LifeWatch

LifeWatch Belgium is part of LifeWatch ERIC, a European infrastructure for biodiversity research. LifeWatch was established as part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) and became a European Research Infrastructure consortium (ERIC) in 2017. Belgium contributes to LifeWatch ERIC with initiatives from Flanders, Wallonia-Brussels and the federal state. The Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and the Flemish Marine Institute (VLIZ) are cooperating in the Flemish LifeWatch project since 2012. Currently, the project is funded by the Research foundation - Flanders (FWO).
At INBO, the Open science lab for biodiversity (Oscibio) is responsible for setting up sensor networks in terrestrial and fresh water habitats, the publication of biodiversity data, and the development of research software. Our sensor networks include GPS trackers for large birds, an acoustic receiver network for fish, camera traps, groundwater sensors, and climate monitoring. We support researchers from (international) universities and research institutes by publishing open FAIR data, building software packages to query and analyze these data and organizing workshops.