The LifeWatch ERIC Biodiversity & Ecosystem eScience Conference

LifeWatch ERIC Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience Conference (BEeS) is back! This summer, we are pleased to invite you to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for a four-day event, from 7 to 10 July. BEeS is LifeWatch ERIC’s flagship forum for eScience in biodiversity and ecosystem research, emphasising interoperable data, reproducible workflows, and reusable digital services.

LifeWatch Bulgaria hosts the 2026 edition of the conference at the Agricultural University-Plovdiv. Bulgaria joined LifeWatch ERIC in 2022 as one of its eight Distributed Centres. The event also showcases how LifeWatch ERIC services and communities support collaboration across the infrastructure.

BEeS 2026 will bring together scientists, experts, and innovators to explore challenges and emerging opportunities in biodiversity and ecosystem science. Through a series of high-level plenary sessions, the conference will address critical topics including biodiversity conservation and species extinction, ecosystem responses to climate change, the role of agroecology in sustainable systems, and the latest frontiers in eScience technologies.

The programme is complemented by thematic sessions aligned with LifeWatch ERIC Thematic Service Working Groups, focusing on practical methods, workflows, and service-enabled science.

This event promotes dialogue across disciplines and highlights the importance of integrating ecological knowledge, technological innovation, and policy frameworks, acting as a platform to explore collaborative solutions for understanding, protecting, and managing biodiversity. A key aim is to accelerate uptake of decision-relevant evidence products that are transparent, traceable, and comparable across regions.

Registrations are open!

ENVRI-Hub NEXT at BEeS 2026

7-10 July 2026 | Plovdiv, Bulgaria

The ENVRI-Hub NEXT team is providing two training activities at BEeS 2026, focusing on the upgraded ENVRI-Hub:

• ENVRI-Hub tools and VREs for researchers #1: an introduction. Trainers: Zhiming Zhao, Eleonora Parisi, Koen Greuell, Gabriel Pelouze | LifeWatch ERIC
  Description: Environmental and Earth sciences rely on diversity data from different infrastructures: from ocean temperatures to biodiversity records, from climate indicators to geological observations. This diversity, however, poses challenges for data science and AI practitioners: datasets use different metadata standards, come in varied formats, and are hard to access and link across research infrastructures. This training session will explain how the ENVRI-Hub, a software platform unifying multi research infrastructure in Environmental and Earth sciences, address these challenges through tools such as Knowledge Base (Search engine) and LLM-powered Environment Expert agents. It will also highlight the contribution from LifeWatch, such as analysing datasets through a Jupyter based Virtual Research Environment.
• ENVRI-Hub tools and VREs for researchers #2: hands-on practice.Trainer: Koen Greuell | LifeWatch ERIC
  Description: In this hands-on NaaVRE workshop, you’ll explore pre-built cloud workflows and tailor one to your research needs.
  Select a workflow, adjust its parameters, and enhance it by designing and implementing your own modifications in the source code.
  Run your updated workflow and share it with peers, gaining hands-on experience in collaborative and scalable research.
  This workshop requires some experience in scripting in R or Python.

28 May 2026 | Brussels, Belgium

Europe’s ambition to restore and protect its oceans and waters relies increasingly on open, interoperable, and trusted digital infrastructures capable of transforming data into actionable knowledge.

Over the past years, Blue-Cloud has played a foundational role in federating marine and environmental data, services, and analytical tools across Europe. Through close alignment with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), Blue-Cloud has demonstrated how cloud-based, open science environments can support ocean research, innovation, and policy making.

This work directly contributes to the objectives of the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters, the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean (including EDITO, its core public infrastructure), and the UN Ocean Decade, by enabling data-driven solutions for ocean sustainability.

As Blue-Cloud 2026 reaches its conclusion, the project hands over a mature, policy-aligned digital legacy: the EOSC Node | European Digital Twin Ocean, is progressing towards operational integration within the EOSC Federation.

Participants will leave with first-hand experience of the EOSC Node European Digital Twin Ocean, insights into Blue-Cloud’s legacy, and a clear view of Europe’s path toward a federated, policy-aligned digital ocean ecosystem, aligned with the goals of EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters, the EDITO, and the UN Ocean Decade.

ENVRI-Hub NEXT at the event

Tjerk Krijger (MARIS B.V. / SeaDataNet) presented the ENVRI-Hub NEXT poster “Enabling access to ECV-related observation datasets from environmental Research Infrastructures”.

The 2026 GEO Symposium and GEO-21 Plenary are held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 to 28 May 2026.

Held under the theme “Investing in Earth Intelligence for a Resilient Future,” the 2026 GEO Symposium and GEO-21 Plenary will convene governments, space agencies, research organizations, private sector innovators, and development partners to explore how Earth Intelligence can drive transformative, resilient solutions for people and the planet at a pivotal moment in the implementation of GEO’s Post-2025 Strategy.

Location: World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 7bis, avenue de la Paix, 211 Geneva 2 – Switzerland

Community Event – GEO In-situ Data Strategy and Its Implementation Plan (ODOK Session)

26 May 26, 11:45 – 13:00 | Salle C1

This session aims to advance understanding and alignment around the GEO in situ data strategy and its endorsement by bringing together key initiatives, user needs, and practical applications of in situ data. It will highlight the role of research infrastructures as custodians of high-quality in situ observations, present mechanisms, for articulating user requirements, and showcase integrated approaches combining Earth observation, citizen science, and non-space data sources for environmental compliance and decision-making.

The session will also introduce the GEO in situ data strategy, inviting feedback and discussion to support its refinement, community buy-in, and formal endorsement.

Presentations

• ENVRI-Hub Next: A FAIR entry point to Essential Climate Variables – Alessandro Turco (EPOS ERIC, ENVRI-Hub NEXT)
• GEO and Research Infrastructures as Custodians of In-situ Data – Emmanuel Salmon (ICOS ERIC)
• G-REQs: The way you can tell us what in-situ data you need  – Alba Brobia (CREAF)
• Earth Intelligence for Environmental Compliance: Integrating Earth observation and citizen science through ENFORCE – Francesca Piatto (EARSC)
• From Innovative Non-space Earth Observation to Resilient Decisions: Climate, hazards, and water-land services – Eleni Athanasopoulou (NOA)
• GEO In-situ Data Strategy (In-situ Data Co-chairs: Helen Glaves, Joan Masó, Leo Chiloane)

23 April 2026 – 11:00-12:00 CEST

Join us for the official launch webinar of the upgraded ENVRI-Hub! Over the past two years, the ENVRI-Hub NEXT project has reimagined and rebuilt the central platform for Europe’s environmental research infrastructures (RIs).

In this 60-minute session, we have:

• Provided a brief overview of the ENVRI-Hub NEXT project and its goals.
• Introduced the major changes and new architecture of the ENVRI-Hub.
• Offered live demonstrations of two core new features:
  • The enhanced Catalogue of Services: Discover and access FAIR data and services more intuitively than ever.
  • The intelligent ENVRI Knowledge Base: See how AI-powered, dialogue-based search helps you quickly find datasets, publications, and analytical code.

This webinar is essential for researchers, data scientists, and anyone who relies on integrated environmental data. See firsthand how the new ENVRI-Hub can streamline your workflow and empower your science.

Agenda and Slides

• Marta Gutierrez, EGI Foundation – The ENVRI-Hub NEXT Project
• Ulrich Bundke, FZJ – Introducing the new ENVRI-Hub
• Alessandro Turco, EPOS ERIC – ENVRI Catalogue of Services introduction and demo
• Dr. Zhiming Zhao & Dr. Nafis Tanveer Islam, University of Amsterdam – ENVRI Knowledge Base introduction and demo
• Q&A

Date: 5 February 2026
Location: CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The EVERSE Network of Research Sofware Quality is a community community that will improve the quality of research software in Europe.

The EVERSE project created a set of guidelines and resources into the RSQkit (Research Software Quality Kit) and the Technology Radar to share existing best practices and ideas.

This event seeks to bring together EVERSE members with  RSEs and researchers who code, to share updates on EVERSE activities, foster knowledge-sharing and cross-domain collaboration, gather feedback and identify priorities.

Whether you are a researcher or RSE, whether you are involved in European Open Science clusters, or undertaking a similar role in academia, labs and industry, this is your chance to learn about these initiatives, and gives us your perspectives.

Thierry Carval (IFREMER & Euro-Argo ERIC) takes part in the session “Science Clusters: Cross-domain experiences and challenges” at 11:00 CET.