pro-iBiosphere

Creative-B final event

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 15:10:00 +0300

The Creative-B project final even will take place on 26 Sep 2014 in Brussels. During this event, a roadmap of global data infrastructures supporting biodiversity and ecosystem research will be presented.

In the last two decades quite a number of activities emerged to manage, share and deploy the fast growing data volumes from observations, collections, sensors and other data sources in biodiversity and ecosystem research. This data "gravity" pushed new applications and services, resulting in the development and establishment of large-scale research infrastructures. Following an initiative of the European LifeWatch research infrastructure, a number of large-scale data research infrastructures* with a global outreach in this scientific area teamed together in the project Creative-B (Coordination of Research e-Infrastructures Activities Toward an International Virtual Environment for Biodiversity)**.

The collaboration resulted in drafting a global Roadmap focusing on common priorities and infrastructure engagement, enhancing infrastructure interoperability, and the legal and governance implications. Specific issues are addressing challenges to sustain data availability and services, user interaction and value delivery, cooperation for infrastructure interoperability as well as legal interoperability, and finally education and training. This Roadmap shows how global interaction is promoting complementary development while fostering synergy for supporting frontier research and addressing global and societal challenges. The event in Brussels will also highlight some implications for other stakeholders such as funding and governmental bodies.

Registration is now open here: http://creative-b-2014.sciencesconf.org/registration

Find out more on the event website, and in the event program.

pro-iBiosphere Final Event in Meise (Brussels) - June 10-12, 2014

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:02:59 +0200

Agentschap Plententuin Meise (Botanic Garden Meise), Bouchout Castle – Meise (Brussels), Belgium

The pro-iBiosphere project supported by the European Commission (DG CONNECT) through its FP7 research funding programme has the pleasure to invite you to join its Final Event.

The project has the vision of implementing an Open Knowledge Biodiversity Management System (OBKMS), i.e. an integration platform that will allow to produce Biotas (i.e. Floras, Faunas, Mycotas and other revisionary taxonomic literature) of the future in a flexible semantically-driven online environment.

During its two year duration, pro-iBiosphere contributed to making fundamental biodiversity data digital, open and re-usable. The achievements of the project will be presented in a series of activities (Event Flyer) detailed below that will take place from Tuesday the 10th to Thursday the 12th of June 2014 at the Bouchout Castle (Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium).

Tuesday June 10 (PM)

Workshop on Model Evaluation

Wednesday June 11 (all day)

Demonstrations on pro-iBiosphere pilots

Demonstrations on outcomes of pro-iBiosphere Data Enrichment Hackathon

Workshop on Biodiversity Catalogue

Training on WikiMedia

Poster session

Thursday June 12 (all day)

Final Conference

Networking Cocktail

For more information on the Final Event (agenda, logistics,…), visit the dedicated wiki page.

Registration is free of charge but compulsory due to room capacity constraints. You can register by filling out the online registration form at http://tiny.cc/pib-final-event.

In case you are interested in giving a presentation during the Final Event activities or in submitting a poster in the poster session, please contact us at final-event@pro-ibiosphere.eu

RDA Third Plenary Meeting

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 15:20:00 +0200

Australia, in close partnership with Ireland, will host the Third Plenary for the Research Data Alliance in Dublin, Ireland on March 26 to 28, 2014. The purpose of the Research Data Alliance is to accelerate international data-driven innovation and discovery by facilitating research data sharing and exchange, use and re-use, standards harmonization, and discoverability.

The 3rd Plenary focuses on the theme ‘The Data Sharing Community: Playing YOUR Part’ and is about exploiting RDA’s work to date to its full potential. The program contains a mixture of keynotes, panels, networking, Working and Interest Groups as well as ‘Birds of a Feather’ sessions on topics ranging from agriculture to particle physics, and from humanities to bioinformatics. All parts of the data lifecycle are addressed, from foundational data terminology to data publication and re-use.

For more information, including how to register, please follow the link: https://www.rd-alliance.org/rda-third-plenary-meeting.html

"Data enrichment hackathon"

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 15:27:00 +0200

From 17th of March (Tuesday) to 21th of March(Thursday) 2014, Naturalis will organise the "Data enrichment hackathon", the event will take place in Leiden,the Netherlands.

The objective of the hackathon is to enrich biodiversity input data with semantic links to related resources, such as links from (i) named locations to GeoNames, (ii) taxon names to taxon concept URIs, (iii) characters and traits to trait ontologies, and so on.

Are you somebody who has knowledge in programming?, or are you a specialist (e.g. taxonomist/ecologist/modeller) who has an use case that could be addressed during the hackathon?. If the answer is yes, then it is very likely that you will find the hackathon interesting and would like to participate.

The expected result of the meeting is to develop open source tools and software that will allow experts from different disciplines beyond taxonomy to re-use and enhance the biodiversity knowledge gathered by experts in the past 60 years.

For additional information on contents, registration, funding, etc. please see:

https://docs.google.com/a/naturalis.nl/document/d/1qwuajEkjenjEPoYxaIGtE-KleptQ6wSdyMfgmb_TyuA/pub

Please notice that the max. of participants will be restricted to 30 persons.

Seminar ‘Use of biodiversity in research according to the upcoming EU regulation’

Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:31:00 +0200

On Tuesday March 4, 2014 at the Science Park De Uithof in Utrecht a seminar will address the changing legal situation in the use of living material (genetic resources) for scientific research. This change may affect ongoing and new research carried out in universities and related research institutes.

In many universities research is carried out using plants or animals, or derivatives thereof. Now, context is changing after the Nagoya Protocol was agreed upon in 2010, and the EU has worked towards regulation of the new requirements. These are to become effective when the Nagoya Protocol comes into force, which is expected to happen after mid-2014. Shortly afterwards, the EU regulation will also become effective. The Council, European Parliament and the European Commission have come to an informal agreement that will shortly be finalised.

The seminar Use of biodiversity in research according to the upcoming EU regulation aims to introduce the new legislation to the scientific community. The seminar is of relevance to University boards and their legal departments, as well as scientists and managers of collections.

For more details and to apply please see here

VIII Caribbean Biodiversity Congress: calling for abstracts now

Mon, 15 Jul 2013 16:43:00 +0300

The VIII Caribbean Biodiversity Congress will be held between 29 Jan – 01 Feb 2014 in the Dominican Republic. For more than two decades, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo along with other organizations has organized the Caribbean Biodiversity Congress keeping its regular intervals of three years since 2002.

The Department of Biology at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) asks biodiversity stakeholders across the globe to send abstracts for presentations at the VIII Caribbean Biodiversity Congress. The deadline for abstract submission is 30 Sep 2013.

The congress provides and excellent opportunity for scientists to meet other researchers engaged in the study of the Caribbean biodiversity. The aim of the congress is for such interactions to result in the development of new collaborative efforts among organizations and scientists of the region, as well as strengthening the existing ones.

Building Biodiversity Workflows with Taverna (Manchester, UK)

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 11:43:00 +0300

The course is a two-day hands-on training event. The course will accommodate 10-15 researchers. The program consists of introductory lectures, practical computer work, and discussions. Researchers will be contacted upon admission in order to consider their own research objectives for the course. more ...

Training Workshop for ENM studies (Cardiff University, UK)

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 11:43:00 +0300

Introduction to using BioVeL workflows for taxonomic refinement, biogeographic analysis, and species distribution modelling

The training workshop will teach the attendees in using the informatic tools and services developed by the BioVeL project to address research topics such as historical analyses, invasive species distribution modelling, endangered species distribution modelling, and dynamic modelling of ecologically related species. In particular, there will be introductions to the BioVeL e-infrastructure, Taxonomic data cleaning, Taxonomic name resolution and synonym expansion, Ecological niche modelling, model testing, statistical analysis of GIS data, invasive and endangered species distribution modelling, historical comparison biodiversity from museum collections. more ...

MTSR 2013 : 7th Metadata and Semantics Research Conference

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:55:00 +0300

Continuing the successful mission of previous MTSR Conferences (MTSR'05, MTSR'07, MTSR'09, MTSR'10, MTSR'11 and MTSR’12), the seventh International Conference on Metadata and Semantics Research (MTSR'13) aims to bring together scholars and practitioners that share a common interest in the interdisciplinary field of metadata, linked data and ontologies. Participants will share novel knowledge and best practice in the implementation of these semantic technologies across diverse types of Information Environments and applications. These include Cultural Informatics; Open Access Repositories & Digital Libraries; E-learning applications; Search Engine Optimisation & Information Retrieval; Research Information Systems and Infrastructures; e-Science and e-Social Science applications; Agriculture, Food and Environment; Bio-Health & Medical Information Systems.

EUR-OCEANS hot topics conference - A changing ocean

Wed, 18 Sep 2013 17:25:00 +0300

The EUR-OCEANS Conference will take place between 6-8 November 2013 and will be hosted by PLOCAN in Gran Canaria, Spain.

The conference aims at showing progress and perspectives on selected ‘hot topics’ in Marine Science. Over the past 5 years, the EUR-OCEANS Consortium has identified, supported and promoted a number of such topics, notably by funding foresight workshops, flagship programs and other types of activities.

The 2.5-day conference also intends to pave the way for the integration of the EUR-OCEANS community in the future EuroMarine+ Consortium. In 2014, this Consortium will replace three former networks of excellence: EUR-OCEANS, MarBEF and Marine Genomics Europe. The conference will discuss opportunities for new multidisciplinary approaches, which such integration opens up, notably in the ‘trading zones’ where the three scientific communities can jointly address topics of common interest.

Selected hot topics include:

Ocean deoxygenation and acidification
High resolution ocean (or how meso and submesoscale physics constrains biogeochemistry and biology)
Rapid change in polar oceans
Ecosystem models and biodiversity scenarios for changing oceans
Links between marine ecology, biodiversity and genomics
Plasticity, epigenetics, adaptativeness.

For more information, please visit the event's website at: http://www.eur-oceans.eu/hot_topics_conf#scom

Second BiodiversityKnowledge Conference

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:57:00 +0200

BiodiversityKnowledge is organizing its second international conference on September 24th to 26th.
For the venue we choose the green and atypical Jerusalemkirche, right in the middle of Berlin between Checkpoint Charlie and the Jewish museum.
The objective of this second conference is to discuss and finalize the recommended design of a future Network of Knowledge (NoK) on biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe.
Registration for the conference will be open in beginning of April. More information on the conference will soon be available on conference website.

Open Knowledge Conference 2013

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:13:16 +0200

The Open Knowledge Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2013 Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 17th-18th September.
The world’s leading open data and open knowledge event, OKCon is the latest in an annual series run since 2005. Last year’s installment in Helsinki had more than 1000 participants from over 50 countries and was the largest event of its kind to date.
Find out more about the conference here.
Registration and tickets are already available here.

The 9th International Flora Malesiana Symposium

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:27:05 +0200

The 9th International Flora Malesiana Symposium
27-31 August 2013
Bogor, Indonesia
"CONTRIBUTIONS OF FLORA MALESIANA TO
THE WELFARE OF PEOPLE IN ASIA"

http://fm9.biologi.lipi.go.id/

Malesia is an important region where high diversity of flora was discovered and the flora’s significant value was known. The 9th International Flora Malesiana Symposium presents a broad meeting that covers many subjects from the current research on taxonomy, ecology, biogeography, evolution, ethnobotany, and plant conservation. The theme of this meeting is the importance of plant diversity that affects the quality of lives of people in the world, particularly in Asia. It is expected that everyone will be aware of the potential outcome from this meeting to enhance the people quality of life in Asia. The ninth Flora Malesiana Symposium will be held in Bogor, Indonesia from 27-31 August 2013 hosted by the Herbarium Bogoriense, Botany Division, Research Center for Biology, The Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Herbarium Bogoriense and Flora Malesiana Foundation would like to welcome you to participate in the Ninth International Flora Malesiana Symposium.

Big data from Space

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:14:00 +0200

The European Space Agency in Frascati is organising a "Big data from Space" event to address the barriers that hamper an effective use of large volumes of Earth observation data. The event will focus on issues associated with the organisation and delivery of large volumes of contemporary and historical Earth observations, either space-based or from ground (including ubiquitous information-sensing mobile devices, aerial sensory technologies, wireless sensor networks).

pro-iBiosphere meeting 3, Berlin

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:22:40 +0200

pro-iBiosphere meeting 3 was held from 20 to 24 May 2013 in Berlin. It consisted of three workshops on: 1) Coordination and routes for cooperation across organizations, projects and e-infrastructures 2) Measuring and constraining the costs of delivering services 3) Stakeholder requirements Second Management committee meeting and Advisory Board meetings were held from 23-24 of May 2013. More information can be found at: http://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshops_Berlin,_May_2013

ALTER-Net Conference 2013 (Ghent, Belgium)

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:44:00 +0200

We kindly invite you to attend the BiodiversityKnowledge side event on the first day of the ALTER-Net Conference "Science Underpinning the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy". The primary focus of the conference will be the objectives and targets of the EU's 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, which should be realized by the end of this decade. Being a science-policy interface network, ALTER-Net wants to help the EU in realizing these targets by providing scientific knowledge, e.g. by pointing out possible weaknesses, opportunities and necessities, and by helping to find solutions and evidence-based actions.
The BiodiversityKnowledge session on Monday afternoon will first present our project's approach in short, concise talks and then give the opportunity for discussing major issues related to governance of the structure, involvement and acknowledgment, quality control and other main challenges.

pro-iBiosphere meeting 2, Leiden

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:13:13 +0200

pro-iBiosphere meeting 2 was held from 11 to 14 February 2013 in Leiden. It consisted of three workshops on: e-platforms & e-tools for taxonomy Legacy literature – Semantic mark-up generation, data quality and user-participation infrastructure Prospective Literature – Toward Best Practices for data acquisition and curation using e-tools for taxonomy. More information can be found at: http://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Workshops_Leiden_February_2013