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

Engineering the ENVRI-Hub
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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 <

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).

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.
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.

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.

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.

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”.

Fund raising

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

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.

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.
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.