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7th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity

17/11/2026

20/11/2026

Bruges, Belgium The 7th edition of the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade Event, will take place from November 17-20th 2026 (WCMB 2026) in Bruges, Belgium, at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). Taking part in the conference is a major opportunity to share research outcomes, management and...

BEeS 2026

07/07/2026

10/07/2026

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

Last edition of Marine SABRES Serious Game School Competition

22/05/2026

Online The Serious Game School Competition, organised by the EU-funded project Marine SABRES, returns for its third and final edition on 22 May 2026, on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity and the European Maritime Day. It offers students and teachers a valuable opportunity to explore or test their...

EGU 2026

03/05/2026

08/05/2026

The General Assembly of the European GeoSciences Union takes place in Vienna from 3 to 8 May 2026: one of the biggest conferences on environmental and earth sciences. The event brings together around more than 20,000 geoscientists from all over the world, and covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and...

Introducing the New ENVRI-Hub for Environmental Research: an ENVRI-Hub NEXT webinar

23/04/2026

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...

SUBMERSE Project Final Event: the future of subsea fibre optic sensing

15/04/2026

17/04/2026

Copenhagen, Denmark SUBMERSE Project is holding its final event in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 15 to 17 April 2026. The three-year research project explores how Europe’s submarine fibre-optic cables can become scientific tools for seismology, oceanography, and marine biology. As the project enters its final phase, the 25 partners of the project's...

ICT.Open

15/04/2026

16/04/2026

Rotterdam, Netherlands NWO ICT.Open brings together scientists from all ICT research disciplines and industries to learn, share ideas, and network. The conference takes place on 15 and 16 April 2026 in Rotterdam, and this year it is dedicated to "The Art of ICT". This theme celebrates technology as both craft and...

Big Seashell Survey 2026

21/03/2026

At its 9th edition, the Big Seashell Survey returns to the Belgian coast! On 21 March 2026, this annual citizen science event invites people across 10 coastal municipalities in Belgium to explore the fascinating world of seashells along the high-tide line and take part in real scientific research. Adults and...

SBDI Days 2026: Artificial Intelligence in Ecology and Biodiversity Research

10/02/2026

11/02/2026

The Swedish Biodiversity Data Infrastructure (SBDI), in partnership with SciLifeLab's Planetary Biology Strategic Area, is hosting the SBDI Days at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, on 10-11 February 2026. The conference will bring together researchers working in the fields of ecology, biology, biodiversity, remote sensing, genetic monitoring, Earth system...

EVERSE Community Engagement Event

05/02/2026

The EVERSE project has the objective of building a collaborative and community-led structure for the evaluation of research software and code quality in Europe. The project is organising its Community Engagement Event on Thursday, 5 February 2026, to share news and updates, exchange ideas and best practices, and engage in open...

From science to society: Marine SABRES in Fairs lands in Pisa

14/01/2026

Pisa, Italy On January 14, 2026, LifeWatch ERIC will attend with "Marine SABRES in Fairs" at the third round of stakeholder consultations, hosted by the Marine SABRES project and organised by HuFoSS (Hummel Foundation for Sustainable Solutions) and the University of Pisa. From 14:30, students, researchers and all those interested in the...

RESTORE4Cs at the Water Resilience Forum

08/12/2025

Brussels, Belgium The RESTORE4Cs project, promoting the restoration and protection of European coastal wetlands, has announced its participation in the first Water Resilience Forum, taking place on 8 December 2025 at the European Commission’s Jacques Delors Building in Brussels. The forum, following the recently adopted European Water Resilience Strategy, will bring together...

Community engagement and application integration

March–June 2026
- stakeholder mapping and engagement strategy;
- first open webinar.
July 2026–December 2027
- workshops, training activities, and industry–academia roundtables;
- co-development of application-oriented pilot studies.
2028
- consolidation of collaborations, cross-infrastructure initiatives, and dissemination of impact- oriented outputs.

Fund raising

End of January 2025 – Establishing a WG Committee on scouting project application opportunities and fundraising.

Greece

The Greek National Distributed Centre is funded by the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology and is coordinated by the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, in conjunction with 47 associated partner institutions.

To know more about how Greece contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Italy

The Italian National Distributed Centre is led and managed by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and is coordinated by a Joint Research Unit, currently comprising 35 members. Moreover, Italy hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Service Centre.

To know more about how Italy contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Netherlands

The Dutch National Distributed Centre is hosted by the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam. Moreover, The Netherlands hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Virtual Laboratory and Innovation Centre.

To know more about how The Netherlands contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Portugal

The Portuguese National Distributed Centre is managed by PORBIOTA, the Portuguese e-Infrastructure for Information and Research on Biodiversity. Led by BIOPOLIS/CIBIO-InBIO – Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, PORBIOTA connects the principal Portuguese research institutions working in biodiversity.

To know more about how Portugal contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Slovenia

The Slovenian National Distributed Centre is led by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). It focuses on the development of technological solutions in the field of biodiversity and socio-ecosystem research.

To know more about how Slovenia contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Spain

The Spanish National Distributed Centre is supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority (Ministry for Ecological Transition-MITECO). Moreover, Spain is the hosting Member State of LifeWatch ERIC, the location of its Statutory Seat & ICT e-Infrastructure Technical Office (LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities).

To know more about how Spain contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian National Distributed Centre is represented by the Agricultural University-Plovdiv.

To know more about how Bulgaria contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Mapping user requirements

End of January 2025 – Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines addressing ecological responses to climate change;
February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders.

Implementing services

End of January 2025 – Internal distribution of a questionnaire on the most used/relevant model resources in the WG member research activity;
February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders.

Organising WG workshops and conferences

End of January 2025 – Setting priority research lines and contributions to the BEeS 2025 LifeWatch Conference for the session on the “Ecological responses to climate change”;
March/April 2025 (TBD) – Workshop ‘Ecological modelling and eco-informatics to address functional responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to climate change’ co-organised with the University of Salento;
30 June – 3 July 2025 – Participation to LifeWatch 2025 BEeS Conference on “Addressing the Triple Planetary Crisis”.

Meetings, Webinars, International Conferences & Networking (2025/2026)

Organising and participating at discussions on emerging technologies in biodiversity monitoring;
Organising webinars on machine learning, eDNA analysis, and automated data collection;
Fostering collaboration between researchers, technologists, and decision-makers.

Bioinformatics services and infrastructure

March–September 2026
- assessment of computational needs;
- deployment of Virtual Machines and Galaxy Instances;
- integration of workflows for eDNA, DNA metabarcoding, and shotgun metagenomics.
October 2026–June 2027
- release and optimization of reproducible workflows;
- scaling of infrastructure;
- integration of ML/AI tools for biodiversity analyses.

Collaborative Research & Case Studies (2025/2026)

Conducting pilot projects to test new monitoring methods;
Publishing scientific and popular science papers and reports on advancements in biodiversity assessment.

Data Standardisation & FAIR Principles Implementation (2025/2026)

Developing best practices for data curation and sharing;
Ensuring that biodiversity data aligns with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) standards.

Development of VREs for Ecosystem Simulation (2026)

Creating virtual models of ecosystems to predict environmental changes;
Enhancing conservation strategies through AI-driven simulations.

Mapping Requirements and Gap Analysis

End of December 2025 – Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines Ecosystem services mapping.

Methodological Alignment and Innovation

End of January 2026 – Online working table on mapping standards, classification systems, and indicators across members;
End of January 2026 – Catalogue of advanced techniques (e.g., remote sensing, GIS modelling, and machine learning) for scalable, habitat-based ecosystem service mapping;
End December 2026 – Methodological framework to support methodological innovation through joint development and testing of mapping approaches, especially linking ecosystem service supply and demand.

Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building

End of December 2025 – Create a shared repository of guidance documents, tools, templates, and data resources accessible to WG members and broader communities.

Policy Relevance and Uptake

End of May 2026 – Policy-brief to demonstrate the application of habitat-based mapping in supporting EU strategies (e.g., Biodiversity Strategy, Nature Restoration Law).

Cross-Disciplinary Lexicon

End of April 2026 – Lexicon of standardised terminology
End of May 2026 – Publication submitted

Environmental Data Mapping

End of May 2026 – Core environmental data mapped as a list
End of June 2026 – Cross-comparison with existing LifeWatch catalogue done

Integrated Data-to-Model Workflows

End of December 2026 – At least 5 workflows for data-model integration developed and published
End of February 2027 – At least 5 workflows for policy-relevant outputs developed and published

Experimental design and extraction protocols

March–June 2026
- Kick-off meeting;
- collection of use cases;
- mapping of existing experimental designs and nucleic acid extraction protocols.
July–December 2026
- Comparative evaluation of sampling strategies and sequencing approaches;
- assessment of extraction methods across environmental matrices;
- drafting of best-practice guidelines.
January–April 2027
- Pilot validation, community feedback, and release of Version 1.0 standardised guidelines.

Belgium

The Belgian National Distributed Centre makes varied and complementary in-kind contributions to LifeWatch ERIC. These are implemented in the form of long-lasting projects by various research centres and universities distributed throughout the country and supported by each respective political authority.

To know more about how Belgium contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.