LifeWatch ERIC
LifeWatch ERIC is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium providing e-Science research facilities to scientists investigating biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services in order to support society in addressing key planetary challenges. Established as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium by the European Commission in 2017, LifeWatch ERIC aims to accelerate scientific discovery and policy impact by integrating biodiversity and ecosystem data, services, and other research products into interoperable digital environments: enabling open science, interdisciplinary and cross-domain collaboration, and AI-driven innovation.
LifeWatch ERIC is composed of 3 Common Facilities, hosted in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Each of the 8 Member States hosts a Distributed Centre which contributes with expertise and resources to LifeWatch ERIC, enabling its operations at national, European, and global levels, as a single Research Infrastructure. LifeWatch ERIC membership consists of Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Role in the Project
LifeWatch ERIC is the coordinator of FAIR2Adapt. It joined the consortium in late 2025 and took over full coordination of the project—administrative, financial, and technical—with Anne Fouilloux continuing as Coordinator to ensure uninterrupted leadership and a smooth transition. In this role, LifeWatch ERIC runs the Project Management Office, oversees governance, quality assurance, and risk management, maintains the Data Management Plan, and coordinates the External Advisory Board, keeping the project aligned with its objectives and obligations.
Beyond coordination, LifeWatch ERIC has taken on the tasks previously assigned to Simula, supporting the case studies with technical expertise and developing the workflows and tools communities need to produce and consume FAIR Digital Objects. The engagement is mutually reinforcing: FAIR2Adapt strengthens LifeWatch ERIC’s own expertise in FAIR and FDOs and feeds back into its infrastructure, helping evolve services such as its metadata catalogue and Workflow Studio towards full FDO compliance—impact that lasts beyond the project’s lifetime.