variable. Unlike simple additive variables, biodiversity is subadditive: two areas with 6 and 4 species don’t necessarily contain 10 species together due to potential overlap in the species you had in the different samples. This makes scaling from local observations to regional or global assessments particularly complex.

Why does upscaling biodiversity matter? Prof. Kunin explains how it helps us to estimate biodiversity in little-know areas; to predict larger-scale effects from fine-scale experiments; to monitor biodiversity changes across multiple scales; to model spatially realistic futures (e.g. developing more accurate digital twins of ecosystems, linking local and coarser scale patterns); to understand how threats like habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and climate change impact biodiversity differently at various scales.

Enjoy the video on LifeWatching Channel website!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Digital Twins solutions for all companies!

Digital Twins solutions for all companies!

What are the barriers still preventing the adoption of ICT technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises?
There are still many obstacles to overcome, such as the high initial costs to develop and exploit Digital Twins, the lack of in-house technical expertise needed to manage and maintain Digital Twin solutions, limitations and fluctuations in human resources available for innovation projects, the resistance to change, the lack of awareness and understanding of the benefits and potential applications of Digital Twins, regulatory and compliance issues. Moreover, companies frequently worry about the time and efforts required to achieve a return on investment from Digital Twin implementations. The uncertainty about measurable economic benefits may prevent them from investing in innovation.

In this sixth and last episode of BioDT Talks, Francesca Flamigni, Innovations Project and Funding Manager at TTTech, shares insights of the Change2Twin project, a collaborative initiative that aimed at accelerating the digital transformation of companies across Europe by harnessing the power of Digital Twin technology.
More in detail, Change2Twin project has crafted a comprehensive framework designed to provide targeted support tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
This framework is based on the best practices developed within the I4MS initiative, which stands for ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs, and comprises an array of services, including training programs, financial incentives, and scalable Digital Twin solutions.

Watch the video and find out more!!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

EULAC EnergyTRAN mobility event in Seville

EULAC ENERGYTRAN mobility event

On 20 May 2025, the second day of the EULAC EnergyTRAN mobility event took place at the Statutory Seat of LifeWatch ERIC, located in Plaza de España in Seville, Spain. This initiative is part of the EU-LAC cooperation framework, aiming to strengthen scientific collaboration between European and Latin American research infrastructures, particularly in the environmental and energy transition domains.

The second day gathered a diverse delegation of Latin American representatives, including members of: Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), Argentina (Julian Asinsten, Martin del Castillo, Lilia Inés Stubrin, Valeria Arza, Martin Obaya, Emanuel López), Tecnológico de Aguascalientes, México (Adrian Bonilla-Petriciolet, Didilia Ileana Mendoza-Castillo), National High Technology Center (CeNAT), Costa Rica (Jazmín Calderón Quirós), and LifeWatch ERIC team members (Francisco Manuel Sánchez, Antonio José Sáenz, Joaquin López, Julio López Paneque, Iria Soto, Ana Mellado, Maite Irazábal).

Throughout the day, participants from Latin America had the opportunity to engage directly with LifeWatch ERIC members and explore the organisation’s technological, analytical, and data management services. Sessions included:

  • An overview of LifeWatch ERIC’s data management services and technological resources such as the Scientific Knowledge Graph, LifeBlock, and the MyLifeWatch platform;
  • Demonstrations of data loggers and sensor networks for environmental monitoring;
  • A detailed showcase of the collaborative research platform and analytical workflows developed within the EnergyTRAN project;
  • Insightful presentations on the long-term sustainability of LifeWatch ERIC tools and their application in other European projects, such as AGROSERV and Microbes4Climate.

These in-person meetings are precious opportunities to cultivate openness and constructive dialogue, ensuring long-term international cooperation.

The event concluded with an exchange of ideas for future collaborations and opportunities, which are vital to sustain and expand the EU-LAC research partnerships and respond to shared challenges across regions.

Ecological systems: new insights from ecoinformatics

ecological systems

Imagine standing on the edge of a vast forest, its canopy alive with the chatter of birds, the rustle of leaves, and the occasional flash of colour from a darting butterfly. Now picture this forest fading: a vibrant, thriving ecosystem replaced by silence, its trees felled one by one. What would we lose? What might we gain? This scene isn’t a distant possibility – it’s unfolding now. From the peaks of the highest mountains to the depths of the oceans, life thrives. Yet, the biodiversity that sustains humanity is in steep decline. The benefits we once relied upon – clean air, fertile soil, food, and protection – are increasingly uncertain.
With this vivid visualisation of the current biodiversity crisis, Alejandro Ordonez Gloria, Associate Professor at the Aarhus University Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), opens the first episode of the BioDT Talks, a new 6-part series exploring how data, science, and technology are reshaping our response to the biodiversity crisis.

A theme that is very timely with International Biodiversity Day 2025, celebrated on 22 May 2025 under the theme “Harmony with nature and sustainable development”, to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the urgent need to stop its loss, as recognised by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

In this opening talk, Dr. Ordoñez introduces the field of ecoinformatics, where AI, remote sensing, and ecological theory are combined to forecast the future of nature and guide proactive decision-making. From predicting species shifts to building Digital Twins of ecosystems, today’s tools give us a historic opportunity: not just to see what’s coming, but to choose a different outcome.
By illustrating the current, different approaches of ecoinformatics, he underlines how computational models generate plausible scenarios of biodiversity change while highlighting the role of computational approaches in assessing and prioritising conservation actions, allowing policymakers to focus on the most impactful strategies.

“We can no longer afford to be passive observers of ecological change. We must become active drivers of it […] The ecoinformatics toolbox is transforming science from a reactive perspective of change to a proactive perspective of change, one in which we can think about which actions do we need to take to get us to the future where we want to be in. And by doing this, we will be able to model where do we want nature to be into the future”, he says.

Enjoy the video on LifeWatching Channel website!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Fighting pandemics with urgent computing in drug discovery

Fighting pandemics with urgent computing in drug discovery

What does computer science have to do with fighting pandemics?
In our fifth BioDT Talks episode, Prof. Gianluca Palermo of Politecnico di Milano reveals how in-silico drug discovery and urgent computing are revolutionising medicine.

With drug development costing up to $2 billion per medication, computer simulations are accelerating research by evaluating thousands of potential treatments against disease targets before expensive lab testing begins.
We all have in mind what happened five years ago during the COVID19 pandemic. During a pandemic, time is a critical factor: finding a medical treatment or a vaccine in short time can limit and reduce the spread of a virus. Well, supercomputers helps a lot in this.
Discover how supercomputers with urgent computing protocols helped combat COVID-19 by tracking viral spread, understanding infection mechanisms, and identifying potential treatments, all at unprecedented speed.

Watch now to see how computational power is becoming one of our most powerful tools against future health crises!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

A revolution in conservation research with FAIR data and biodiversity Digital Twins

A revolution in conservation research with FAIR data and biodiversity Digital Twins

Remember struggling to find all the data you needed for a research project? You’re not alone!
In our fourth BioDT Talks episode, Joana Castro Paupério, Biodiversity Project Manager at the European Nucleotide Archive (EMBL-EBI), shares how her PhD frustrations with incomplete biodiversity data led to her passion for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles.

Imagine trying to model genetic diversity of European beetles across environments. Would you find all the necessary data? Would you be able to access crucial context information like geographic coordinates? Could you interpret the data correctly on the basis of the information available? Probably not, as unfortunately not all data produced is published in a way that it is easy to find by users. Moreover, data may often be accessible, but hard to find and interpret because it does not have enough metadata or the metadata is not structured in a standardised way.
Joana reveals how making biodiversity data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable is transforming conservation research and enabling effective Digital Twins.

Watch now to discover how the BioDT project is ensuring valuable biodiversity data doesn’t just exist but can be found, understood, and used effectively!

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Transforming data into new knowledge: data pipelines for biodiversity research

Transforming data into new knowledge data pipelines for biodiversity research

“As a little girl, I was roaming around in the forest in spring, enjoying the fact that the snow had melted.
I grew up in Norway; we have long winters and looking for the spring flower was one of the favourite activities for kids…And looking for Epatica nobilis (Liver leaf) was one of the most important things we did because we got to get in the local newspaper if you were the first ones. We knew about specific places where the snow melted first and we had some hints of leaves etc that indicated that this is the place where we could find this precious flower.”

Remember searching for the first spring flowers as a child?

In our third BioDT Talks episode, Bente Lilja Bye, founder of the research and consulting company BLB, shares how her childhood quests for Hepatica nobilis in Norway and her mother’s meticulous nature diaries evolved into groundbreaking work in biodiversity data science!
The information about the first Epatica nobilis of the year and the “metadata” around these spring flowers, carefully handwritten in her mother’s diary, were her first experience collecting data, and the first repository of her life. An important channel for her to get involved in her current job.

In her talk, Bente Lilja Bye explains in particular why is worth learning about data pipelines and to build Digital Twins for biodiversity.
So, first of all, what is a Digital Twin? A Digital Twin for biodiversity is a sophisticated digital representation of ecosystems, species, and their interactions with the environment. This technology integrates various data sources to create a dynamic simulation that mirrors real-world biological systems. “A simple representation of a Digital Twin is that you have a physical system and a virtual system”, Bente Lilja Bye says. “Data or observations of the physical system are used to create the virtual system. Now, the virtual system is running models etc giving feedback into the physical system and in this way we have a loop called Digital Twin”.

The data is the core of a Digital Twin, we would not have Digital Twins without data. There are currently many sources and many types of data, and the challenge is to collect, harmonise, standardise, processing all this amount of information to put all these different types of data together. Data pipelines are essential for efficiently processing vast amounts of data and providing real-time insights for Digital Twins. In simpler words, they are systems leading from the collection and acquisition of data, to their final transformation into new knowledge or possible decisions. Moreover, data pipelines enable industry, academia, and the public sector to more efficiently share data, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration.

“By being a foundational component of a Digital Twin, a data pipeline represents a transformative approach to biodiversity conservation, offering enhanced monitoring capabilities, improved decision-making processes, predictive insights, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. And these benefits are instrumental in addressing the pressing challenges facing global biodiversity today”.
Watch the video, and find out how we can transform data into new knowledge.

BioDT is a research project funded by the European Union that aims to develop a digital twin prototype for the study and analysis of biodiversity, in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.
The BioDT Talks is the new 6-part series illustrating how data science and technology are transforming our approach to the biodiversity crisis.
More information on the BioDT Project HERE.
Watch the full playlist on YouTube and find out more!

Strengthening Transatlantic Collaboration on Energy Transition

Energy Transition

19–20 May 2025 | Seville, Spain

On May 19th and 20th, LifeWatch ERIC and the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) will welcome a distinguished delegation of researchers and representatives from public institutions across Latin America and Europe to Seville, to strengthen transatlantic collaboration on environmental indicators for the energy transition within the framework of the EULAC ENERGYTRAN project’s mobility programme.

ENERGY TRAN has the objectives of co-designing analytical tools based on the FAIR principles to assess energy transition indicators, building capacity in the use of European research infrastructures, such as LifeWatch ERIC, to connect environmental and energy data.
Moreover, it will exchange best practices in data governance, public policy, and participatory approaches and strengthen collaboration networks between institutions in Europe and Latin America for future scientific and policy-oriented initiatives.

The initiative aims to strengthen institutional capacities and foster knowledge exchange between Europe and Latin America in support of a sustainable energy transition. Special attention will be given to the interoperability of data, the development of FAIR-based analytical tools, and the integration of biodiversity and sustainability indicators into energy policy frameworks.

Day one of the meeting, 19 May, will be held at the University of Seville’s Cultural Initiatives Centre (CICUS), while the second day LifeWatch ERIC headquarters, Plaza de España, will host the second day.

Confirmed participating institutions include:

  • Argentina:
    • Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation.
    • National University of San Martín (UNSAM)
  • Brazil:
    • Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
  • Chile:
    • Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation (MinCiencia)
    • University of Magallanes (UMAG)
  • Colombia:
    • Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Minciencias)
  • Costa Rica:
    • Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT);
    • High Technology Center Foundation (FunCeNAT)
  • Mexico:
    • National Technological Institute of Mexico (TecNM)
  • Uruguay:
    • National Research and Innovation Agency ( ANII)
  • Spain:
    • Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
    • National Statistics Institute (INE)
    • Renewables Foundation
    • Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI)
    • EU-SOLARIS ERIC
    • Network of Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI); a working party of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
  • Portugal
    • Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC)
    • Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (IPS)

This event exemplifies LifeWatch ERIC’s commitment to advancing open science, transatlantic collaboration, and data-driven sustainability.

We look forward to receiving all participants in seville and continue strengthening collaboration between LifeWatch ERIC and Latin America and European institutions.

Biodiversity Meets Data: the EU & SERI project that will turn biodiversity data into action

BMD Project

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

The project, coordinated by Niels Raes from Naturalis Biodiversity Center, kicked off in Leiden, the Netherlands, at the beginning of March 2025 (click here for a nice group picture). Joaquín López Lérida attended the meeting on behalf of LifeWatch ERIC. During the event, presentations on the current biodiversity policy landscape highlighted how Biodiversity Meets Data can support key initiatives such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Nature Restoration Law.

Even before its official launch, the project had already made its first appearances – at the The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) workshop in November 2024, and at the Eurosite – European Land Conservation Network Annual Meeting in October.

More specifically, BMD will provide a Single Access Point (SAP) for natural resource managers and policymakers, offering access to: 

  • Biodiversity monitoring tools including image, sound, e-DNA and AI taxon identification services; 
  • Co-designed Virtual Research Environments (VREs) for terrestrial, freshwater and marine realms; 
  • A Web-GIS Map Viewer for data exploration.

The Virtual Research Environments (VREs) will build on the expertise of eLTER (terrestrial and freshwater domains) and LifeWatch ERIC (marine domain), combining biological data with environmental, climatic, and remotely sensed datasets.

These integrated platforms will bridge knowledge gaps through predictive modelling, supporting the identification of drivers of change and enabling analysis of climate and land cover impacts on species and habitats. 

In addition to its role in the marine VRE, LifeWatch ERIC will also contribute to the data visualisation engine and the design of the Single Access Point, and lead learning, training, and capacity-building initiatives.

The project’s tools and services will be co-designed and co-developed with stakeholders, ensuring user input guides every stage. Contributions from Biodiversa+ and BioDiMoBot during the kick-off meeting presented opportunities to connect BMD with ongoing biodiversity monitoring efforts across Europe.

BMD will help turn biodiversity data into actionable insights for conservation and policy, thanks to the collaboration of 14 partner institutions.

Funders: the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

Stay in touch via the official website: https://bmd-project.eu