RESTORE4Cs at the 14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration 

SERE 2024

RESTORE4Cs –  the EU-funded project on coastal wetland restoration in which LifeWatch ERIC is leading communications and dissemination – will participate in the 14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration (SERE 2024) from 26 to 30 August 2024, in Tartu, Estonia. Representatives from the project’s coordinator, the University of Aveiro, will be present as speakers as the scientific focal point of the project. LifeWatch ERIC will also be present with a booth to showcase the project to the participants.

About SERE 2024

SERE 2024 is a biennial international conference organised by the European Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) in Europe. Scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers of ecological restoration will gather in Tartu to share knowledge and discuss the future of European nature. RESTORE4Cs will hold a session on Wetland Restoration alongside its Sister Projects, ALFAwetlands, REWET and WET HORIZONS.

SERE 2024 will bring together stakeholders from across Europe to collaborate on effective approaches for the long-term recovery of nature. This event will serve as a platform for sharing ideas, knowledge, and experiences restoring various ecosystems, including wetlands, grasslands, forests, rivers, agroecosystems, urban areas, and marine ecosystems. The sessions will cover the theory and practical applications of ecological restoration and the socioeconomic and political contexts. There will be a specific focus on discussions related to developing national restoration plans in line with the new EU law.

To learn more about RESTORE4Cs’ participation at SERE 2024, please visit this page: https://www.restore4cs.eu/restore4cs-at-sere-2024/.

About RESTORE4Cs and The Sister Projects

The restoration of wetlands is crucial for climate change mitigation. The Four EU-funded projects (RESTORE4Cs, ALFAwetlands, REWET and WET HORIZONS) are working together to restore wetlands and enhance their long-term mitigation capabilities. They will outline their initiatives in a special session and presentations from open abstract submissions. Their session will also include an interactive segment to create a roadmap for expediting restoration opportunities and maximising impact.

RESTORE4Cs is committed to supporting the implementing of Climate and Biodiversity policies within the European Green Deal through various initiatives. These include gathering data on restoration and land use management actions, upscaling models and integrative assessment tools, structuring a European Community of Practice (ECoP), and co-designing a multi-actor approach.

Navigating the Blue Economy: key takeaways on ocean monitoring ahead of the G20

On July 8, the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) hosted a webinar as part of the G20 Ocean Dialogues titled “Navigating the Blue Economy: Insights from Ocean Observation Data.” This virtual event, moderated by EMBRC’s Executive Director Nicolas Pade, brought together a diverse panel of experts to explore the crucial role of ocean observation in advancing marine conservation and sustainable economic practices.

Dr Kilaparti Ramakrishna – Director of Marine Policy Center and Senior Advisor to the President on Ocean and Climate Policy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – set the stage by underscoring the ocean’s increasing significance globally, shifting the focus from economic and financial agendas. He highlighted initiatives supported by the United States National Science Foundation, advocating for a science-informed approach among G20 nations to promote ocean sustainability and resilience. Ramakrishna stressed the need for G20 countries to adopt science-driven approaches to ensure ocean sustainability and resilience, urging collaboration among scientific communities and civil society to shape inclusive development policies.

The webinar featured contributions from various stakeholders, offering different perspectives on leveraging ocean observation data for biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic development. During one of her interventions, Claire Jolly, Head of Ocean Economy at OECD, emphasised the need of comprehensively tracking ocean health, focusing on living organisms, while advocating for enhanced coordination and long-term political commitment to achieve common goals. Pooja Mahapatra, Principal Advisor, Climate & Nature at Fugro, highlighted the transformative role of public-private partnerships, citing their initiative to map Italy’s coastline using cutting-edge technologies. Regarding ocean observation, Ralph Rayner, Professional Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, advocated for a nuanced understanding rather than mere data accumulation, underscoring gaps in crucial data like marine carbon dioxide removal. Zoi Konstantinou, Policy Officer at the European Commission, addressed the challenge of fostering inclusive dialogue among diverse stakeholders in ocean observation and data management, underlining the importance of initiatives that promote transparency and collaboration. Fabrice Not, Senior Researcher at the Station Biologique de Roscoff, discussed advancements and challenges in biodiversity observation, emphasising the complexity of monitoring microscopic diversity and advocating for comprehensive ecosystem health assessments using advanced technologies.

About the Ocean Dialogues

Part of the Brazilian G20 Presidency’s OCEANS20 initiative, they play a key role in harnessing the ocean’s potential to address global challenges. They highlight the essential role of the ocean in ecosystem balance, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods and integrate scientific evidence with traditional knowledge for effective ocean management. These dialogues generate critical recommendations for financing ocean-climate initiatives and facilitating the transition to a blue economy. By convening experts and leaders, the dialogues advocate for policies that promote equitable food systems, accessible renewable energy, and multilateral cooperation on biodiversity and finance.

If you’re interested in viewing the entire webinar, the recording is available on YouTube on the EMBRC channel.

Advancing Global Energy Solutions at the first EULAC Energytran Virtual Thematic Event

energytran project

The EULAC Energytran project held its first Virtual Thematic Event on 26 and 27 June, titled “Strengthening Europe – Latin America Cooperation in the Energy Transition“. The event brought together stakeholders from Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. The participants – around two hundred – included representatives from scientific communities, universities, policymakers, research infrastructures, project managers and private sector actors, alongside the consortium partners. Our Ana Mellado and Maite Irazábal participated to represent LifeWatch ERIC’s role in the project.

This project addresses common energy challenges between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean. focusing on improving the sustainability of the energy transition process. The two-day virtual event covered the first two work packages of the Energytran project, about technology and policy innovation. This event is part of a broader effort to promote a sustainable and equitable energy transition in both regions. At the meeting, discussions revolved around five panels:

  1. Knowledge Exchange in Scientific Cooperation between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.
  2. Challenges and Opportunities in the Energy Sector.
  3. Environmental and Social Impact of Renewable Energies.
  4. Emerging Technologies for Energy Sustainability.
  5. Concentrated Solar Thermal Energy Applications.

The event concluded with key takeaways from OEI, CENAT, CSIC, PUC, and UNNE. It highlighted the importance of knowledge exchange, addressing sectoral challenges and opportunities, and considering the social and environmental impacts of energy transitions. The panels also focused on emerging technologies and applications of solar thermal energy. Ana Mellado – LifeWatch ERIC’s Project Executive Coordinator – gave a conclusion regarding the role of technology and research infrastructures in the energy transition process.

The role of LifeWatch ERIC within the consortium

LifeWatch ERIC will bring its expertise in environmental monitoring and data management, contributing to the project’s transdisciplinary approach. The consortium includes prominent universities and research institutions from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico, and Portugal. It aims to produce over twenty deliverables, including policy recommendations, and training materials. Moreover, it will create a comprehensive inventory of research infrastructures relevant to the energy transition.
For more information about the Energytran project, please visit the official website: https://energytran.oei.int/

LifeWatch Belgium launched a new and redesigned website for an enhanced user experience

LifeWatch Belgium

LifeWatch ERIC is happy to announce the launch of the newly redesigned LifeWatch Belgium website. This platform offers a sleek, user-friendly interface and enhanced navigation, reflecting LifeWatch Belgium’s commitment to providing accessible, high-quality biodiversity and ecosystem research resources.

LifeWatch Belgium specialises in offering advanced data services and tools for biodiversity and ecosystem research. The website showcases services such as the Biodiversity Data System, Habitat Mapping, Bio-Logging, and more, supporting researchers with cutting-edge technologies and extensive datasets.

Indeed, LifeWatch Belgium’s local observatories generate long-term marine, freshwater, and terrestrial data, which is openly accessible for research. Biodiversity data systems integrate global taxonomic information, providing crucial insights into species and their habitats. Advanced bio-logging and camera trapping services facilitate the study of animal movements, while habitat mapping utilises remote sensing and geospatial analysis to characterise environmental data. The e-Lab application allows users to effortlessly standardise, analyse, and visualise data. Additionally, LifeWatch Belgium provides open-source software packages for data access and analysis and maintains a comprehensive dataset catalogue integrated into the LifeWatch ERIC Metadata Catalogue.

Furthermore, the website features inspiring user stories showcasing the diverse applications of LifeWatch Belgium’s resources. For example, the collaboration with JERICO-NEXT to study plankton in the southern North Sea, investigations into oyster larvae settlement for coastal protection, and how Marine Regions data supported the Ocean Health Index. These and other stories have already been published on the new LifeWatch Belgium website.

To access the shiny new LifeWatch Belgium website, please visit https://www.lifewatch.be/.

A future for the Critical Zone? Insights from the Gran Paradiso Summer School 2024

gran paradiso summer school

From 19 to 23 June in Valsavarenche, Italy, scientists, researchers, and students from various disciplines are attending lectures, workshops, and fieldwork sessions at the Gran Paradiso Summer School. This year, the school’s theme is “Fundamental Processes in Earth System Dynamics – The Future of Critical Zone”.

Hosted at the Gran Paradiso National Park, the school aims to foster a deeper understanding of Earth Sciences, with lecturers from Europe, the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. Thanks to its interdisciplinary approach, it provides a platform for geologists, ecologists, hydrologists, and scientists working in these fields to collaborate and share their expertise. Our CEO, Christos Arvanitidis, is participating in the Summer School programme, presenting LifeWatch ERIC’s activities in the Special Seminars session.

Participants also have the opportunity to discuss multidisciplinary and cross-domain interactions, which are crucial for developing comprehensive strategies. These conversations aim to bridge the gap between scientific research and practical applications, ensuring that the knowledge gained can inform future actions and conservation efforts.

The international Gran Paradiso Summer School is organised by Timothy White (Pennsylvania State University, USA) and Antonello Provenzale (CNR IGG, Pisa, Italy, and Coordinator of the LifeWatch Italy Joint Research Unit) in the framework of the Belmont Forum ABRESO project and of the Italian project coordinating a network of national nodes from 22 Research Infrastructures (ITINERIS), in collaboration with the Gran Paradiso National Park, LifeWatch ERIC, and eLTER RI. To learn more about the school, please visit this page: https://www.thematic-school.cnr.it/about-the-summer-school/.

A postcard from the European Congress of Conservation Biology

eccb 2024

The European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB), organised by the Europe Section of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), was held in Bologna from 17 to 21 June 2024. The Congress aimed to facilitate the exchange of conservation science and nature conservation practice and policy to promote the conservation of biological diversity in Europe.

The 7th ECCB focused on achieving a biodiversity-positive status by 2030. This theme presents a positive message and a call to action towards conserving biodiversity. Despite the challenges, new protected areas were established, carbon emissions were reduced, and there is a growing awareness of biodiversity’s importance for survival.

LifeWatch ERIC joined the conference, contributing to its scientific programme and engaging with participants and researchers from Europe and beyond, thanks to its exhibition booth. Cristina Di Muri and Flavio Monti (CNR/LifeWatch Italy) presented two contributions, “Harnessing FAIR biodiversity data and services to assess incidence and habitat vulnerability to non-indigenous species in Italy” and “Enhancing biodiversity conservation analysis through data harmonization” respectively. In parallel, LifeWatch ERIC booth proved to be a valuable means to engage with over 150 representatives of the community of Conservation Biologists gathered at the event, illustrating its offer of services and science tools and understanding their needs for ICT resources, thanks to the dedicated survey administered at LifeWatch ERIC stand.

Moreover, the booth provided the opportunity to present LifeWatch ERIC’s key projects, e.g. the project Marine SABRES – Marine Systems Approaches for Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem Sustainability. LifeWatch ERIC illustrated Marine SABRES approaches for managing the many activities and pressures on the marine environment while presenting its user-friendly framework called a simple ‘socio-ecological system’ or ‘Simple SES’, designed and developed with the active participation of local stakeholders to make marine management clearer and more effective.
The stand was an important occasion to show some videos realised by LifeWatch Italy Multimedia Production Centre in the framework of documentary activities; research aims and results achieved so far were also presented with the help of project brochures.

Overall, the European Congress of Conservation Biology provided a platform for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to share knowledge, exchange ideas, and collaborate toward achieving a sustainable future. By working together and taking action, we can make significant progress in conserving Earth’s biodiversity and achieving a positive biodiversity world by 2030.

For more information about the project, visit Marine SABRES official website: www.marinesabres.eu

Watch our documentary trailer on LifeWatching WebTV platform: www. lifewatching.tv/tv-show/marine-sabres/

Further details about the event can be found on the official website: www.eccb2024.eu

Semantic Academy: the registration for the LifeWatch ERIC Intensive School is now open!

In recent years, one of the major challenges in Environmental and Earth Sciences has been managing and searching larger volumes of data, collected across multiple disciplines. Many different standards, approaches, and tools have been developed to support the Data Lifecycle from Data Acquisition to Data Curation, Data Publishing, Data Processing and Data Use. In particular, modern semantic technologies provide a promising way to properly describe and interrelate different data sources in ways that reduce barriers to data discovery, integration, and exchange among biodiversity and ecosystem resources and researchers. Therefore, we are delighted to announce the launch of the 2023 edition of The Semantic Academy – The LifeWatch ERIC Intensive School: Boost your research with semantic artifacts. And this time, we are back in person!


This school is organized by LifeWatch ERIC and will take place in Lecce, from 25 to 29 September 2023.
This edition’s title is “Boost your research with semantic artifacts”. This course is built as a five-day intensive school providing the knowledge on how to create semantic artifacts for a specific domain and use them to annotate and analyse data in a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). It will cover topics such as Data Science, Semantics, Ontology, Vocabularies, Virtual Research Environments (VREs). The School is therefore mainly aimed at IT architects, Research Infrastructure (RI) service developers and user support staff, and RI staff.

The Semantic Academy will welcome participants with a welcome cocktail event and social dinner, while the actual Intensive School programme will last from Monday afternoon to Friday morning, closing with a certificate ceremony.

The outline of the School programme is as follows:

  1. Introducing the LifeWatch ERIC eScience Infrastructure
  2. Ontology Engineering
  3. Designing and Developing vocabularies
  4. Using Semantics for discovering, accessing and analysing data in the Notebook-as-a-VRE (NaaVRE)
  5. Putting everything together: practical activity with participants projects presentations

EXTENDED DEADLINE: Interested persons are invited to apply by 30 July by filling in the sign-up form here
Participation is free, but registration is compulsory. Three grants are made available by LifeWatch ERIC to support applicants younger than 30 years. Successful candidates will be offered accommodation for the whole duration of the intensive school on the basis of their motivation letter and their curricula, while travel must be self-funded. LifeWatch ERIC is an equal opportunity organisation, and encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of race, gender, age, national origin, or sexual orientation. Follow LifeWatch ERIC updates!

You can access the dedicated minisite with more detailed information on the Semantic Academy here.
You can find information about other Summer Schools on Data FAIRness previously organised by LifeWatch ERIC and the ENVRI Community on our Training & Education page.

LifeWatch ERIC at the ALL-Ready Second Regional Workshop

On 11 May, LifeWatch ERIC hosted, at its ICT Core in Seville, the second regional workshop of the European project ALL-Ready: “Accelerating Agroecology Transition: Your potential role and benefits of contributing to a European network of Living Labs and Research Infrastructures”.

LifeWatch ERIC is is one of the main partners in this highly strategically relevant project. Its Agroecology team, led by José Manuel Ávila, Daniel Caro and Iria Soto, coordinated the morning session of the workshop together with Gerald Schwarz (Thünen Institute), Isidora Stojacic (BioSense Institute), Ophélie Bonnet (INRAE), Isabelle Couture (ENoLL – European Network of Living Labs), Jo Bijttebier and Sylvie Fosselle (ILVO Living Lab Agrifood Technology).

In the presentation, Gerard Schwarz marked the objectives of the implementation plan, stressing the importance of ensuring relevance for actors across Europe and specifying that this work in progress is to be finalised in early autumn 2023:

  • To provide a structured framework to sustainably implement, monitor and adapt the European Network in the long term;
  • To ensure its effective contribution to the partnership on Agroecology;
  • To deliver benefits to the agroecological community in Europe.

During the workshop, the participants formed several groups to exchange experiences and discuss solutions about the challenges of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures, and to explore possible roles and contributions of the European Network, in relation to:

  • Thematic priorities of the Network;
  • Communication, networking and demonstration activities;
  • Funding requirements and strategies.

The ALL-Ready workshop served also to advance the production of ideas and proposals to further improve the understanding of which thematic areas and what kind of measures and activities, as part of the European Network, would be especially useful.

The coordinator of the session, Gerard Schwarz (Thünen Institute of Farm Economics), led the working day to discuss:

▪ Insights into topics, themes and issues that the European Network should address;
▪ Insights into type of communication and networking activities that are particularly needed;
▪ Insights into practical solutions foe addressing funding gaps;
▪ Insights into capacity building, including regional gaps in competences, and the role of local actors to support development of competences.

The perspectives and recommendations of the participants will be taken into account to for the implementation plan of a European Network.

The CEO of LifeWatch ERIC, Christos Arvanitidis, intervened in the closing session. He explained that it is necessary to build all together the European Network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures: “And as a Research Infrastructure focused on biodiversity and ecosystem, LifeWatch ERIC aims to support the community of practices to provide science-based evidence about agroecology practices and contribute to knowledge and data sharing to demonstrate and make visible its added value and impacts”.

Christos Arvanitidis also stated that LifeWatch ERIC is working to provide digital tools / e-Services to facilitate the adoption of agroecology practices based on collaboration with the different stakeholders (researchers, farmers, policymakers and citizens), but also in association with other Research Infrastructures. And he especially stressed that: “In the coming years, in the EU Partnership on Agroecology, LifeWatch ERIC will lead the design and implementation of a conceptual framework to monitor the AE transition and the consequent impacts. We encourage to work with us, as CoP, to co-design the specific tools that fit your needs to all together contribute to the make the European agricultural sector more sustainable, resilient and responsive to societal and policy demands”.

Future workshops of ALL-Ready will be held today 12 May, in Budapest, and on Monday 15 May, in Frankfurt. All the efforts made are directed towards the final conference, which will take place on 27 September 2023, in Brussels.

LifeWatch ERIC at the EOSC Future General Assembly and Project Meeting

EOSC Future General Assembly gathered at Casa de la Ciencia, Sevilla.

On 3–5 May, LifeWatch ERIC participated in the EOSC Future General Assembly and Project Meeting, held in Seville, Spain. The event was hosted by LifeWatch ERIC in Casa de la Ciencia, where all the entities who are the backbone of EOSC Future gathered.

Christos Arvanitidis, LifeWatch ERIC CEO, is very pleased with the level of participation and cooperation shown in the various sessions of this meeting: “Our assessment is very positive and increases expectations regarding the achievement of the objectives for the development of this platform”.

On the first day of the Meeting, LifeWatch ERIC’s CEO, Christos Arvanitidis, opened the first session by welcoming the participants and explaining the objectives of WP6, which is the Work Package coordinated by LifeWatch ERIC. Then Sally Chambers from Dariah (Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities) hosted the session “Onboarding and Integration: Challenges & Solutions”, indicating two main objectives:

  • To clarify the differences between the five resource types which can be on boarded into the EOSC-Exchange;
  • To explore the Resource Providers have faced when onboarding and integrating their resources into EOSC Exchange and use the methods of ‘user stories’ to explore how to ease the process.

The second part of the session was focused on “Implementing the Science Projects: Current status and next steps”, and was led by Cristina Huertas, LifeWatch ERIC International Initiatives and Project Manager. This second part of the session identified five main objectives:

  • To identify the Risks of the technical implementation of Science Projects;
  • To review the status of Scientific Documents;
  • To explore the way Science Projects could consider their sustainability after the end of the project;
  • To engage and satisfy the users;
  • To review the status of the webinars provided by the ten Science Projects to date.

On the first day of the General Assembly, forty people have participated in person, in total, and other representatives of the consortium have also intervened livestream. Among others, Yannis Ioannidis, Greek delegate to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), member of the ESFRI Executive Board, and ESFRI representative to the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group (e-IRG). As coordinator of EOSC Future, Yannis Ioannidis chaired the assembly. A total of thirty-five entities have also been integrated into the EOSC Future consortium.

The first day of EOSC Future General Assembly has been moderated by Ron Dekker, associate consultant at Technopolis Group Belgium (where he coordinates the Open Science activities) and EOSC Future Project Leader, and Lennart Stoy, senior consultant in Technopolis Group Belgium.

On the second day of EOSC Future General Assembly and Project Meeting, Agis Evrigenis and Sophie Viscido, from Technopolis Group, led the session dedicated to the overview of the project implementation status, challenges and next steps. Then Paolo Manghi (Openaire), Roksana Wick (ACK Cyfronet), Mark Van de Sanden (Surf / Eudat) and Klaas Wierenge (Géant), coordinated the session about new and upcoming tech capabilities and led a short presentation and demos by the product teams (marketplace, providers, portal, helpdesk, etc.). EOSC Architecture and Interoperability Framework has also been presented, discussing tech planning towards project end and capabilities to be demonstrated at the month 30 review.

LifeWatch ERIC, with Christos Arvanitidis, Cristina Huertas, and Ana Mellado, led a session about the overview status of Science Projects. The topics covered included: progress to date, resources’ integration status and plans, lessons learned as piloting EOSC and post project sustainability.

Later in the afternoon, LifeWatch ERIC presented a scientific case in progress: Implementation ARMS workflow. This early-warning system for marine biological invasions allows non native invasive especies (NIS) researchers and stakeholders to identify newly arrived NIS, track the migration of already known NIS and monitor the composition of hard-bottom communities over long periods. This system is based on ARMS data (Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structure), which are quality controlled and open access based, permanently stored (Marine Data Archive) along with their metadata (IMIS, catalogue of VLIZ), ensuring fairness.

LifeWatch ERIC CEO, Christos Arvanitidis, introduced Joaquín López Lérida, LifeWatch ERIC Data e-Science Management Plan & BlockChain Officer, who also explained, whit a remote online presentation, how the integration of the platform is being done with EOSC. In terms of authentication, the integration has been confirmed to be ready for internal consumption of all LifeWatch ERIC Tesseract Services, including LifeBlock.

In the session about real-life demonstrations of use cases, (in view of the month 24 review), which has been led by Matthew Viljoen, another of the presentations that has aroused interest is the one presented by Carolina Simón, from the National Center for Biotechnology (Spain), who exposed the case of integration of Covid-19 Data with EOSC. On the other hand, Elisa Cauhé (EGI Foundation), presented results and next steps of the EOSC Digital Innovation Hub (DIH): eight projects collaborations, twenty-three supported pilots, and more than fifty funding opportunities.

The last day of EOSC Future General Assembly and Project Meeting was, instead, focused on addressing aspects such as EOSC Procurement, EOSC as a Data Space and also RDA Open Calls. The closing session revolved around updates provided by WP10 about the progress made for the project.

The EOSC Future Meeting held in Seville for three days has concluded with a standing ovation from all the participants to congratulate the LifeWatch ERIC team for the quality of their work as host of the meeting.

Ron Dekker, EOSC Future Project Leader, called on all the entities participating in the consortium to intensify the implementation of their work packages, in order to finish the last phase of the project in the best possible way. From 20-22 September 2023, the EOSC Symposium will take place in Madrid, in the context of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In the context of the EOSC Future project, the EOSC Symposium will also be a critical platform to showcase project achievements and key exploitable results.