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.

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.

Big Seashell Survey 2023

Big Seashell Survey 2023

LifeWatch Belgium invites you on Saturday 25 March 2023 to one of the 10 coastal municipalities along the Belgian coast for the sixth Belgian Big Seashell Survey. On that day, hundreds of amateur scientists and citizens will determine which shells have washed up on the beaches. This can give us a better picture of the changes in marine life in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Like effects of climate change, human constructions, or the arrival and spreading of non-indigenous species…

You will be collecting shells, admiring them and trying to figure out what species they are. At the same time, you will also give science a boost. In each of the ten coastal municipalities, shell experts will help you collect and identify your hundred beach shells at the counting stations between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. When hundreds of enthusiasts do so, we all learn a lot more about these fascinating marine animals. Experienced or not, anyone can become a (marine) scientist for one day!

On site, there are also some fun activities tailored to children (in Dutch only). More information at www.groteschelpenteldag.be (in Dutch only).

The Big Seashell Survey goes international!

The Netherlands and northern France will also be using the same technique on Saturday 25 March. Will we find the same shells in northern France as in Belgium or the Netherlands? The Big Seashell Survey is an initiative of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), the Province of West Flanders, EOS magazine, the Strandwerkgroep, Natuurpunt, Kusterfgoed and the coastal municipalities.

LifeWatch ERIC BEeS Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience Conference

Bees Conference

Seville, Spain, 22–24 May 2023.

This Biodiversity Day, don’t miss out on the LifeWatch ERIC BEes Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience Conference “Threats and challenges to biodiversity and ecosystem conservation from an eScience perspective”.

Submit your abstracts until 30 April on the following topics: major threats to the Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystem health, Macroecological and biogeographical approaches to biodiversity conservation, Ecosystem and habitat mapping, Animal biology and behavioral traits, “System of systems” biodiversity observation, Biodiversity and ecosystem responses to climate change, and finally, Natural capital and the “One Health” approach. There will also be a round table on the theme of World Biodiversity Day, moderated by LifeWatch ERIC and keynote speakers.

Visit the conference minisite to sign up and/or submit your abstract.

“FAIR environmental data for EOSC and the World: Engineering the ENVRI-Hub”, an RDA co-located event

Engineering the ENVRI-Hub

Gothenburg and online, 20 March 2023.

The power of FAIRness

Good-quality data is essential to enable successful global climate action. The European Environmental Research Infrastructures, organised in the ENVRI Community, hold a wealth of data on Earth systems critical to tackling global climate challenges. Within the ENVRI-FAIR, a Horizon 2020 project in which LifeWatch ERIC is partner, the ENVRI Community created the ENVRI-Hub, a portal of services to ensure the availability, accessibility and interoperability of this trove of European environmental data.

Meet the ENVRI-Hub

The ENVRI Community is proud to introduce the ‘ENVRI-Hub’ concept and its achievements during this co-located event. The ENVRI-Hub is the central gateway to FAIR environmental data and services the European environmental research infrastructures offer. It offers a community-built platform that combines a service catalogue, a knowledge base, information on training resources that support service providers and users, and a virtual research environment with several initial science demonstrators, all accessible through a single access interface. Through the ENVRI-Hub, the ENVRI Community directly contributes to the European Open Science Cloud, opening up this wealth of data for exploitation to all scientific users, policymakers, and private partners.

Real cases for real users

This event will demonstrate several aspects of the technical and data architecture behind the ENVRI-Hub, from assessing the FAIRness of the ENVRIs and identifying the gaps to harmonising technical implementations across different infrastructures. It will also illustrate its value in various real-world science demonstrators. Discussions will follow with a panel of experts about the integration into EOSC, the current strengths and limitations of the ENVRI-Hub and possible future developments.

Programme


Presentation of the components of the ENVRIhub by ENVRI experts

  • ENVRIhub concept and architecture (Anca Hienola, ENVRI co-coordinator, FMI)
  • Catalogue of services and AAI (Keith Jeffery, ENVRI-FAIR Lead in Common FAIR Policies, EPOS, UKRI)
  • Knowledge base and search engine of ENVRI Hub (Zhiming Zhao, ENVRI-FAIR Lead in Common implementation and support, UvA, LifeWatch ERIC)
  • Key data aspects and choices (Maggie Helström, ENVRI-FAIR Co-lead in Training and capacity building, ICOS Carbon Portal, Lund University)
  • Science Demonstrators – which science case (Damien Boulanger, ENVRI-FAIR Co-lead in Implementation Atmospheric Subdomain, IAGOS, CNRS)

Q&A and discussion on the technology, ICT aspects and data


Panel discussion with the ENVRI-FAIR experts, the invited stakeholders and the audience

  • Improving FAIRness of data and service to attempt convergence at the ENVRI level
  • Future needs of the hub for ENVRI, Europe and the World
  • Integration into EOSC, consequences, opportunities, needs for collaboration and co-development
  • Relevance for science, consequences for data FAIRness
  • Interoperability of variable descriptions
  • Sustainability of the hub from the technical point of view

Panel members: ENVRI-FAIR presenters, Barbara Magagna (GO FAIR), Mark van de Sanden (SURF, EOSC Future), Ville Tenhunen (EGI)

Moderators: Angeliki Adamaki (Co-lead in WP5 of ENVRI-FAIR, Common requirements and testbed for (meta)data services, community standards and cataloguing, ICOS Carbon Portal, Lund University), Jacco Konijn (Part of ENVRI-FAIR communications strategies and tools, UvA, LifeWatch ERIC)

Practical info


“FAIR environmental data for EOSC and the World: Engineering the ENVRI-Hub”, an RDA co-located event

20.3.23, from 14:00-17:00 CET / 13:00-16:00 UTC
Pascal room, Lindholmen Conference Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden

This event is open to all.
You don’t need to be registered for the 20th RDA General Assembly to attend this event.

> Sign up here <

Transfiere 2023

Transfiere 2023

Malaga, Spain, 15–17 February 2023.

Transfiere, the European Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation, will be taking place at the FYCMA – Trade Fairs and Congress Center of Málaga, Avda Ortega y Gasset, 201, 29006, from 15–17 February 2023. It is a key professional and multisectorial forum for the transfer of knowledge, the improvement of competitiveness in the business sector and the generation of business and networking opportunities. Every year in Malaga, Transfiere becomes an unmissable event for Ecosystem Agents where they can establish new B2B contacts, network, find new partners, establish strategic alliances and synergies, as well as publicise new products, services and innovative projects.

LifeWatch ERIC will be represented at Transfiere 2023 by members of its ICT-Core & Federtech team, and will have a stand.

More information is availabe on the event website.

ICSOC20

ICSOC20

Seville, Spain, 29 November – 2 December 2022.

ICSOC20, the 20th edition of the International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing, is the premier international forum for academics, industry researchers, developers, and practitioners to report and share groundbreaking work in service-oriented computing. ICSOC fosters cross-community scientific excellence by gathering experts from various disciplines, such as services science, data science, management science, business-process management, distributed systems, wireless and mobile computing, cloud and edge computing, cyber-physical systems, Internet-of-Things (IoT), scientific workflows, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and services and software engineering.

This congress provides a high-quality forum for presenting results and discussing ideas that further knowledge and understanding of the various aspects (e.g. application and system aspects) related to Service Computing with particular focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, IoT, and emerging technologies including quantum computing.

LifeWatch ERIC is one of the main sponsors and will give two presentations at the 20th edition of this event: ICSOC20.

30 November

Antonio José Sáenz-Albanés, ICT-Core Operations Coordinator at LifeWatch ERIC, will do a presentation on ‘LifeWatch ERIC distributed e-infrastructure, challenges and goals’.

2 December

Juan Miguel González-Aranda, LifeWatch ERIC CTO and head of LifeWatch Spain, will participate in a session in collaboration with the Digital Agency of Andalusia and will talk about ‘LifeWatch ERIC, an Open e-Science & Data Service Oriented distributed panEuropean Research Core Infrastructure: AstarteWatch, from Andalusia to the rest of the World’.

Al-Andalus Innovation Venture

Al-Andalus Innovation Venture

Seville, Spain, 29–30 November 2022.

LifeWatch ERIC is a sponsor of the event Al-Andalus Innovation Venture, the first edition of what will be an annual event. It will be held from 29–30 November in the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Sevilla. Its aims are to:

  • Facilitate the transfer of innovation to the Andalusian business fabric through the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  • Reinforce the competitive position of Andalusia as a center for startups in Spain.
  • General deal Flow for investors, selecting the best projects.
  • Opportunity for startups to work together with corporates.

On 30 November at 10:00 CET in Fibes Edificio I, LifeWatch ERIC CTO and Head of LifeWatch Spain, Juan Miguel González-Aranda, will hold a presentation on “The bioeconomy as a horizon of opportunities for all sectors” (in Spanish).

See more information here.

Symposium: Advanced facilities for the ecological research: the European Research Infrastructures

Metz, France, 24 November 2022.

The European Commission is strongly promoting the establishment and operation of European Research Infrastructures (ERIs), funded by the Member States, as key components of the scientific research landscape supporting the global competitiveness of European research communities. ERIs are aimed at offering high quality data and advanced facilities to European scientists, with particular attention towards early career researchers, promoting innovation, technology transfer to industries, and citizen engagement in science.

In the area of Ecology, some ERIs have already been established as European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERIC), and are currently operational, whilst others are in the process of becoming so. Globally, the landscape of European Research Infrastructures offers monitoring sites and facilities covering all types of environmental domains, i.e., terrestrial, freshwater, transitional and marine waters and key research areas, such as those dealing with biodiversity organisation, conservation and restoration, with ecosystem processes and carbon sequestration, water and energy fluxes or with agroecosystems.

On 24 November 2022, LifeWatch ERIC is organising the Symposium: “Advanced facilities for the ecological research: the European Research Infrastructures”.
Here, we propose an expert panel discussion, with leading scientists from advanced ERIs supporting European scientific research on biodiversity and ecosystems, such as LifeWatch ERIC, the European e-Science Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, the ecosystem component of ICOS ERIC, the Integrated Carbon Observation System, eLTER RI, the Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone ad socio-ecological Research, DiSSCo, the Distributed System of Scientific Collections, Danubius-RI, the International Centre for Advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems, EMSO ERIC, the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory, and JERICO-RI, the Joint European Infrastructure of Coastal Observatories. Presenting their key integrated research facilities to the SFE2 GFÖ EEF Joint Meeting – “Ecology & Evolution: New perspectives and societal challenges“, these infrastructures offer to the relevant ecological research community of practice, a view on their data, services and other types of research resources, on the opportunities for engagement and on the possibilities to propose new types of data and services to be promoted, collected and developed by the ERIs.

The proposed discussion will focus on the major scientific and societal challenges of contemporary times and on the greatest threats faced by biodiversity, ecosystem services and societal benefits, in the context of natural and anthropic pressures, including climate change impacts. The leading scientists involved in the discussion will present how each ERI will commit to collaboratively tackle these issues, supporting the creation of new multidisciplinary and cross-domain knowledge towards facilitation of the implementation of current policies at all levels and the creation of new ones. They will also illustrate how scientists can access their integrated research facilities.

Keynote speakers:
Alberto Basset, University of Salento and LifeWatch ERIC
Christos Arvanitidis, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) and LifeWatch ERIC
Dario Papale, University of Tuscia and ICOS ERIC
Michael Mirtl, Environment Agency Austria and eLTER RI
Niels Raes, Naturalis Biodiversity Center and DiSSCo
Adrian Stanica, National Institute for Research and Development of Marine Geology and Geoecology (GeoEcomar) and Danubius-RI
Gabriella Quaranta, EMSO ERIC
Laurent Delauney, Ifremer and JERICO-RI
Rob J.J. Hendriks, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and Biodiversa+

Chairperson: Andreas Petzold, Juelich Research Centre, IAGOS and ENVRI-FAIR

Speakers will present their RIs, then they will illustrate the services and facilities that these RIs can provide to address major threats for biodiversity (e.g. alien species, habitat degradation and fragmentation etc) and tackle climate change impacts affecting ecosystem functioning and services. The discussion will be therefore an occasion to highlight multidisciplinary expertise and synergies on these key topics.