LifeWatch Italy invited to the first OntoPortal Workshop in Montpellier

Ilaria Rosati from LifeWatch Italy has been invited to the OntoPortal Workshop (Montpellier, Fr – 26,28 September) as a panelist to represent EcoPortal, the repository of semantic resources developed by LifeWatch ERIC and co-managed with the Italian national node. During the session, together with the representatives from the other anthologies repositories, will provide feedbacks on how they use or plan to use the ontology repositories provided by the alliance.

The development, promotion, and sharing of semantic resources to support scientific research are some of the activities in which LifeWatch Italy is most active. The synergy with other global realities, such as OntoPortal, are fundamental to ensuring the coordination of the development of such digital resources. All those interested in the development and management of semantic resources (ontologies, vocabularies, thesauri, etc.) are invited to participate in the public online session on Wednesday 28 September from 14:00 to 18:00 (CET) by filling in the registration form.

LifeWatch Italy takes part in the 31st Conference of the Sea, 6-9 October

Next month, LifeWatch Italy and DiSTeBA (the ecology laboratory of the University of Salento) will be taking part in the 31stConference of the Sea (Rassegna Del mare) organised by Mareamico, an environmental protection and ecological agency. Together, they will be putting on an educational session for students aged 11–14, coordinated by Franca Sangiorgio of the LifeWatch Italy node. The Conference will take place in Gallipoli in the province of Lecce in southern Italy, and this year will revolve around the theme of ‘Safeguarding Biological Resources and the Blue Economy’. In order to increase their awareness and understanding of sustainability issues, the students will be involved in tournaments focused on marine ecosystem protection and sustainability. LifeWatch Italy has for many years been working on the creation and implementation of scientific content for so-called “serious game” competitions, using the Ecologicamente platform. The initiative aims to contributing to raising awareness of sustainability issues, so that future citizens will be more conscientious when it comes to the environment. All the students taking part in the competition will receive a participation certificate and the schools which perform the best will receive a prize.

You can find the full programme for the event on the Mareamico website.

LifeWatch Italy in ParAqua Action to investigate algae-parasite interaction

In May this year, LifeWatch Italy was invited to join the COST Action CA20125 – Applications For Zoosporic Parasites In Aquatic Systems – in short: ParAqua.

The main aims of this project are to organise and coordinate an innovative and dynamic network of academia researchers, industries, and water management authorities to advance and apply knowledge and expertise on zoosporic parasites (i.e. aquatic fungi and fungi-like microorganisms) and the relation with their hosts in natural ecosystems and industrial algal biotech production.

Among the ParAqua objectives, specific task of WG1 and WG2 is to compile and integrate a database on zoosporic parasites across Europe and inventorise parasite effects on algal hosts in algal biotech and natural systems.

Ilaria Rosati and Andrea Tarallo, from the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and in charge of several management aspects within LifeWatch Italy, joined the Action as members of WG 1 and 2. They led the workshop to kick off the activity, held in Larnaca (CY) on 5July  2022, and will coordinate the actions to collect and manage the data provided by the project participants that will be hosted on the ParAqua database.

The final goal is to build the database and use it in order to provide a tool to help researchers and companies to take early data-informed decisions for algae cultures and parasite recognition.

Change the Channel – LifeWatching WebTV has Landed

Calling everyone with a thirst for knowledge! Introducing LifeWatching: the new WebTV for biodiversity research in Europe.

The LifeWatching Science Channel is a free, multi-themed platform, available on any device, at any time, providing you with your fill of up-to-date, on-the-ground videos from key players in the European research landscape.

On this new WebTV exclusively for video content on biodiversity and ecosystem research, you can learn about current projects and higher education programmes at national and European level, dive into the hidden worlds of wild creatures and the scientists who keep track of them, as well as follow high-level conferences and events, past and present.

Additonally, LifeWatching will soon be further enriched with videos with dedicated channels for the LifeWatch ERIC member states. Stay tuned!

Get your fill by heading over to www.lifewatching.tv.

The LifeWatching Science Channel is run by specialised personnel at the LifeWatch ERIC Multimedia Production Centre, based at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy. Please send an enquiry to communications[at]lifewatch.eu if you would like your video to be featured on the platform, if you need technical assistance streaming a live event, or regarding potential collaborations on audiovisual content creation for your research infrastructure/project.

LifeWatching Science Channel | The World of Research in One Click | WebTV Trailer

LifeWatch Italy invited to the first OntoPortal Workshop in Montpellier

Ilaria Rosati from LifeWatch Italy has been invited to the OntoPortal Workshop (Montpellier, Fr – 26,28 September) as a panelist to represent EcoPortal, the repository of semantic resources developed by LifeWatch ERIC and co-managed with the Italian national node. During the session, together with the representatives from the other onthologies’ repositories, will provide feedbacks on how they use or plan to use the ontology repositories provided by the alliance.

The development, promotion and sharing of semantic resources to support scientific research is one of the activities in which LifeWatch Italy is most active. The synergy with other global realities, such as OntoPortal, are fundamental to ensure the coordination of the development of such digital resources.

All those interested in the development and management of semantic resources (ontologies, vocabularies, thesauri, etc.) are invited to participate in the public online session on Wednesday 28 September from 14:00 to 18:00 (CET) by filling in the registration form.

LifeWatchPlus Call for applications “geospatial models” at Unisalento

The University of Salento has published a call for application for a research grant entitled, “Development of geospatial models supporting web services for the study of biodiversity and ecosystem change scenarios” within Lifewatch Italia and PON Lifewatchplus and CIR01_0028_468154 (Scientific Manager Prof. Alberto Basset).

The principal investigator is Prof. Alberto Basset. Applications close 18/07/2022.

Minimum admission requirements:

Degree (course of study lasting at least four years, provided by the teaching systems to DM 03/11/1999, n. 509), Master’s degree (art. 3, paragraph 1, letter b, DM 03/11/2009, n. 509; Art. 3, paragraph 1, letter b, DM 22/10/2004, n. 270) or equivalent in biology, physics, chemical sciences, natural sciences, forestry or environmental sciences, geological sciences and technologies, sciences and technologies for the environment and the territory, mathematics, statistical sciences. The Selection Committee, for the sole purpose of selection for which it was established, recognizes the equivalence of the qualification (degree and / or PhD) obtained abroad.

Criteria of evaluation:

  1. Proven knowledge of ecological theory at the community and ecosystem level and of the statistical and modeling approaches for the geo-spatial analysis of biodiversity and ecosystem services and their temporal variation;
  2. Research experience on topics related to those of the call;
  3. Proven experience in the participation / direction of competitive projects on topics related to those of the call;
  4. Knowledge of open access digital archives for research products (publications, data, software,
    etc.) and knowledge of the Open Science paradigm (https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm) and the FAIR principles (https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/), with particular reference to those consistent with the specific theme of the research in question;
  5. Knowledge of the procedures for the harmonization of data and metadata, as well as the principles and validation technologies to check and / or declare compliance of harmonized data and metadata with respect to applicable specifications;
  6. Knowledge of the main techniques of statistical analysis and modeling;
  7. Knowledge of written and spoken English.

The following skills will also be evaluated:

a) Knowledge / specialist skills acquired and relevant to the achievement of the objectives that the Research Infrastructure intends to achieve;
b) Relevance of the activity carried out in the last 2 years with the priority areas identified within the National Strategy of Intelligent Specialization (SNSI) and the ministerial planning for research in the period 2014-2020;
c) Previous collaborations with public and private scientific institutions.

Info

ENVRI Community International Summer School is back in person!

We are delighted to announce the 2022 edition of the ENVRI Community International Summer School. And this summer, we are back in person! 

The Summer School, now at its fifth edition, is organised by ENVRI-FAIR and LifeWatch ERIC and will take place in Lecce, Italy, from 10–15 July. This edition’s title is “Road to a FAIR ENVRI-Hub: Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users”, and it will cover topics such as user interfaces, packaging of services, reusability and validation of services, and building and supporting networks through the lens of the ENVRI-Hub approach. 

This School is therefore mainly aimed at IT architects, Research Infrastructure (RI) service developers and user support staff, and RI staff working on user interaction and community/network building.

The Summer School will welcome participants on the afternoon of Sunday 10 July with an opening event, while the actual School programme will last from Monday to Friday afternoon, closing with a certificate ceremony. Two online webinars are also planned to take place in the third and fourth week of June on specific use cases, in preparation for the School or to attend as stand-alone sessions.

The outline of the School programme is as follows:

  1. Introducing the ENVRI-Hub (concept and architecture).
  2. Learning to know your end users and their expectations: requirements elicitation.
  3. Create high quality documentation and usage examples to support service end users.
  4. Developing Services and Fostering Reusability/Interoperability among them.
  5. Validating and evaluating your services.
  6. Participants’ Presentations, School Evaluation and Certificates.

Successful applicants to “Road to a FAIR ENVRI-Hub: Designing and Developing Data Services for End Users” will be offered full board in the beautiful baroque city of Lecce in Southern Italy, and will be invited to “extracurricular” activities such as restaurant dinners and excursions in the surrounding area. 

Interested persons are invited to apply by 17 June by filling in the sign-up form here. Follow LifeWatch ERIC and ENVRI Community updates!

You can access the dedicated minisite with more detailed information on the School here.

International Summer School “Data FAIRness in Environmental and Earth Science Infrastructures

Closing event Project GI.Am.Sos. – young Ambassadors of sustainability

Environmental education as a tool for teaching inclusion. Palazzo Marchesale – Melpignano.

On 31 May 2022, at the Palazzo Marchesale of the Municipality of Melpignano, the closing event of the activities between schools and universities of the project “young sustainability ambassadors: Environmental education as a tool for teaching inclusion” took place, funded by the University Consortium Interprovincial Salentino (Proposing body: Municipality of Melpignano, Executive Body: University of Salento, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies and Department of History, Society and Human Studies).

The meeting was attended by: Valentina Avantaggiato, Mayor of Melpignano; Corrado De Concini, President of the National Academy of Sciences called XL; Rossano Ivan Adorno, Delegate to Human Resources of the University of Salento (representing CUIS); Alberto Basset, Delegate for Sustainability at the University of Salento (Project Coordinator); Franca Sangiorgio, Dip. of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (Project Activities Manager); and 170 students representing schools of every kind which are part of the project.

The project aims to raise awareness among younger generations about environmental issues, by delving into of the topics of sustainability and inclusiveness (https://ecologicamente.lifewatchitaly.eu/giamsos/). The approach was based on a co-teaching model that involved students and students of the Bachelor of Science in Primary Education, trainers at primary schools, and secondary school students, as well as students who have been teaching in secondary schools.

In total, about 650 primary and secondary school students from 23 schools in the area of Salento participated in the project, in addition to students and students of the Bachelor of Science in Primary Education Sciences teaching Ecology and Special Pedagogy.

The project also included a training course on the S.O.F.I.A. platform for tutors of the secondary school.

Among the project partners were LifeWatch Italia, which hosts the project site on its platform, and the School Networks: Ambito 17 and RESATUR.

During the closing event, the award ceremony was also held for the winners of the project logo competition and the online serious game competition, on issues of sustainability and inclusion.

Photogallery CUIS Award Ceremony: https://youtu.be/9QuSA_Ou2NY

BiCIKL Project: User Requirements Survey for Biodiversity Scientists

We invite all biodiversity scientists to fill in this survey, which aims to identify gaps and trends in the ways in which biodiversity scientists access and use data in their research, by asking participants to describe use cases from their previous or projected work experience. The most appealing use cases will be invited to the open call for Trans-national access projects supported by the BiCIKL project.

BiCIKL is an EU project that aims to provide access and tools for seamless linking between the data along the biodiversity research cycle: specimens > sequences > species > analytics > publications > biodiversity knowledge graph > re-use.  BiCIKL will develop and implement new methods and workflows for an integrated access to harvesting, liberating, linking, accessing and re-using of subarticle-level data (specimens, material citations, samples, sequences, taxonomic names, taxonomic treatments, figures, tables) extracted from literature. 

Click here to fill in the survey.

Castelporziano for Biodiversity, 30 years after Rio

On behalf of the President Corrado De Concini and the Director of the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano Giulia Bonella, we are pleased to broadcast the program of the meeting “Castelporziano for Biodiversity, 30 years after Rio” which will take place on 3 June 2022 at 3.30 pm at the Castelporziano Presidential Estate, as part of a wider event dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit and the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Man and the Environment in Stockholm.
You can follow the event live streaming on the YouTube channel of the Presidency of the Republic.

Poster and programme