Old Team

Home | Old Team

Find out more about the team behind LifeWatch ERIC.

LifeWatch ERIC employs an international staff with wide-ranging expertise and multidisciplinary skills. Staff members, roles and contact details are displayed below.

Are you interested in joining the team? Click here to browse our job opportunities.

Christos Arvanitidis

Executive Board

Chief Executive
Officer

LifeWatch ERIC

Juan Miguel González-Aranda

Executive Board

Chief Technology Officer

LifeWatch ERIC

Lucas de Moncuit

Executive Board

Chief Financial
Officer

LifeWatch ERIC

Alberto Basset

Executive Board

Interim Director of
Service Centre

Member of the General Assembly

Peter H. Van Tienderen

Executive Board

Interim Director of VLab & Innovation Centre

LifeWatch ERIC

Africa G. Zanella

Consultant

Gender & Equity
Expert

ICT-Core

José Manuel Avila Castuera

Staff

Agroecology Technical
Expert

ICT-Core

Elizabeth Bamford

Staff

Communication
Officer

Service Centre

Riccardo Bianchi

Staff

Developer for Cloud-based Virtual Research Environments

VLab & Innovation Centre

Giovanna Caputi Iambrenghi

Staff

National Nodes Operations
Manager

Statutory Seat

Nicola Fiore

Staff

Service Centre
ICT Coordinator

Service Centre

Cristina Huertas-Olivares

Staff

International Initiatives & Projects Manager

Statutory Seat

Xeni Kechagioglou

Staff

Ontology
Developer

Service Centre

Julian Kenny

Staff

Communication
Officer

Service Centre

Jacco Konijn

Staff

Project
Manager

VLab & Innovation Centre

Spiros Koulouzis

Staff

Virtual Research Environment
Developer

VLab & Innovation Centre

Hooi Sung Lim

Staff

Quality Assurance & Risk Management Officer

Statutory Seat

Javier López-Torres

Staff

Procurement & Institutional Relationship Officer

ICT-Core

Maria Teresa Manca

Staff

Training & Capacity Building
Officer

Service Centre

Rocío Mantero Cejudo

Staff

Technical
Assistant

Statutory Seat

Sara Montinaro

Staff

Chief Communication
Officer

Service Centre

Eleonora Romano

Staff

Administrative
Officer

Service Centre

Antonio José Sáenz Albanés

Staff

e-Infrastructure Operations Coordinator

ICT-Core

Javier Saenz Reina

Staff

Finance
Officer

Statutory Seat

Francisco Manuel Sánchez Cano

Staff

e-Infrastructure Resource Integration Coordinator

ICT-Core

Yifang Shi

Staff

Scientific Developer for Ecological Applications of LiDAR Remote Sensing

VLab & Innovation Centre

Joris Timmermans

Staff

Scientific Developer for Essential Biodiversity Variables Workflows

VLab & Innovation Centre

Lucia Vaira

Staff

Web Portal
Officer

Service Centre

Cosimo Vallo

Staff

Training
Officer

Service Centre

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.