Researchers

Welcome to our researchers’ page.
Here you will find specialised content for researchers and academics, from events, to training resources, to funding opportunities.

LifeWatch ERIC Community

We launched our online space where you can meet with other scientists and stakeholders, join working groups, search through our calls and announcements, post on the board of opportunities and access our Directory of Scientific Skills.
Now available!

Resources & Services

VREs
12
Datasets
1516
Services
190
Workflows
5
Research Sites
10
Training Resources
35

Training Resources

Training resources

0
LifeWatch ERIC Metadata Catalogue | updating
LifeWatch ERIC Metadata Catalogue | updating
Ecosystem vulnerability to alien and invasive species | updating
Ecosystem vulnerability to invasive and alien species
Phytoplankton VRE Documentation | updating
Phytoplankton Virtual Research Environment Documentation

Welcome to the LifeWatch ERIC consultation

We need your help and vision to better understand users’ priorities in biodiversity and ecosystem research. By completing this questionnaire, you will help the LifeWatch ERIC e-infrastructure develop the e-services you need to perform the best research. The consultation only takes few minutes to complete.

Welcome to the LifeWatch ERIC consultation

We need your help and vision to better understand the landscape of biodiversity and ecosystem research. We need your help and vision to better understand users’ priorities in biodiversity and ecosystem research. By completing this questionnaire, you will help the LifeWatch ERIC e-infrastructure developing the e-services you will need to perform the best research. The consultation only takes few minutes to complete.

FAQs

Do you have questions regarding the organisation and functioning of LifeWatch ERIC?
Consult our FAQ.

LifeWatch ERIC is the e-Science European infrastructure for biodiversity & ecosystem research, investing in three essential components: open access resources, reproducible analytics and mobilised communities. It tackles the constraints affecting biodiversity and ecosystem research, enabling the exploration of new frontiers in ecological science and supporting society in addressing planetary challenges.

LifeWatch ERIC offers scientists access to data, web-services, VREs, workflows and training opportunities to support biodiversity and ecosystem research.

You can access all LifeWatch ERIC Resources through its MetaData Catalogue. Please send an email to our Web Portal Officer to receive access: lucia.vaira[at]lifewatch.eu.

You can share your research outputs by publishing metadata of datasets, services, VREs and workflows on the LifeWatch ERIC MetaData Catalogue. Get in touch with our Web Portal Officer to request access: lucia.vaira[at]lifewatch.eu.

No, all LifeWatch ERIC resources are free of charge.

EcoPortal is one of our intiatives. In the last decade, ecological research groups and infrastructures have contributed to the definition and the production of core and domain ontologies as well as of vocabularies and domain-relevant reference lists.

In order to support the scientific community in the management and integration of these different approaches, LifeWatch ERIC has created EcoPortal, an online space designed to collect semantic resources and provide the necessary services for enabling discovery and interoperability.

LifeWatch ERIC envisages the creation of a repository for semantic resources with associated essential curation services.

LifeBlock is a Blockchain-based platform for engaging, tracking and securing biodiversity and ecosystem research resources worldwide, making use of anti-tampering, provenance and traceability e-Services to guarantee the availability of FAIR-compliant data. It allows for the analysis of multiple unstructured inputs from remote and in-field sensing, Remote Sensing-GIS datasets and original studies in order to produce value estimates.

Click here for a comprehensive presentation on LifeBlock.

The Internal Joint and Collaborative Initiative (IJI) has been created in order to:

  1. Boost the integration of tools and services into the LifeWatch ERIC web portal;
  2. Focus on a major scientific issue in biodiversity and ecosystem research with relevant socio-economic implications in different fields;
  3. Produce the new and synthetic knowledge that is needed by institutions, administrations and managers to find solutions for major environmental problems on various scales;
  4. Involve the LifeWatch ERIC national scientific communities, key international research groups and other European research Infrastructures with related interests and running activities; and,
  5. Make this effort an example of the functioning of the LifeWatch ERIC e-Infrastructure through its dissemination and outreach activities.

The topic of non-indigenous and invasive species (NIS) has been chosen as the first demonstration case of the functioning of the LifeWatch ERIC e-Infrastructure. The development of virtual research environments within the e-Infrastructure will help address some of the main issues on NIS in the field of ecosystem and habitat type vulnerability and in the context of climate change, as well as help highlight societal needs and potential solutions to be tested.

Training and support materials are available on our Training Platform. Please click and register to enrol in courses and browse our resources.

LifeWatch ERIC is currently working on its Community Platform, where you will be able to join and create working groups, browse our calls and submit opportunities on our board, as well as access our directory of scientific skills. Stay tuned for its release!

Latest News for Researchers

Events for Researchers

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.