BEeS 2025: LifeWatch ERIC Annual Conference

Heraklion, Greece

The BEeS (Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience) Conference 2025 will gather researchers, policymakers, and experts to tackle the Triple Planetary Crisis (climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution) through eScience and European Research Infrastructures (RIs).
This year’s conference will explore synergies between LifeWatch ERIC services and emerging technologies to drive innovation for a sustainable future. The program features plenary sessions, thematic services, research presentations, and hands-on demonstrations, highlighting the crucial role of technology, data, and collaboration in
addressing global environmental challenges.
Participants will engage in discussions on biological diversity and conservation, ecological responses to climate change, biogeography, taxonomy, biodiversity monitoring, and habitat mapping. The event will also include interactive booth activities, poster presentations, and training sessions, offering insights into Virtual Research
Environments (VREs), Virtual Laboratories (vLabs), and other digital tools.
The conference welcomes researchers in biodiversity, ecosystems, and eScience, with a special focus on early-career scientists, including PhD and Master’s students. The BEeS 2025 Conference will be hosted by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology, and Aquaculture (IMBBC), in
Heraklion, Greece, from June 30 to July 3, 2025.

For more information visit: https://www.lifewatch.eu/bees-2025/

Launch of EVERSE Network of Research Software Quality

EVERSE Network launch

Online

The EVERSE Network aims to develop a quality framework for research software. The EVERSE (EU-funded project) vision is to establish a Community of Practice to provide standard and documented practices around tools and training for software developers, researchers who code, research software engineers and service providers.

The project announces the EVERSE Network for Research Software Quality Launch Event, taking place online at 10:00 CET on Tuesday 18 February.

The overall goal is to improve policy and practice of research software in Europe and beyond, with opportunities for participants to contribute with their own inputs into the objectives and activities of the network.

They will benefit of practical support in writing better code and by learning the meaning and principles of software quality for the research domain.

Registrations are open at https://indico.cern.ch/e/eversenetworklaunch.

22nd Italian Ornithology Conference

CISO (Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologici), University of Salento and the Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems of the National Research Council (CNR-IRET), LifeWatch Italy and Or.Me. organise the 22nd Italian Ornithology Conference. The conference will gather ornithologists and natural science enthusiasts together in Lecce, a first edition for the Apulia region in more than 40-year history of ornithology conferences.

Participants are invited to submit proposals for congress, which will take place from 8 to 12 September 2025.

This opportunity is designed to enable everyone to propose topics of their own particular interest or general relevance. Any symposium should therefore focus on a well-defined topic that could appeal to a wider audience than just specialists in the field.

More details here: https://www.lifewatchitaly.eu/en/22-convegno-italiano-di-ornitologia
Submission deadline: 10 February 2025

FAIR Training second edition

FAIR Data Training

EMBRC Belgian partners (VLIZ and the University of Ghent) are organising the second edition of a three-day training course on FAIR data. The course is especially relevant for marine scientists, biodiversity scientists and laboratory technicians that are interested in enhancing their skills in managing research data and applying FAIR principles to them.

The course details are available here: https://www.embrc.eu/newsroom/events/fair-training-2nd-edition-how-embrc-helping-researchers-make-most-their-data

ANERIS Second Annual Meeting

ANERIS Second Annual Meeting

Seville, Spain

In occasion of the ANERIS Second Annual Meeting, the project consortium is meeting in Seville, Spain, hosted at LifeWatch ERIC’s premises in Plaza de España to evaluate the project progress, discuss the next steps and align on the ongoing activities.

ANERIS (https://www.lifewatch.eu/ANERIS) stands for “operAtional seNsing lifE technologies for maRIne ecosystemS”, and proposes a co-design framework to develop the next generation of scientific instrumentation tools and methods for sensing marine-life (with the approach of Operational Marine Biology (OMB).

These results can benefit academia, industry, civil society and government; moreover, the consortium will develop a training program for the operation and use of these solutions, in particularly within the research infrastructures staff.

If you want to learn more about ANERIS developments, the project is also organising a workshop, split in two sessions, on “Underwater imaging, Bio-Optics, and Participatory technologies”, on 2nd and 4th December 2024.

This event is open to all researchers, technology developers, users, citizens and stakeholders from the broader scientific and technical community interested in advancing the field of marine science.

You can find more information here: https://www.lifewatch.eu/events/aneris-workshop-on-bioimaging or on the ANERIS website: https://aneris.eu

ANERIS Workshop on Underwater Imaging, Bio-optic and Participatory Technologies

ANERIS workshop

Online

After a very successful workshop on AI basics for image analysis, Euro-BioImaging and its nodes (France Bioimaging and Israel Bioimaging), are excited to announce the organisation of a new series of ANERIS workshop sessions on December 2nd and 4th, 2024, focused on Underwater imaging, Bio-Optics, and Participatory technologies developed within the ANERIS Project (https://www.lifewatch.eu/ANERIS).

Experts from Euro-Bioimaging, the University of Haifa, France-BioImaging, and members of the ANERIS consortium will lead participants through sessions exploring the various technologies and tools developed within the ANERIS project.

This event is open to all researchers, technology developers, users, citizens and stakeholders from the broader scientific and technical community interested in advancing the field of marine science.

 Visit Euro-BioImaging website for more information and the agenda: https://www.eurobioimaging.eu/events/aneris-workshop-2-underwater-imaging-bio-optic-and-participatory-technologies

Register here: https://embl-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJModeuhqj4qGNfM9Omc2plO1L8W-RcIGRKO#/registration

Marine SABRES Serious Game School Competition

serious game competition

Online

The “Serious Game” School Competition organised by the EU-funded project Marine Sabres, takes place this 21st November, on the same day of the World Fisheries Day.

A great chance for students and teachers, to learn or test their knowledge on basic concepts of marine biology and coastal ecology and to increase awareness of the relationship between humans and the ocean.

Registrations are accepted until the day of the event: click here to sign up for the competition.

Science Day 2024: Hight-T at Sea

ostend marine station event

Ostend, Belgium

The Marine Station Ostend of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), will be open for visits on Sunday, 24 November 2024, in celebration of the Belgian Science Day 2024. This will be a unique opportunity for anyone interested in marine research, to explore the institution and even step aboard a marine research vessel.

The objective of the event, called “High-T at sea”, is to highlight the high-tech progress of marine research, with a dense agenda including highlights such as ocean digital twins, interactive digital experience labs, and activities for children, including building their own periscope.

LifeWatch Belgium will be present as well, to showcase cutting-edge technological innovations. Additionally, children will be able to participate in the WoRMS sea creature scavenger hunt. There’s something for everyone!

The full programme (in Dutch) is available here: https://www.vliz.be/en/events/science-day-2024-high-t-sea

Eleventh CoP online meeting: Technical Tools to improve the efficiency of RIs staff

technical tools

Online

Organised by the RitrainPlus consortium on 15 November (from 12:00 to 13:00), the event is part of a series of meetings dedicated to the project’s Community of Practice. The focus is be on research infrastructure staff, with Cristina Huertas-Olivares (International Initiatives & Projects Manager) and Joaquin Lopez Lerida (Data e-Science Management Plan & BlockChain Officer), both from the LifeWatch ERIC Statutory Seat and ICT-Core offices in Spain, moderating and presenting during the session. 

The goal of the meeting is to promote the efficiency of distributed Research Infrastructures, through highly practical activities: attendants are presented with a suite of digital tools to enhance their daily workflow.

The recording of the meeting is available on the Ritrain Plus dedicated page: https://ritrainplus.eu/2024/10/14/next-cop-online-meeting-technical-tools-to-improve-the-efficiency-of-ris-staff/

RitrainPlus Knowledge Exchange Workshop:

Online

Organised jointly by ICOS and ACTRIS in the scope of the RitrainPlus project, the online workshop is dedicated to the management of European projects, and it is organised in three independent sessions on 14, 15 and 29 November. Participants can register for one or more of the sessions, depending on their interest.

The three sessions will cover essential topics: methods for identifying emerging themes and assessing project portfolios; practical strategies for managing multiple projects simultaneously; and ways to ensure the sustainability and long-term legacy of projects.

Please note that space is limited, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

For details on this workshop, visit this page: https://ritrainplus.eu/2024/10/16/ritrainplus-knowledge-exchange-workshop-project-portfolio-management/