LifeWatch ERIC joins the Annual Meeting of the European Network of Agroecology Living Labs & Research Infrastructures

european network of agroecology

LifeWatch ERIC, as an active member of the European Network of Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures, will participate in the network’s upcoming Annual Meeting.

This in-person event will take place in Helsinki, Finland, from 5 to 8 November 2024, as part of the AGROECOLOGY Partnership (https://www.lifewatch.eu/agroecology-partnership/), and gathers key stakeholders dedicated to advancing agroecological transitions.

Iria Soto, Senior Scientific Manager, will represent LifeWatch ERIC, sharing research progress and engaging with other experts to discuss strategy and future collaborations.

The Network’s mission is to foster multi-actor collaborations that accelerate innovation for the agroecological transition: this transformative approach can bring significant economic, social, and environmental benefits to communities.

The synergy of Living Labs (as real-life testing environments) and Research Infrastructures (as facilities that provide resources and services for research communities), provides a powerful framework for multi-scale experimentation that merges practice with scientific research.

Together, these instruments are poised to accelerate the AE transition across Europe, supporting agricultural resilience and fostering sustainable development.

Through its participation, LifeWatch ERIC reaffirms its dedication to sustainable agricultural practices and advancing agroecology. The event will foster co-development of innovative solutions, informed policy design, and enhanced skills to support resilient and sustainable agroecosystems across Europe.

For more information on this event, visit: https://www.agroecologypartnership.eu/networkofllsandris

LifeWatch Belgium: ETN datasets on fish species now accessible through GBIF

acoustic telemetry ETN datasets

At the end of September, we received important news from our National Distributed Centre in LifeWatch Belgium: the first ETN datasets from the Permanent Belgian Acoustic Receiver Network are now available via GBIF. The datasets include 507,095 occurrences of 10 fish species from Belgian freshwater, intertidal, and marine habitats. 

What does that mean? 

LifeWatch Belgium uses innovative tracking technologies to understand fishes’ movement behaviour, and get insights into their migration routes. Through acoustic telemetry, they actively track fish through implanted tags that emit acoustic signals. 

The importance of having such data and being able to understand fish routes, can be explained in terms of support to species and habitat conservation, and good fisheries management. 

Acoustic telemetry data is managed in the European Tracking Network (ETN) data platform. After a lengthy process of elaboration and standardisation, which began in 2020, INBO and Ghent University have made eight datasets available in Darwin Core format as part of their contribution to LifeWatch Belgium.

The datasets in Darwin Core format are now accessible through the Global Diversity Information Facility network (GBIF): an international network and data infrastructure aimed at providing open access data about all types of life on Earth.

The next step will be to make this data accessible via OBIS as well.

Read more at the following link, and stay tuned to LifeWatch Belgium for future developments: https://www.lifewatch.be/news/first-etn-datasets-available-through-gbif 

LifeWatch ERIC to host series of workshops on Agroecology Monitoring in Europe

agroecology workshop

LifeWatch ERIC and Wageningen University & Research are organising a series of online thematic workshops under the AGROECOLOGY Partnership, co-funded by Horizon Europe.
These workshops aim to accelerate the transition towards more environmentally and people-friendly agroecosystems, by promoting the development of reliable monitoring frameworks and tools.
The ICT Core Scientific Team held the first event of the series on 15 October 2024, focusing on the agro-environmental domain.

The panel featured experts from leading organisations, including the European Commission DG Agri, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), CIFOR-ICRAF, FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture), and Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Their insights provide important contributions to address the challenges of monitoring agroecological transitions, as this requires scientific rigor and collaborative efforts.

The next events will take place on 25 October, and on 6 November. The series of thematic workshops aims to identify lessons learned and knowledge gaps in agroecology monitoring across different domains, discuss the scales and indicators necessary for effective agroecological transitions, and address data challenges for tracking the social, environmental, and economic impacts of agroecological practices.

The results of these thematic workshop, will converge and set the basis for discussions in the final, in-person workshop, which will bring together experts in agroecology monitoring, AGROECOLOGY partners, and potential end-users of the monitoring framework.

The output of this meeting will be a position paper with the most relevant insights and recommendations, that will be crucial during the design and implementation of the monitoring framework for agroecology under the European Partnership AGROECOLOGY.

About the AGROECOLOGY Partnership​
The European partnership ‘Accelerating Farming Systems Transition: Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures’ is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative. This initiative brings together the European Commission and 72 partners from 26 countries. It aims to enhance the resilience and productivity of Europe’s farming systems through sustainable practices that address climate change and biodiversity challenges.

Learn more at agroecologypartnership.eu.

Highlights from the EGI 2024 Conference

EGI 2024

LifeWatch ERIC participated in the EGI Conference 2024, held in Lecce from September 30 to October 4. Co-hosted by EGI and CMCC, the conference took place at the Hilton Garden Inn, located in the same city as our Service Centre. This conference provided an ideal platform for our team to showcase innovative solutions that apply disruptive technologies – such as AI and Blockchain – to ecological research. 

LifeWatch ERIC and EGI share a mission to advance scientific understanding across Europe. The collaboration between these two organisations has been consolidated over time through several European Projects. Two of these, EOSC Beyond (https://www.eosc-beyond.eu/) and ENVRI-Hub NEXT (https://www.egi.eu/project/envri-hub-next/), held their annual consortium meetings during the conference. 

Our team participated with a dedicated booth, along with demonstrations and presentations. Sara Montinaro and Cristina Mancarella (LifeWatch ERIC Service Centre, Lecce) staffed the exhibition booth throughout the conference, introducing participants to our e-Science infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem research. Other members of our Common Facilities offered presentations on the Metadata Catalogue, LifeBlock and NaaVRE: a great chance to explore new opportunities for collaboration. Below is a summary of these presentations.

NaaVRE (Notebook-as-a-Virtual Research Environment)

Zhiming Zhao (VLIC Technical Manager) and Gabriel Pelouze, (Virtual Research Environment Developer) from our Virtual Laboratory & Innovations Centre in Amsterdam introduced the NaaVRE platform. NaaVRE supports researchers in creating digital twins and customised scientific workflows. Their presentations addressed two perspectives: digital twin development, and the research data lifecycle. 

The challenge behind this platform is to combine the strengths of Computational Notebooks (widely used, interactive, great for developing models), and Virtual Research Environments (great for sharing models in a more mature stage).

Zhiming Zhao provided an overview of the architecture and core functionalities (https://indico.egi.eu/event/6441/contributions/19668/), like the possibility to containerise notebook cells into functional blocks, organise them into workflows, and share them easily. This system facilitates the reuse of data, models, and computational resources, making it easier for researchers to develop digital twins and complex ecological models. The platform has been tested in several use cases, including ecosystem structure analysis from LiDAR data, radar-based bird migration monitoring, and the Dutch NWO LTER-LIFE project, demonstrating NaaVRE’s potential for supporting diverse scientific communities.

Gabriel Pelouze showed some practical applications of NaaVRE in real-world data-centric research scenarios, (https://indico.egi.eu/event/6441/contributions/19316/). In this intricate lifecycle, the possibility of customising the NaaVRE for specific scientific tasks can be very advantageous. He presented case studies where NaaVRE was used to monitor phytoplankton species and analyse ecological systems, emphasising its utility in building tailored VREs for ecosystem research. Moreover, NaaVRE’s possible integration with cloud infrastructures enables cost-effective and scalable research, by providing flexible access to computational resources.

LifeWatch ERIC Metadata Catalogue

Data and Service Architect Lucia Vaira (Service Centre, Lecce, pictured), introduced the LifeWatch ERIC Metadata Catalogue (https://indico.egi.eu/event/6441/contributions/19338/): a centralised platform designed to improve the discoverability and accessibility of biodiversity data and services. The Metadata Catalogue addresses key challenges in the field, such as data fragmentation, heterogeneity, and inconsistencies in metadata.

The catalogue, built on GeoNetwork technology, offers researchers a user-friendly interface to access datasets, improve their FAIRness, and promote a unified approach to biodiversity data management.

New features are constantly improving this service, such as the integration of metadata FAIRness evaluation tools and templates based on standardised profiles like EML 2.2.0. and ISO 19139/119. These features support data provenance and DOI assignment, which are essential for reliable data management. 

LifeBlock

Julio Paneque (Intelligent Systems, Robotics, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles & HAPS Expert, ICT-Core, Spain), presented LifeBlock (https://indico.egi.eu/event/6441/contributions/19619/), a blockchain-based solution for researchers, policy makers, and developers to address the need for data integration and answer important questions about biodiversity. LifeBlock leverages semantic technologies and AI to support ecological and biodiversity research by federating data from diverse sources and creating a unified environment that supports advanced data discovery and analysis.

Through the use of knowledge graphs to enrich data with semantic context, it facilitates complex queries, enabling researchers to draw meaningful connections across datasets. LifeBlock’s integration of AI enhances its data management capabilities by automating tasks like metadata generation and data quality assessment, which streamline research processes. Additionally, the platform ensures proper attribution and provenance tracking, fostering trust and transparency within the scientific community.

For more information about these tools, you can visit the following links:

LifeBlock | https://lifeblock.eu/login 

Metadata Catalogue | https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu

NaaVRE | https://naavre.lifewatch.dev/vreapp 

New project on soil health and sustainability joins the LifeWatch ERIC network. Meet SUS-SOIL!

SUS-Soil

The European research project SUS-SOIL, promoting sustainable soil and subsoil health, held its kick-off meeting in Lugo, Spain, on 2nd October 2024. Funded by Horizon Europe with a budget of nearly 6 million euros, it aims to raise awareness about soil health’s role in tackling climate change, over its four years of activity.

Coordinated by the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), the project has brought together a consortium of 22 organisations, including universities, research institutions, technical entities, foundations, companies, and public bodies from 13 countries.
SUS-SOIL, which stands for “Sustainable Soil and Subsoil Health Promotion”, will focus on implementing agro-ecological land-use and management practices to enhance ecosystem services in both rural and urban environments. The project will cover eight biogeographic regions with 15 Subsoil Living Labs across Europe and North Africa.

The three-day kick-off meeting, hosted at the USC’s Lugo Campus, saw nearly 50 participants from over ten countries come together to discuss the goals and strategies for the first months of activities (LifeWatch ERIC was represented there by Xavier Rotllan-Puig, Data Management Specialist). A field visit to Millo e Landras, an organic farm in Galicia, had the attendees engaged in hands-on soil sampling to learn about sustainable farming practices.

SUS-SOIL will not only contribute through research, but also engage with land managers and public authorities. By promoting sustainable subsoil management, it aims to address issues such as water security, ecosystem service delivery, and climate change mitigation in Europe.
The project’s progress, updates will be shared on their official website and social media channels: for more information, visit sus-soil.eu.

LifeWatch ERIC at the service of knowledge and innovation

the building of Junta de Andalucia, the entity that formally recognised LifeWatch ERIC as a knowledge agent

On October 2nd, 2024, LifeWatch ERIC achieved formal accreditation as a Knowledge Agent by the Junta de Andalucía. This milestone marks the end of a process initiated on January 24th, 2024, affirming LifeWatch ERIC’s role in advancing research, technological development, and innovative projects that benefit both the scientific community and society at large.

The accreditation acknowledges the organisation’s dedication to accelerate the research efforts of the scientific community, according to its mission to deliver a European state-of-the-art e-Science Research Infrastructure on biodiversity and ecosystem research, through key scientific services. Moreover, it highlights its alignment with the researchers’ need for key societal insights and science-based policy. Such “Knowledge Agent” recognitions are generally awarded to universities, foundations, and research institutes that demonstrate contributions to the fields of innovation, research, and development.

Following a thorough evaluation by the Evaluation and Accreditation Area of the Andalusian Agency for Scientific and University Quality (ACCUA), LifeWatch ERIC is now registered in the Electronic Register of Agents of the Andalusian Knowledge System, under the category of Research Centres, Institutes or Foundations (Centros, Institutos o Fundaciones de investigación). The assessment reviewed the organisation’s impact and achievements, confirming its alignment with the standards required by the Andalusian Knowledge System (Sistema Andaluz del Conocimiento).

The inclusion in the register remains valid for four years (although subject to periodic assessments): a distinction that not only validates past achievements, but also inspires and motivates LifeWatch ERIC to deepen its contributions to the European scientific and innovation landscape. This recognition opens doors to new funding opportunities, allowing participation in calls for competitive grants aimed exclusively at agents of the Andalusian Knowledge System. With this endorsement, we can advance experimental and applied research projects, amplifying our impact on biodiversity, environmental sustainability, and ecosystem research by supporting students, professionals and communities.

Autumn highlights from LifeWatch Belgium: celebrations, discoveries and new frontiers

autumn highlights

In this update, you can see a snapshot of the most exciting news from LifeWatch Belgium this season. From anniversaries to new scientific milestones, here are the stories you don’t want to miss:

  • 20 years of EurOBIS: the European Ocean Biodiversity Information System (Eurobis), a LifeWatch Belgium service, celebrated its 20th anniversary in grand style, releasing a “super-harvest” of marine biodiversity data. The system counts over 100 datasets, of which 87 new ones, for a total increase of more than 1 million marine species occurrence records that were made available. This follows its 15th-anniversary milestone, and since then, EurOBIS has nearly doubled its collection.
  • The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), hosted within LifeWatch Belgium by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), marked its 15th anniversary only two years ago. This autumn, it celebrates the milestone with the release of an opinion paper titled The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) through the looking glass: insights from the Data Management Team in light of the crystal anniversary of WoRMS. The paper reflects on WoRMS’ role in global biodiversity data management and highlights the importance of sustained collaboration for improving species data accessibility. It also offers updates on marine species discovery rates, insights into the editorial board’s daily activities, and progress on content priorities laid out by the WoRMS Steering Committee as part of the UN Ocean Decade.
  • The Ocean Census programme sets an impressive target of 100,000 new species: with the aim of revolutionising marine biodiversity research, the initiative will feed the WoRMS database contributing to marine conservation efforts. Marine biologists estimate that there are potentially between one and two million marine species that inhabit our oceans, but only around 246,500 have been described to date. Although discovering these new species will be challenging—particularly in the more inhospitable areas of the ocean—scientists believe these regions hold the greatest potential for new discoveries.

LifeWatch Belgium is one of the national nodes in LifeWatch ERIC, and it plays a critical role in developing and operating various essential infrastructure components, including i) a species information backbone as a central European resource, ii) a regional observatory for marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, and iii) a facility for habitat mapping using remote sensing.

These achievements are important examples of LifeWatch Belgium’s support to advancing biodiversity science and better understanding and preserving biodiversity.

For more detailed stories, visit LifeWatch Belgium’s news page.

LifeWatch ERIC & friends transform knowledge into practice at the Science Summit 2024

Science Summit 2024

In the scope of its ongoing commitment to supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, LifeWatch ERIC co-organises a workshop as part of the Science Summit 2024 at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79) activities in New York (USA), within a network of European organisations (you can find the full list of the event sponsors and partners at the bottom of this page: https://sciencesummitunga.com/science-summit-unga79/).

The Science Summit 2024 is the global event dedicated to scientific and technological challenges of our time, such as climate action, One Health, biodiversity, food systems, AI and other topics relevant to the UN SDGs.

Every year since 2013, the event serves as a dynamic platform for thought leaders, scientists, policymakers and innovators around the world to showcase cutting-edge research and promote knowledge and collaboration. 

Through discussions and networking opportunities, it facilitates the exchange of ideas and the development of actionable strategies.

This year marks the 10th edition of the event and it is particularly important, as it coincides with the UN Summit of the Future. It will place a special emphasis on the Africa Science Leadership Coalition, which was launched at the UN Civil Society Conference on May 9, 2024, to promote African leadership in science policy decision-making. The event takes place in hybrid form, with a Virtual Programme running from 10th to 27th and a physical programme running from 17th to 27th in New York which is also streamed live.

This is not the first workshop organised by the European partners in the Summit. Again this year, these organisations are representing active communities – including LifeWatch ERIC – from the fields of biodiversity, ecology and engineering domains, aiming to strengthen science, technology and innovation efforts. With combined expertise, these communities selected Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as a testbed to strategically contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. The focus is on the emerging properties presented as a network, rather than as individual organisations, projects or initiatives.

The workshop is called Transforming Knowledge into Practice: Science, Technology and Innovation in Support of the UN SDGs and will take place on Thursday, September 26, 2024, from 9:00am to 4:00pm EDT (3:00pm to 10:00pm CEST).

Online joiners can register for free and have the possibility to follow the livestream of the event, which will take place on the Rooftop of the Science Summit venue.

The agenda consists of two parts: one in the morning, on the collective contribution to the implementation of the UN SDGs, and one in the afternoon presenting expectations from the participating science and technology organisations on the above topic.

The workshop ends with the presentation of an open call to forge an international alliance, to further integrate biodiversity conservation into the priorities of the UN Summit of the Future agenda priorities, and the post-SDG agenda.

Christos Arvanitidis, LifeWatch ERIC’s CEO, will open the workshop in a welcome session presenting the objectives, and presenting LifeWatch ERIC as a practical example of the European collaborative effort on biodiversity. 
Follow this link to get the detailed agenda and register to the workshop: https://sciencesummit2024.sched.com/event/1jzig

G20 – Biological Diversity and Conservation Units: Collaboration with the EU Research Infrastructures

Alberto Basset talks about biological conservation at G20

The G20 Brazil 2024 took place in Manaus on September 17 and 18.
Upon invitation from the Ministry of the University and Research of Italy (MUR), Alberto Basset, Director of LifeWatch ERIC Service Centre and Full Professor of Ecology at the University of Salento, joined the panel dedicated to Biological Diversity, Conservation Units and Biosphere Reserves.

This panel, coordinated by Joe Miller from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), focused on promoting collaboration in scientific research, implementing conservation programs, exchanging data and technologies, and setting up environmental management policies. Alberto Basset’s talk specifically addressed the role of EU research infrastructures in fostering scientific collaboration and the key role of research and innovation to cope with global environmental challenges and build a sustainable future for the Amazon region and beyond.

During his intervention, Professor Basset emphasised the critical role of research infrastructures in stimulating innovation and addressing grand societal challenges, fostering openness, excellence and collaboration.

He highlighted how LifeWatch ERIC’s Virtual Labs and Virtual Research Environments contribute to the co-creation of knowledge, which directly supports the wider dissemination of technologies to both the productive sector and society as a whole.

The G20 serves as a vital multilateral platform for nations to collaborate on advancing science and technology in the Amazon region.
The primary focus is on addressing global challenges such as biodiversity loss and the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, improving the quality of life for the Amazonian population, boosting the local economy, and promoting inclusive and sustainable development.

International cooperation in research and innovation plays a crucial role in tackling these issues, as well as defining a model for the sustainable development of the Amazonian region, combating deforestation, mitigating climate change and adapting to its inevitable consequences.

As the current president of G20, Brazil is prioritising strong joint efforts in three key areas:

  1. the promotion of sustainable development, over unsustainable global growth;
  2. social inclusion as one step to combat poverty;
  3. reforming global governance.

Additionally, these sustainability actions rely heavily on the generation of new knowledge, and the definition of tools for the dissemination of technologies to both businesses and society at large.

These topics align closely with the priorities of LifeWatch ERIC, the European e-Science infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem research, which together with other European Research infrastructures, provide the scientific community with essential resources and services to carry out research in specialised fields.

RESTORE4Cs issues Policy Brief on the positive climate impact of coastal wetlands

Restore4Cs policy brief news image

RESTORE4Cs (https://www.restore4cs.eu/) is the EU-funded project dedicated to climate change, biodiversity loss and habitat degradation, focusing on the sustainable management of European wetlands. These natural coastal areas of saltwater and freshwater play a key role in achieving the EU objectives regarding climate neutrality, biodiversity protection, zero-pollution, flood protection, and the circular economy. 

Led by the University of Aveiro (Portugal), the RESTORE4Cs consortium aims to assess the role of restoration action on wetlands’ capacity, through an integrative socio-ecological systems approach.

Within the scope of this objective, on 9 September 2024, the project launched its first Policy Brief, which highlights the aspect of Greenhouse Gas emissions. 

European coastal wetlands have the capacity to reduce emissions consistently, through the so-called “carbon sequestration”, which generally refers to the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

In the case of wetlands, this is made possible thanks to their vegetation, and via sedimentation processes: they can store large amounts of organic carbon in their soil, due to their rapid growth and slow decomposition rates. Additionally, coastal wetlands generally release lower levels of methane compared to other types of wetlands. Moreover, they help trap organic particles carried by the flooding water, increasing the levels of organic carbon in the soil and forming organic-rich reservoirs called “blue carbon sinks”. 

Given their importance in our ecosystem, it is not surprising that Europe is investing in the protection of these precious environments: just a few weeks ago, at the end of August, RESTORE4Cs had joined three akin projects (ALFAwetlands, REWET and WET HORIZONS) in the SERE2024 Conference, an event entirely dedicated to Ecological Restoration. 

With the Policy Brief, authored by members of the European Topic Center, University of Malaga and University of Valencia (Spain), and the German Ecologic Institute, the project reinforces this message, by highlighting some key takeaways:

  1. the important role of wetlands as natural carbon stores
  2. the need to preserve the ones in good status, and urgently restore the endangered ones, as a cost-effective climate mitigation strategy
  3. the use of carbon certification schemes as additional tools to unlock new financial resources.
  4. the promotion of incentives for climate-friendly companies

You can read or download the full document at this link: https://www.restore4cs.eu/restore4cs-1st-policy-brief/