1.
CEH Wallingford
1. How will we know we are succeeding?
a European Long-term Ecosystem and
socio ecological Research Infrastructure
(eLTER)
Lessons learned under the 2013 call for “integrating and
opening research infrastructures of European interest”
Contents:
How
the
star.ng
community
was
set
up
and
how
it
evolved
from
2012
(or
earlier)
un.l
submission
in
2014:
• Early
contacts
and
ideas
• Outline
proposal
to
2012
call
for
topic
ideas
• Team
building
while
wai.ng
• Content
of
full
proposal
• Useful
.ps
for
proposal
prepara.on

2.
With thanks to the eLTER consortium
# Short name Participant organisation full name Country
Core Team
1 (Coord.) EAA Environment Agency Austria Austria
2 SYKE Suomen Ymparistokeskus Finland
3 CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France
4 FZJ Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Germany
5 UFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH Germany
6 TUC Technical University of Crete, School of Environmental Engineering, Greece
7 CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Italy
8 ERCE European Regional Centre for Hydrology (UNESCO) Poland
9 UNS Univerzitet u Novom Sadu Serbia
10 SLU Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden
11 NERC Natural Environment Research Council, CEH United Kingdom
General Consortium
12 INBO Research Institute for Nature and Forest Belgium
13 BAS Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Bulgaria
14 GISAT (tbc) GISAT (SME) Czech Republic
15 UH University Helsinki Finland
16 MASINOTEC Masinotec (SME) Finland
17 SGN Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung Germany
18 GHR GeoHiRes Germany
19 MTA OK Centre for Ecological Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Hungary
20 BGU The Remote Sensing Laboratory,Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Israel
21 LUBI IBUL University of Latvia, Institute of Biology Latvia
22 RUG University of Groningen Netherlands
23 FFCUL Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Portugal
24 UB Bucharest University Romania
25 ILE SAS Institute of Landscape Ecology SAS Slovakia
26 ZRC SAZU Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Slovenia
27 UGR University of Granada Spain
28 CSIC LAST (Remote Sensing & GIS Lab), Doñana Biological Station Spain

3.
Water Agriculture
Forestry Soils / carbon stores
landscape and wildlife
tourism
e.g. on natural capital,
ecosystem health and the
delivery of ecosystem services
A network of ecosystem observatories
undertaking long-term measurements
eLTER sites – take co-located measurements linking drivers,
states and impacts of environmental change
eLTER’s 3 main types of sites:
(i) Long term ecossytem research sites – LTER
(ii) Long-term socio-ecological research sites (LTSER)
(iii) Critical Zone Observatories (CZO)

4.
eLTER distributed research infrastructure: in brief
• Aim: To develop an integrated
ecosystem research
infrastructure for Europe
• Based on extensive network of
long-­‐term research and
monitoring sites and their data
• InformaCcs development
• Data sharing
• TransnaConal Access to sites
• ScienCfic use cases
• The mulC-­‐agency UK
Environmental Change Network
(ECN) is the UK focal point.
• 4 year EU H2020 funded
• CEH Project Lead: Andy Sier
(arjs@ceh.ac.uk)
hUp://www.lter-­‐europe.net/projects/
eLTER
18 sites in 17
countries providing
in-person access
162 sites in 22
countries providing
virtual access to data

5.
eLTER’s happy ending - .
Reviewers’ concluding remarks:
“This is a very ambitious, yet very necessary proposal. By its nature it is complex
to organise and implement across such a wide variety of national scale
networks.
The quality of the coordination staff is high, and the main members have much
experience with coordination of large international projects, and many appear to
have been working together previously in Europe LTER-Europe and other
programs. This gives confidence that they have the skills to overcome any
difficulties encountered as a result of the project interacting with such a wide
range of end users.
Any shortcomings identified are considered minor in an
otherwise excellent proposal.”

6.
Early contacts and ideas
“Although this is a starting infrastructure proposal, the
groundwork has been established over many years of
concerted efforts to integrate ecosystem research structures. “
Build the Community of Common Interest
(Internally)

7.
Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
eLTERe
ESFRI
Contributing flagship projects
• ALTER-Net/ FP6: Network
of Excellence 2004-2009
• LTER-Europe Formal
foundation: 2007
Initiation
•
• Lifewatch preparatory action
• EnvEurope/LIFE+: 2009-2013
• FP7 ExpER: 2010-2015
Design
studies I
• FP6 EBONE – European
Biodiversity Newtork
• SoilTrEC (Soil Transformations in
European Catchments) - CZO Europe
FP7
Research
studies
• eLTER H2020: 2015-2019
(CZO coop.)
ESFRI Roadmap Submission 2015
eLTER
• 1992 Internatioanl Long-term
Ecogical Research
• 1999 - NoLIMITS EC Preparatory
Action
Roots
Networkofnationalnetworks
Network of
National networks
eLTER: a Brief History

8.
Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
eLTERe
ESFRI
LTER-Europe: a Network of National Networks
Network of formal
national networks
25 countries
400 LTER Sites
35 LTSER Platforms
eLTER H2020 Project
2015-2019
21 LTER countries,
28 partners
162 data providing sites
eLTER ESFRI initiative
11 initiating countries
45/80/130 eLTER Sites (MS, RS)
5/10/30 eLTSER Platforms
Recruiting
Standards,Formalisation

9.
LTER-Europe Research Community – research infrastructure
strategy
Ecosystems
are
the
engines
of
the
green
economy
and
the
founda.on
of
sustainable
development
What’s
the
big
concept
and
its
socio-­‐economic
context?
What
are
the
big
science
ques.ons?
What
are
the
big
issues?
What
are
the
transforma.onal
changes
required
in
the
suppor.ng
infrastructures?
Societal
relevance
is
significant
…..
across
many
disciplinary
areas
such
as
food
security,
water
resource
management,
health
and
urban
planning.
(Reviewers)
See proposal
The
big
clues
were
in
the
call
l Science
Policy
Interfaces
l DG
Research
l EU
Strategy
l Docs
l “Future
Earth”
eLTERgeneric Clues/sources
l Your
community
What
are
the
big
issues?

10.
2. Outline proposal 2012 call for topic ideas
• Autumn 2012 – EC Consultation on Infrastructures
• Sent in ideas:
• Description of services and trans-national access provided
• Current status & Areas of development
• Scientific domains served/ Key partners
• Scope and activities
• Joint research activities
• Networking activities
• Trans-national access
• Co-ordination including sustainability
• Technology development and standardization
• Stakeholders & expected Impact
• Need for European integration
• Previously funded initiatives
• LTER- Europe Response – designed to show that there was a
community of researchers behind the idea:
• One over-arching LTER-Europe submission
• C 20 submissions from national networks (e.g. UK ECN)
• Additional submissions from individual sites

11.
3. EC call: Team building while waiting
Build the Community of Common Interest
(Externally)
“The project will engage with research
infrastructures and data providers in a wide range
of areas and not only with ecosystem data
providers.”
Understand
and
collaborate
with
related
infrastructures

12.
Invita.on
to
Workshop
"Towards
a
Roadmap
for
Research
Infrastructures
on
Biodiversity
and
Ecosystem
research
in
Europe"
Brussels
19-­‐20
March
2013
Dear
FP7
Coordinator/Expert/
Ini.a.ve
representa.ve,
l
The
Research
Infrastructures
Unit
of
DG
RTD
and
the
infrastructure
project
LifeWatch
invites
you
to
a
1
and
½
day
workshop
:
“Towards
a
Roadmap
for
Research
Infrastructures
on
Biodiversity
and
Ecosystem
research
in
Europe”.
l
The
overall
objec.ve
of
this
workshop
is
to
develop
synergies
between
ESFRI
research
infrastructures
(RI),
exis.ng
research
infrastructures
implemented
as
Integra.ng
Ac.vi.es
(IA),
Integrated
Projects
(IP)
and
Joint
Programming
Ini.a.ves
(JPI)
which
are
relevant
to
Biodiversity
and
Ecosystem
research.
l
..
These
developments
are
oden
lacking
mutual
interac.on
and
coordina.on.

13.
Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
eLTERe
ESFRI
Developers groups
Contributing
Biodivmetadata
Thesauri, IT Semantics
Integration, TA

14.
Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
eLTERe
ESFRI
Developers groups
Tools(BiodivPort)
Thesauri
Useofservices
Services
Using - Receiving

15.
Interac<ons
and
involvements:
l In-­‐situ
network
co-­‐loca.on
l Harmoniza.on
of
standards
l Joint
use
of
tools
(e.g.
site
documenta.on)
l Joint
projects
and
ini.a.ves
(e.g.
PECS,
GSEO)
l Mutual
data
provisioning
Each
hierarchical
level
of
LTER
represent
a
node
or
nodes
of
involvements
and
network
interac<ons
eLTER
ESFRI
will
take
advantage
of
all
relevant
contacts
at
the
regional
group
and
global
level
Regional
Groups
Global
ILTER
EuroMAB
CZO
China
CZO
Australia
ICP Integrated Monitoring
ICP Forest
ICP Waters
Program
on
Ecosystem
Change
and
Society
GSEO
IE
MP
Global Relevance: ”Credibility is further corroborated by
letters of support from several international organisations”

16.
4. The call: work programme for 2014-2015
Environmental and Earth Sciences – Starting Communities
Research infrastructures for long-term ecosystem and socio-
ecological research
“This activity should bring together LTER (Long Term
Ecological Research) site-based and properly
instrumented facilities and critical zone
observatories ……”

17.
Clear goals ….
“provides a detailed, though complicated,
explanation of the objectives, with a clearly
expressed set of 4 strategic aims. Specific
objectives for each of these are clearly articulated
and subsequently expanded into a large number
of individual objectives. The case for a large scale
distributed ecosystem research infrastructure is
well argued.

18.
Project structure – simple

19.
Beware of “Joint Research Activities”
“Priorities for virtual access are guided by the needs of the Joint Research
Activities. This will provide a coherent driver for the project …
The technical objectives of eLTER will be achieved through a set of
interdependent yet complementary workpackages (WPs).
“ … some aspects of the JRAs however entail advanced socio-economic
analysis which may take the participants beyond the scope of the proposal.”

20.
Informatics: a networking and a research activity
“Of particular merit is the enhanced ICT component which
enables remote access to be improved and the proposed
network to be enlarged”.
eLTER proposes to design an interoperable research
infrastructures that will provide data for higher level
infrastructures such as LifeWatch.”

21.
Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
eLTERe
ESFRI
CSW
WFS
SOS
EML
Down
load
Standard
interfaces
CSW
WFS
SOS
Standard
interfaces
eLTER data management tasks towards data integration
and interoperability
NEW
eLTER
standard
Data
Nodes
&
Service
Suites
1...
n
EXISTING
LTER
Data
Nodes
1...
n
Data
Integra.on
Plaiorm(s)

22.
Required Impact taken from H2020 work programme
1. Researchers will have wider, simplified, and more efficient access to the best research
infrastructures . Increased focus on user needs.
2. A new generation of researchers is educated that is ready to exploit tools needed for their
research.
3. Operators of related infrastructures develop synergies and complementary capabilities (...).
There is less duplication of services (...). Economies of scale and saving of resources.
4. Closer interactions between larger number of researchers active in and around (...)
infrastructures facilitate cross-disciplinary fertilisations …..
5. Innovation is fostered through a partnership of research organisations with industry.
6. The integration of major scientific equipment or sets of instruments and of knowledge-based
resources (....) leads to continuous flow of data (...).
7. The integrated and harmonised access to resources at European level facilitates the use
beyond research and contribute to evidence-based policy making.
Impact and societal relevance….

23.
Impact
Required Impact taken from
H2020 work programme
Main project actions/outputs to
deliver this impact
Indicators or criteria
for success
5. Innovation is fostered through a reinforced
partnership of research organisations with
industry.
5.1 Specific SMEs will be involved in the
development and testing of cutting edge probe
and sensor technology, installation and
maintenance of on-site network architecture and
data transfer (e.g. NA4)
5.2 eLTER will work with specific SMEs to
develop capability to connect in-situ
observations to remote sensing for ground-
truthing and validation, to create high resolution
data products and to take advantage of new
opportunities arising from new satellite sensors
e.g. Copernicus. (NA4)
5.3 For the general SME and industry
community an outreach/training event will be
held on “How the eLTER infrastructure can
benefit entrepreneurship”
5..1.1 Feedback from SMEs on
usefulness of infrastructure for
testing purposes and potential
economic benefits.
5.1.2 Feedback from Smes on
usefulness of acces to eLTER
infrastructure for testing purposes
and potential economic benefits or
jobs created.
5.3.1 Indicator of SME/business
participation in outreach events
according to sector, plus records of
follow-up activities

24.
Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
eLTERe
ESFRI
Ecological data better linked to remote sensing and models
Remote
sensing
products
In situ
observations
for ground
truth validation
LTER sites
eLTER
as
data
provider:
Valida-on
network
and
in-­‐situ
data
provider
eLTER
as
user:
remote
sensing
products
can
be
used
for
eLTER
researches
(member
of
Users
Forum)
Excellent
contacts
and
previous
flagship
projects
to
build
on*
• Formal
bodies
• Projects
eLTERe
ESFRI
Dedicated
project
resources
for
connec<on
• eLTER
H2020
*
• EcoPoten<al
*
à support validation and
calibration of satellite-
derived Copernicus products
à test user of
emerging products

25.
5. Tips for proposal preparation
• Prepare early – get a good co-ordinator and make sure she/he is well
supported
• Develop the community of common interest
• Through research projects and conferences
• Put RI needs on all your agendas
• Avoid competition – collaborate – there can only be one European RI in
your field
• Think about long-term sustainability– what’s the business model?
• Get the informatics right. Ditto: communications dissemination.
• Remember the evaluation criteria: excellence, impact and implementation:
so consider the impacts and management sections early in the process.
• Early involvement of key stakeholders – e.g. businesses
• Take into account the full range of political, financial and cultural drivers of
you European partners

26.
26
If you want to go fast go
alone,
if you want to go far go
together.
An old African proverb
With many thanks to Michael Mirtl (Co-ordinator of eLTER)
and all my other friends and colleagues who have shared the long,
complex and rewarding tasks connected with the development of
European research infrastructures.