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Biodiversity Newsflash 76
December 2017
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1 | EKLIPSE web conference on artificial electromagnetic radiations
Join us from your own office for a collaborative approach allowing you to give your input on this important emerging issue.
Artificial Electromagnetic Radiations (EMR) are used in many different ways, with uses expanding in terms of the range of frequencies and the volume of transmissions. An important issue is to explore how current use of EMR can affect biodiversity and ecosystem services (such as pollination and pest control). Better understanding and awareness of environmental risks from EMR can lead to the development, promotion and implementation of adequate and timely policy solutions.
The EKLIPSE project is inviting a wide range of experts from different disciplines as well as policy makers and practitioners for an international discussion of the current knowledge on the effects of EMR on wildlife.
The conference will aim to discuss the scope of existing studies, weaknesses and gaps as well as major findings, and to identify and prioritize key research needs potentially in relation to current policy needs.
Register here.
If you have any questions about this event, you may contact secretariat@eklipse-mechanism.eu
Join the related discussion on the EKLIPSE Forum here.
When? The web conference will be organised from Monday 22 January to Thursday 25 January 2018 with daily afternoon sessions of maximum 2 hours.
- Monday 22nd at 16:00 CET for the introduction, framing and opening discussions
- Tuesday 23rd at 13:30 CET for group discussion on Plants
- Tuesday 23rd at 16:00 CET for group discussion on Vertebrates
- Wednesday 24th at 16:00 CET for group discussion on Invertebrates
- Thursday 25th at 16:00 CET for integration and final plenary recommendations
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2 | SAFRED event: safeguarding biodiversity data for the future
The SAFRED (Saving Freshwater Biodiversity Research Data) project is pleased to invite you for the event "Safeguarding Biodiversity Data for the Future".
This conference will aim to share lessons learned from the project. Three keynote speakers will provide their view on working with large datasets, the need for Open Data and Open Science.
- Jonathan Chase from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) will share insights from his work on biodiversity synthesis.
- Jörg Freyhof based at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) will offer a global perspective on biodiversity observation data based on his experience in working on the EU BioFresh project and the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON).
- Julia Steward Lowndes from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) will present a strong case for Open Science sharing the story of building the Ocean Health Index.
The workshop on Biodiversity Data Management (on the 2nd day) will be an opportunity to get guidance and learn simple tricks to improve your day-to-day data management. You will get an introduction on biodiversity data standardisation and publication; and will have the opportunity to choose between hands-on data transformation exercise and working with microbial ecology data. This workshop is higly recommended for students and researchers looking to improve their data management skills!
Register here. Please contact, Aaike De Wever for more information.
Where? Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
When? Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th February 2018 |
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3 | Call for 2018 GBIF Young Researchers Award
The GBIF Secretariat is pleased to invite nominations for the 2018 Young Researchers Award. This annual programme aims to foster innovative research and discovery in biodiversity informatics by graduate students whose master’s and doctoral studies rely on GBIF-mediated data.
The 2018 programme will provide €5,000 prizes recognizing the work of two graduate students—preferably, one master’s and one PhD candidate—nominated by GBIF Participant countries.
Award recipients will be selected from the pool of nominees whose names are received by the GBIF Secretariat by 15 June 2018. The winners will be announced just prior to the 25th GBIF Governing Board meeting, to be held in Kilkenny, Ireland, in October 2018.
You’ll find out more here.
If you have comments or questions about this programme or the award, please contact the Secretariat at youngresearchersaward@gbif.org or André Heughebaert, our Belgian GBIF Node Manager.
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4 | BiodivERsA welcomes Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS as new member
BiodivERsA is the network of agencies programming and funding Pan-European research on biodiversity and ecosystem services. During its General Assembly in November in Malaga, the network welcomed Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS) as new member to the network. As such, Belgium currently counts three BiodivERsA partners (F.R.S. – FNRS; the Research Foundation Flanders, FWO; and the Belgian Science Policy Office, BelSPO) reinforcing the capacity to fund Belgian researchers in the European Research Area.
The F.R.S.-FNRS is a regional agency supporting researchers of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Its main goal is to develop fundamental scientific research, based on a bottom-up approach. It encourages the production and development of knowledge by supporting individual researchers and by financing research programmes carried out within the laboratories and departments, which are mainly located in the Universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
For more information on F.R.S.-FNRS, please contact joel.groeneveld@frs-fnrs.be
Check out the BiodivERsA website, or follow the network on Twitter (@BiodivERsA3) for more news and updates.
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5 | Three questions to Maurice Hoffmann, CEO at Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
- Could you describe the challenges and opportunities that institutes such as INBO are currently facing?
 INBO has approximately 260 researchers and technicians, of which ca. 60 work on externally financed projects through its own capital (EVINBO). Given the largely fixed research agenda of INBO, we are increasingly looking for opportunities for projects that are externally funded. A further increased participation in (international) projects should allow us to better anticipate new research needs to answer present-day and future questions on nature, forest, ecosystems, ecosystems services, society and environment. The challenge is to find opportunities that are situated in applied, policy relevant and solution-aimed research rather than in fundamental research. Our descriptive research and monitoring remains a major task for INBO, species and habitat trend-explaining research is presently under-represented. It is evident that INBO has a very important role to play in underpinning nature, forest and environment related policy in the Flemish region through its permanent research and monitoring activities and - through external funding - at the Brussels, national and European level. A shift towards more society-, agriculture-, urban-and climate-related research is urgent.
- Based on the current landscape of research on biodiversity in Belgium, what do you think is the added value of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform for the research community at large and for an organisation such as INBO?
INBO has a long-lasting, close and vital co-operation with the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, e.g. through part time employment of three scientists that are acting in close co-operation with several research teams at INBO. We share common goals in open data of species and habitats, and we are both strongly involved and focused on the science-policy interface. INBO is focusing more at the regional (Flemish) and at the European level, while the Belgian Biodiversity Platform rather focuses on the federal and European level. Both combined, gives perfect match and coverage of monitoring data. The co-operation with the Belgian Biodiversity Platform also helps INBO to pay increasing attention to nature-human health related issues, and on natural capital accounting (in development and to be further developed). The Belgian Biodiversity Platform is a vital instrument for networking of national and international scientists regarding existing and newly emerging scientific disciplines and could further reinforce its link with policy. A remaining challenge is to bring science and business together.
- In an ideal world, how would you see the collaboration between the Platform and INBO; and between the Platform and the research community at large
In an ideal Belgium, different players on the research market would better co-operate then compete for the same (international) research funding, making us stronger and competitive compared to foreign players and consortia. The Belgian Biodiversity Platform might play a role in organising a further elaborated co-operation between regional, federal and academic players, each with their specific qualities. The complicated funding structures in Belgium do not help to promote this type of co-operation. Another task that the Belgian Biodiversity Platform and INBO could share is to further develop permanent research infrastructure.
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