EMBRC HQ Update - N.29 - 17 June 2022 – 23 September 2022

EMBRC HQ Update - N.29

Prepared by EMBRC HQ

The present report covers the period from 17 June to 23 September 2022.

Purpose: to update the EMBRC General Assembly (GA) on progress on the main items of work activity at EMBRC-ERIC headquarters (HQ).

General activities:

At the beginning of September, Alexandra Vasic and Guillaume Duspara went to Finland to exchange “Financial and Administrative” skills and knowledges with ICOS.

Governance meetings:

“Extra-ordinary General Assembly”, Online, 13 September 2022:

Participants (HQ): Nicolas PADE, Alexandra VASIC,
Scope: Preparing budgets.

Communication:

In the absence of a Communicatin Officer, Davide Di Cioccio manages EMBRC's social networks and Guillaume Duspara manages the EMBRC website.

Services:

Access and benefit-sharing[1] (ABS)

At the beginning of July 2022, Giorgio Vingiani (EMBRC-IT, liaison officer of the project ASSEMBLE Plus) has visited the HQ in Paris. During his stay Giorgio has discussed, with Davide Di CIOCCIO, the details of the EMBRC catalogue of services, and he was introduced to objectives of Key Performance Indicators set by EMBRC, their importance and methods of collection.

Access and benefit-sharing Meeting and Working Group:

“ABS EMBRC Working Group meeting”, 6 July 2022:

Participants (HQ): Nicolas PADE, Anne Emmanuelle KERVELLA, Ioulia SANTI, Arnaud LAROQUETTE,
Aim: Discussion on the potential participation of the EMBRC in the ABS Consultation Forum (which is an official platform for the exchange of information on the implementation of the EU ABS Regulation).

BBNJ MGR Webinar "Marine Genetic Resources: exploring scientific practices and wider uses in conservation in the BBNJ Agreement", co-organized by the European Commission, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) and the MARBLES project, on 16-17 June 2022:

Participants (HQ): Anne-Emmanuelle KERVELLA.

The 8th EMO BON Sampling Event took place in August 2022. The EMO BON observatories continue the long-term sea samplings to access the marine biodiversity.

During 12-15th July the EMO BON Observation, Data and Service Development Officer (Ioulia Santi) visited the Open Science Group in VLIZ (Ostende, Belgium). EMO BON will work together with the VLIZ Open Science Group to build a refined data management system that handles the frequently produced genomic observatory (meta)datasets in a structured way. This system is planned to function on existing data platforms and will guide the (meta)data submission to marine databases and data catalogues. This visit marked the initiation of this collaboration and organized the next steps until the end of 2023.

Declaration of EMO BON activities to the French Ministry of the Ecological Transition. Until EMBRC does not carry out research on the genetic or biochemical composition of biological material, EMO BON activities will remain outside the scope of the ABS legislation.The Greek declaration has been prepared too and will be sent in September.

EMO BON Meeting and Working Group:

“UN Ocean Conference Virtual Side Event”, on 30 June 2022:

Participants (HQ): Nicolas PADE, Ioulia SANTI, Arnaud LAROQUETTE,
Aim: Arnaud Laroquette attended remotely the webinar on Biomolecular observations in support of conservation and sustainable development. The UN Decade-endorsed Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) and partners discussed how biomolecular research can enable broadscale science-based conservation and sustainable development.

The EuroSea/OceanPredict workshop “Ocean Prediction and Observing System Design”, 29 June – 1 July 2022:

Participants (HQ): Alice SOCCODATO, Ioulia SANTI,
Aim: To support the connecting, exploring, and advancing observation and ocean prediction efforts in a global context. EMO BON was presented to the workshop during a talk titled “Towards an extended biological and oceanographic observatory for marine ecosystem monitoring”.

The International Master of Science in Marine Biological Resources (IMBRSea) Annual Symposium, on 5 July 2022:

Participants (HQ): Ioulia SANTI,
Aim: In collaboration with the EOSC Life project ("A workflow for marine Genomic Observatories data analysis"), EMBRC scientists described how EMO BON is driven by Open Science principles and the use of FAIR data standards and demonstrated how data is managed and analysed. The analytical workflows used were introduced and the basic concepts of how to write and execute workflows were discussed.

“Kick-off Workshop on Monitoring of Landmarks Research Infrastructures”, organized by ESFRI, on 16 September:

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO,
Aim: “During the meeting it was presented the plan and the details of the monitoring process of the European Research Infrastructures which will be launched by ESFRI in late 2022. EMBRC will be monitored by a panel of ESFRI and external experts on the achievement of its objectives toward the end of 2023. At the end of the monitoring process, the ESFRI monitoring panel will release a report with a set of recommendations for the envisaged development of EMBRC”.

Projects:

AgroSERV:

Agroserv started on the 1st of September. Agroserv mission is to develop a resilient and sustainable agriculture system and agroecological transitions that require a deep understanding of agroecosystems, their interactions with the environment, and management practices. It will include also tasks related to aquafarming, pollution and ethics, leaded by EMBRC partners. AgroServ features a large consortium of research infrastructures, most of them being on the EU roadmap, and a vast offer of services at all scales, from the molecule to the organism, to the ecosystem, to the society. AgroServ will facilitate a systemic and holistic approach to understand the threats and challenges agriculture is facing, towards the implementation of a resilient and sustainable agri-food system. Most of the relevant field of sciences are represented in AgroServ, from natural to social sciences. A wider catalogue of integrated and customized services will be developed thanks to a specific approach of service pipelines designed from a gap analysis, stakeholder and user demands. A strong community building and training program for access managers and users will be implemented to facilitate multi- and transdisciplinary research with all relevant actors. Results from the research performed under AgroServ will be synthetized to be used in the scope of evidence-based policy making. Data from AgroServ will be open and compliant with FAIR practices, and made available on the long-term to the communities, and be linked with the main European initiatives, as the EOSC. Strong links will be established with existing or future programs under H2020 and Horizon Europe, such as the partnerships agroecology, living labs and research infrastructures, and agriculture of data, as well as the two CSA AE4EU and ALL-READY, and the missions soil and plant health, and waters.

Upcoming AgroSERV Meeting and Working Group:

“Pre Kick-off AgroSERV”, in Prague, on 17-18 of October:

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO,
Scope: Presentation of the project AgroSERV.

AI4Life:

AI4life started on the 1st of September. The mission of AI4Life is to democratise access to Machine learning (ML) and Artigicial Intelligence (AI), tools that have enabled and accelerated frontier research in the life sciences. Access to necessary hardware and software, knowledge and training, is limited, while methods are typically insufficiently documented and hard to find. Existing user-facing platforms operate entirely independently from each other, often failing to comply with FAIRdata and Open Science standards. The field of AI and ML is developing at a staggering pace, making it impossible for the non-specialist to stay up to date. To enable the life science communities to benefit from AI/ML-powered image analysis methods, AI4LIFEwill build bridges, providing urgently needed services on the common European research infrastructures. We will build an open, accessible, community-driven repository of FAIRpre-trained AI models and develop services to deliver these models to life scientists, including those without substantial computational expertise. Our direct support and ample training activities will prepare life scientists for responsible use of AI methods, while contributor services and open standards will drive community contributions of new models and interoperability between analysis tools. Open calls and public challenges will provide state-of-the-art solutions to yet unsolved image analysis problems in the life sciences.

Upcoming AI4Life Meeting and Working Group:

“Kick-off Al4Life”, in Heidelberg, on 25 of October

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO,
Scope: Presentation of the project Al4Life.

ASSEMBLE Plus Meeting and Working Group:

“The Closing Assembly of the ASSEMBLE Plus project”, Paris, on 14-15 September 2022:

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO,
Aim: The meeting has seen the participants discuss about the outcomes of Joint Research Activities and Networking Activities, as well as the outcomes of the Transnational Access programme. The legacy of the project's results was discussed with the participants, some of which comes from countries not yet in EMBRC but interested in joining our organization in the near future.

BlueRemediomics:

BlueRemediomics will develop and provide an integrated bioinformatics platform to explore the marine microbiome potential; establish innovative culturomics and high-throughput screening platforms to experimentally exploit consortia of marine microbes; apply the platforms to identify and develop natural products derived from marine microbes; foster aquaculture and ecosystem services that embody the “do no significant harm” principle; maximise equitable access to ocean microbiome resources and increase awareness of the marine microbiome to a diverse range of stakeholders; Provide training, tools and resources to a variety of stakeholders.

BlueRemediomic Meeting and Working Group:

“Pre Kick-off BlueRemediomic”, in Brussels, on 15-16 of September:

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO,
Scope: Presentation of the project BlueRemediomic.

CanServ:

CanSERV mission is to make cutting-edge and customised research services available to the cancer research community EU wide, enable innovative R&D projects and foster precision medicine for patients benefit across Europe. By connecting, coordinating, and aligning existing oncology and complimentary research infrastructures (RIs) and providing services in a synergistic way transnationally, canSERV will capitalise on the critical mass of experts and cutting-edge services offered by canSERVs RIs and their extended network. CanSERV brings together world-class European life science RIs (BBMRI, EURO-BIOIMAGING, ELIXIR, EU-IBISBA, EuroPDX, EU-OPENSCREEN, INSTRUCT, EATRIS, INFRAFRONTIER, EMBRC, ECRIN, EATRIS, MIRRI, ARIE, CCE, EORTCand IARC) that collectively not only covers all aspects along the development pipeline for oncology, but is also capable of interconnecting these technologies providing users a guidance for navigating them through the entire translational value chain. EMBRC is co-leading WP1 with focus on leveraging applications and integration of services for marine model organisms.

CanSERV Meeting and Working Group:

“Pre Kick-off CanSERV”, in Brussels, on 15-16 of September:

Participants (HQ): Alice SOCCODATO,
Scope: Presentation of the project CanSERV.

Release of two publications showing how open source data can be used to answer scientific questions in the Black Sea:

Publication in JGR-Ocean on: "The Synergy of Data From Profiling Floats, Machine Learning and Numerical Modeling: Case of the Black Sea Euphotic Zone" by E. V. Stanev, K. Wahle, J. Staneva https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018012.
Publication in Ocean Science “Mechanism of generation and propagation characteristics of coastal trapped waves in the BlackSea”published https://os.copernicus.org/articles/18/1081/2022/.

FAIR-EASE:

Fair-Ease started on the 1st of September. The mission of Fair-Ease is to customize and operate distributed and integrated services for observation and modelling of the Earth system, environment and biodiversity by improving the TRL of their different components implemented in close cooperation with user-communities, the European Open Science Cloud and research infrastructures in their design and sustainable availability.

The project will: Improve a FAIR-EASE data discovery and data access service, relying on pre-operational existing services, in order to provide users with an easy and FAIR tool for discovery and access to environmental multidisciplinary and aggregated data-sets as managed and provided by a range of European data infrastructures; Set up a FAIR-EASE Earth Analytical Lab, with EOSC connectivity supporting, through web-based interfaces, predefined processing tools and on-demand data visualization services for remote analysis and processing of heterogeneous data facilitating the cross-disciplinary collaboration, reducing the time to results and increasing productivity; and Develop a number of multidisciplinary Use Cases (UCs) to contribute requirements for the FAIR- EASE system components and to validate and demonstrate the capabilities of the FAIR-EASE service for supporting open science.

FAIR-EASE Meeting and Working Group:

“Kick-off FAIR-EASE”, in Paris, 20-22 September:

Participants (HQ): Alice SOCCODATO,
Scope: Presentation of the project FAIR-EASE.

Other recent events

“UN Ocean Conference”, in Lisbon, 27 June – 1 July 2022:

Participants (HQ): Nisolas PADE, Anne Emmanuelle KERVELLA, Alice SOCCODATO,
Aim:” The Decade provides a common framework to ensure that ocean science can fully support countries’ actions to sustainably manage the ocean and more particularly to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – through the creation of a new foundation, across the science-policy interface, to strengthen the management of the ocean and coasts for the benefit of humanity”.

“Building strong partnerships between industry and academia”, by EATRIS-Plus workshop, 29-30 june 2022:

Participants (HQ): Alice SOCCODATO,
Aim: This EATRIS-Plus workshop on best practices in public-private collaboration has been developed within the framework of EATRIS-Plus H2020 Project,

“The Coastpredict workshop”, 30 june 2022:

Participants (HQ): Alice SOCCODATO,
Aim:”To leverage extended genomic observatory integration into remote sensing and modelling platforms and programmes.

“The Charter for the Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”, organised by European Commission EATRIS-Plus workshop, 30 june 2022:

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO,
Aim: Members States, regions and relevant stakeholders have been invited to discover the charter and further engaging with actions for a successful implementation of the Mission and its lighthouses.

“Getting to know the European marine science policy landscape”, a webinar organized by the Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) group of the European Marine Board, 6 July 2022:

Participants (HQ): Davide DI CIOCCIO, Ioulia SANTI,
Aim:” The webinar was titled and focused on describing and discussing the framework of the marine science policy”.

“BEERI[2]”, organised by European Commission, 30 aout 2022:

Participants (HQ): Nicolas PADE,
Aim: The meeting confirmed the BEERI as the European Commission’s main partner for a dialogue with the environmental cluster. Cooperation between the European Commission and ESFRI must now be stepped up.

“Mission Oriented Research and Innovation for a Health Ocean”, a webinar organized by the Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) group of the European Marine Board, 7 September 2022:

Participants (HQ): Ioulia SANTI,
Aim:” EMB hosted its 3rd ECOP Wednesday series event featuring Ana-Maria Stan who will speak about Mission Oriented R&I for a Health Ocean”.

Upcoming events

“Science Europe Open Science Conference 2022 ”, 18-19 October 2022:

Aim: Open Science conference will provide a comprehensive overview of the current policy initiatives, research assessment reforms, and financial measures that support the transition to Open Science, and look forward at new trends.

“ICRI 2022[3]”, 19-21 October 2022:

Aim: A major worldwide event providing an opportunity for strategic discussions about international cooperation in research infrastructure. A variety of experts and stakeholders discuss challenges and emerging trends, highlighting the essential role of research infrastructures.

“BENTACS - BENthos TAxonomy CourseS13”, 24-28 October 2022:

Aim: “The Marine Organism Taxonomy (MOTax) core facility has launched a series of International Summer Schools (BENTACS - BENthos TAxonomy CourseS) focused on the taxonomy of the main groups of zoo-benthos from soft-bottom communities in the Mediterranean Sea”.

Social networks

EMBRC campaigns: https://www.embrc.eu/campaigns
EMBRC Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/embrc
EMBRC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EMBRC.eu/
EMBRC Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChjMOuNlWb_R4kb1ojt8t4A

EMBRC HQ Update - N.29 - 17 June 2022 – 23 September 2022