The study presenting the knowledge base of the Italian Taxonomic Backbone has been published

The new article describing the knowledge base of the Italian Taxonomic Backbone (https://taxonomicbackbone.lifewatchitaly.eu/home) has been published. This platform integrates and harmonises the main biodiversity checklists for species found in Italy. The research was made possible thanks to the support of LifeWatch Italy, the members of the Joint Research Unit, and all the taxonomists who, through their continuous work, have contributed and continue to contribute to updating knowledge on the biodiversity of our country.

The checklists of animals, vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, and lichens have been integrated into an information system that provides a single access point to authoritative taxonomic data.
The Italian taxonomic backbone currently includes approximately 86,000 records and is available via API within the editorial workflow of the LifeWatch Italy Data Portal for taxonomic data validation.

The article is available in Open Access at the following link: https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/183364/

Participate in the validation of version 2.0 of the LifeWatch Italy Traits Thesaurus

We are updating the Traits Thesaurus, a controlled vocabulary for standardizing data and metadata on the biological traits of aquatic organisms.

As we develop version 2.0, we are looking for new validators to help us refine and agree on the terminologies used.

As a validator, you will review and provide feedback on specific terms and definitions included in version 2.0 of the Traits Thesaurus. The validation phase will last three weeks and, after necessary revisions, the updated version will be published.

The first validated version (1.0) is already available here.

If you would like to participate, register by March 25! Fill out the form here

Your contribution will be essential to improving the quality of biological trait data. Thank you for your help!

Download here the flyer

Join the OntoPortal Federation Workshop

On 20 March (10:00-11:30 CET), discover how AgroPortal, EcoPortal, EarthPortal, and BiodivPortal now enable federated browsing and search for seamless access to distributed semantic artefacts.

During the workshop, you will learn the new OntoPortal’s federated functionalities and the benefits of cross-portal interoperability.

You will also be introduced to an hands-on introduction to two complementary approaches for Semantic Catalogue interoperability: FAIR-IMPACT’s MOD-API and TS4NFDI’s API Gateway.

Don’t miss this chance, register soon at

https://fair-impact.eu/events/fair-impact-events/advancing-fair-semantic-artefact-discovery-and-search-ontoportal-0

Join FAIR-IMPACT’s Upcoming FAIR Implementation Workshops

FAIR-IMPACT invites you to take part in a series of interactive workshops designed to enhance FAIR data practices and support the adoption of FAIR-enabling tools:

Using F-UJI to Assess the FAIRness of your Data
📅 20 March 2025, 13:00–14:00 CET

OAIS version 3 – What does it mean for repositories?
📅 24 March 2025, 15:30–17:00 CET

What is a ‘Data Champion’ and how can they support good practice in data management and sharing?
📅 16 April 2025, 11:00–12:30 CET

Don’t miss this opportunity to deepen your understanding of FAIR principles and engage with the community!

What’s FAIR-IMPACT?

FAIR-IMPACT is a European Project that promotes the adoption of FAIR principles for data and services within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). The project supports the implementation of practices, tools, and services that facilitate data management in accordance with FAIR principles, engaging scientific communities at European, national, and institutional levels.

LifeWatch ERIC BEeS 2025: Biodiversity & Ecosystem eScience Conference Heraklion, Greece, 30 June – 03 July 2025

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, with the possibility to submit an abstract by 15 April. 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.

Target audience 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 any detail on the abstract submission, logistics, registration and preliminary programme, visit: https://www.lifewatch.eu/bees-2025/

Andrea Tarallo (CNR-IRET) becomes FAIR Implementation Profile Facilitator

Today, Andrea Tarallo from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Research of the CNR and LifeWatch Italy has officially qualified as a FAIR Implementation Profile (FIP) Facilitator after successfully completing the GO FAIR Foundation FAIR Capacity Building Programme first module.

A FIP is a collection of FAIR implementation choices made by a community of practice, such as Research Infrastructures, for each of the FAIR Principles. These profiles, captured as FAIR datasets, are openly available for reuse by other communities, fostering collaboration and interoperability, and significantly accelerating the implementation of FAIR principles.

This achievement marks an important milestone, as FIPs must be compiled with the guidance of trained facilitators—and Andrea is the first in Italy to receive this qualification.

With this new expertise, the LifeWatch Italy infrastructure is further strengthened, enhancing its ability to support and implement the FAIR principles in its operations.

Congratulations to Andrea on this accomplishment!

Research fellowship at DiSTeBA, University of Salento

The University of Salento – DiSTeBA invites applications for a 1-year Research Fellow, who will contribute to the development of a training framework for research software excellence in pursuit of building a European network of Research Software Quality.

The EVERSE (European Virtual Institute for Research Software Excellence) project aims to create a framework for research software and code excellence, collaboratively designed and championed by five interdisciplinary research communities (ENVRI Community, Life Science RI, ESCAPE, PaNOSC, SSHOC) and their emerging use cases in environmental sciences, life sciences, particle physics and astrophysics, photon and neutron science, and computational linguistics.

Call for applications (IT/EN): https://www.unisalento.it/bandi-concorsi/-/bandi/view/67507252
Deadline: 3 January 2025

 

Picture designed by Freepik www.freepik.com

FAIR-EASE Open Day, 10th of October, Napoli (IT)

To mark the third annual meeting of the European INFRAEOSC FAIR-EASE project the coordinating committee will organize an OPEN DAY dedicated to Open Science for Earth Systems (Volcanoes, Soil, Water, and Biodiversity).

This event is dedicated to policy makers, institutional authorities, external scientists and stakeholders, and will be held in Naples, and online, on 10 October 2024, co-organised by the University of Naples Federico II and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, both contributing to FAIR-EASE.

Registration to the event here: https://fairease.eu/form/fair-ease-open-day-10-october-20

The I-ADOPT Variable Modeling Challenge

The team that develops and maintains I-ADOPT has announced the launch of a new challenge to test their ontology model. The challenge is open to anyone interested in testing and mapping a series of variables, both those predefined by the I-ADOPT team and new variables proposed by the participants themselves.

This challenge represents a unique opportunity to contribute to the refinement of this fundamental tool for data science and interoperability.

By participating in the challenge, registrants will have one week, from 12 to 18 September, to map a series of variables using the I-ADOPT model. The main goal is to test the effectiveness and versatility of the ontology, ensuring it can accurately and consistently handle a wide range of observable data.

In addition to contributing to a project of global significance, participants will also have the chance to win a prize in recognition of their efforts and contributions to the success of the initiative.

For further details and to register for the challenge, please visit the official event page.

Methodologies and ecological indicators for the monitoring of anthropogenic impacts in transitional waters and marine ecosystems, Portorož, Slovenia, 14-16 October 2024

The next international workshop “Metrology for the Sea” will be held in Portorož, Slovenia, from 14 to 16 October 2024. Among the most anticipated events, Special Session #8 will be dedicated to “Methodologies and ecological indicators for the monitoring of anthropogenic impacts in transitional waters and marine ecosystems”.

For more information and to register, visit the official IEEE MetroSea 2024 website.

Here is the event flyer.