Virginia García

Team

Department: Working Group Coordinators
Role: Co-Coordinator
Email: virginia.garcia@uma.es

Virginia Garcia Millan is an environmental scientist specialised in remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and regional-scale ecosystem analysis. Her scientific work focuses on environmental protection and conservation. She considers remote sensing as a tool to obtain a quick and comprehensive overview of environmental status and dynamics. She has conducted research in Canada (Earth Observation Science Lab—EOSL, University of Alberta), Germany (EFTAS Fernerkundung GmbH), and Sweden (Lund University). Previously, she worked at the European Topic Centre (affiliated to the University of Málaga) on assignments for the European Environment Agency (EEA). Her career began with the evaluation of various environmental monitoring sensors—such as hyperspectral sensors on multi-angle platforms for mapping dry tropical forest succession in Latin America, or drones equipped with multispectral cameras and LiDAR for characterising boreal forests in Canada and Scandinavia. Currently, she focuses her research on the big data analysis of satellite imagery using artificial intelligence to map Mediterranean forests, evaluate European forest restoration, monitor terrestrial ecosystem carbon sequestration, and generate early indicators of environmental impacts.

Identify community needs and promote FAIR data exchange for agroecology

End of 2027
- Identify the demand from researchers and living labs for interoperable indicators, reproducible workflows, and decision-support tools that connect biophysical, ecological and socio-economic dimensions.

Strengthen collaboration and impact

Permanent activity
- Coordinate collaboration among Distributed Centres, Living Labs and research communities to support the development of agroecology services within LifeWatch ERIC;
End of 2027
- Improve comparability of research outputs, accelerate adoption of services, and foster co-created solutions for researchers, farmers, advisors and policy makers.
Permanent activity
- Facilitate joint initiatives, project proposals and knowledge exchange to ensure sustained service development and long-term impact.

Support the development of digital agroecology services

June 2026
- Deployment of EDDAn data space for Agrifood sector in Andalusia; Adaptation of TITAN workflow platform and related KHAOS tools to serve as a reproducible, trustworthy analysis layer within EDDAn Data Space;
September 2026
- An AGROSERV TransNationalAccess project is currently underway by LifeWatch ERIC and AnaEE ERIC to develop a VREfA (Virtual Research Environment for Agroecology). The project, led by UPO, will support the biophysical analysis of agroecosystems that are transitioning to agroecological management practices.

Advance agroecological research across scales

Permanent activity
- Increase knowledge on ecological processes in agroecosystems, considering both relevant spatial scales and long-term changes.
End of 2027
- Promote the advancement of Landscape Agroecology, exploring new ways of functional integration of different land and livestock uses to increase territorial efficiency and generate landscape mosaics well-endowed with biodiversity and ecosystem services.
End of 2027
- Contribute to the design of agroecological food systems at local and bioregional levels to meet population food demands.
End of 2028
- Research on the contribution of agroecological management to combating climate emergencies, both in terms of mitigation (sequestration) and adaptation to adverse climatic conditions at both farm and landscape level.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Cross-Disciplinary Lexicon

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

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).

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.

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.

Mapping Requirements and Gap Analysis

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

Development of VREs for Ecosystem Simulation (2026)

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

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.

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.

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.

Fund raising

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

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.