Virtual laboratory for biodiversity research in Belgium.
LIFEWATCH BELGIUM
The Belgian LifeWatch infrastructure is part of the European LifeWatch infrastructure for biodiversity research. LifeWatch was established as part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure and can be seen as a virtual laboratory for biodiversity research consisting of observation stations, databases, web services and modelling tools installed across Europe. This network facilitates the generation, processing, integration and analysis of biodiversity data... Belgium contributes to LifeWatch with varied and complementary "in-kind" contributions. These are implemented under the form of long lasting projects by different research centres and universities spread over the country and supported by each respective political authority. The Belgian LifeWatch infrastructure is continuously generating biodiversity and ecosystems data through its local observatories and its data integration and archaeology activities. Access to these data is provided through local, regional, and global data systems.
- For Flanders, the coordination is provided by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO); the funding is provided through the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).
- For Wallonia & Brussels, the funding is provided by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation through a research programme between the Earth and Life Institute of the Université catholique de Louvain (ELI), and the Biosystems Engineering Department of the Université de Liège/Gembloux-ABT.
- At Federal level, the coordination is provided by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS); the funding is provided through the Belgian Science Policy Office (BelSPO); and the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (BBPf) act as scientific node.
Types: distributed infrastructure, virtual infrastructure
Status: LifeWatch is an ERIC since 2017 and has been part of the ESFRI Roadmap since 2006.
Creation date: 2006
Access & costs: Free online access
Website: https://www.lifewatch.be
Contacts:
- General email - info@lifewatch.be
- Francisco Hernandez, VLIZ - francisco.hernandez@vliz.be