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The LifeWatch ERIC Community Platform is an interactive space for collaborative working and networking. Whether you provide training opportunities, communicate LifeWatch activities, develop LifeWatch ICT tools for researchers, or if you are a scientist looking for tools to facilitate your research, the Community Platform is the place where you can easily get in touch with others working on the same issues, regardless of their affiliation or location.  

On the Community Platform you can easily find targeted opportunities or like-minded individuals working in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem research. You can join and create specific working groups where you can network and find resources within your specific community of interest within the larger LifeWatch ERIC Community. Using FAQs or brainstorming facilities, you can easily find answers to niche questions. You can also find links to LifeWatch ERIC resources such as the Metadata Catalogue, the Training Catalogue, the Training Platform, or request support through the HelpDesk function.  

Yes! Not only can you browse resources and opportunities such as fellowships, calls and grants, you can also create and join working groups where you can network and hold discussions with other scientists working on similar topics. You can also filter directly for individuals with specific scientific skills by using our tailor-made search tool.  

Working Groups allow you to interact more readily with colleagues and even strangers working on the same topics as you. Within Working Groups, you can upload useful resources to the repository, begin discussions on the forum, share an internal calendar, brainstorm together, organise conference calls, respond to polls, populate wikis and read and write blogs. Please consult the section of the FAQ dedicated to Working Groups for more information.  

The Directory of Scientific Skills page allows you to filter through dozens of specific scientific skills, so you can narrow down community members and connect with those working in the field that interests you. It also permits LifeWatch ERIC to identify the right experts to answer questions posed by the Community.   

The Board of Opportunities page allows externals to easily share jobs, fellowships, events, projects, discussion topics and ideas with other LifeWatch ERIC Community members. Individuals looking for opportunities can browse by category and click on the arrow next to an opportunity to find out more about it.  

The Calls page is where we post opportunities within LifeWatch ERIC:  Projects, Positions, Access, Tenders & Procurements. You can filter by category to specifically find the calls that interest you.  

On the Events page, LifeWatch ERIC staff regularly post events of interest to the Community. Externals can also post events on the Board of Opportunities page.  

The Conferences page is where we highlight the most defining events organised and hosted by LifeWatch ERIC during its lifetime, such as key meetings, workshops and training courses. You will be given the option to visit the minisite of each event on the LifeWatch ERIC website.  

The LifeWatch ERIC Community Platform has been designed as a place where members of LifeWatch ERIC and the members of the scientific community in general can come together and interact more easily, advertising and discovering opportunities relevant to researchers and research infrastructures operating in the field of biodiversity and ecosystems.

The most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are freely accessible with no need to login. If you want to submit a ticket you need to be registered and logged in. Please note that by creating an account with the Help Desk, you will also have access to the LifeWatch Community platform. If you wish to contribute to the Help Desk as agent, you need to register to the LifeWatch Community, access to your profile, specify your skills and declare that you want to contribute to the Help Desk. The administrator will receive and manage your request.

Click on the 'Open a new ticket' button on the homepage.

Once you have created an account, select the Working Groups page in the left-hand menu. Here you will see all the groups that have been set to public or private. You will not be able to see secret groups. You can browse through the available groups. When you see a group that interests you, the way you join depends on the privacy settings of the group. If it is a public group, you can have immediate access by selecting the group and then clicking on the Join Group button. If it is a private group, you follow the same process, but will subsequently have to wait for the group admin to approve your request. To join a secret group, you must be invited by the group administrator.    

On the left-hand menu, select the page Working Groups. On the page, you will see a collection of the Working Groups already created. Above these on the right-hand side is the blue button Create New Group. Once you have clicked on the button, as well as being asked to type out a group name and description, you will be asked to choose the privacy level of your group: secret, private, or public. After this stage, you will have to wait for your group to be approved by an administrator.  

Once your group has been approved, if your group is set to private or secret, you as the group administrator will have to approve other Community members’ requests to join. To personalise your Group Settings, you must head to your profile, which can always be found in the top right-hand corner when you are logged in. Once on your profile, look for the section in the left-hand menu called Group Settings and select Manage Groups and the group you would like to edit. Once on the Manage Groups page, there are a series of settings you can adjust to your liking, such as the Profile and Cover image of the group. Under Settings, you can change the Group Name, Group Type and Group Description. To invite Community members to join your group, click on Invite Members and select the desired members before clicking Send Invite. Click on Activity Type to activate the desired functionalities for your group; among the group functionalities fostering your interaction with other group members are the calendar, repository, forum, blog, wiki, polls, brainstorming and conference calls. Remember to click on Save Changes after selecting your desired functionalities. Finally, you have the option to Delete your group.  

Yes. Once approved, all group members will be able post on the group without any further approval from administrators.  

To customise your profile, you must first click on your account name, which is visible on any page of the website in the top right-hand corner when you are logged in. This will take you to your profile. On the left-hand menu of your profile (not the main menu), there is a section called Settings. Click on Profile Settings. Once here, you will be able to fill in your Personal Information, link your profile to your Social Networks, and upload a Profile Cover and Profile Picture.

Once your request to make an account has been approved by the administrator, we recommend that you immediately review your profile privacy settings. These dictate how visible you are to other members of the Community. To change your account privacy settings, you must first click on your account name, which is visible on any page of the website in the top right-hand corner when you are logged in. This will take you to your profile. On the left-hand menu of your profile (not the main menu), there is a section called Settings. Click on Account Settings. Once here, look again at the left-hand menu and select Account Privacy. Here you can choose how visible your profile is to other members of the Community.

To change your password, you must first click on your account name, which is visible in the top right-hand corner when you are logged in. This will take you to your profile. On the left-hand menu of your profile, there is a section called Settings. Click on Account Settings. Once here you can easily reset your password.  

To sign up to the Community, go to www.community.lifewatch.eu and click on the white Login button in the top right-hand corner. Once this page has loaded, click on the words Don't have an account? Register with us to be taken to a page where you can provide your name, username, email address and password. After submitting these details by clicking on the Sign Up button, you must wait for your account request to be accepted by the administrator. Once accepted, you will receive an email in the inbox of the address you submitted with further instructions. Please note that by creating an account on LifeWatch Community, you will also have access to the Help Desk.  

Yes, Submitters must have an account and login to access the LifeWatch ERIC Community platforms in order to submit an abstract.

If you don’t have an account, but you want to join our community, you can find the registration link on the login page. Click on “Don’t have an account? Register with us” to sign up and customise your profile. Please note that you must wait for your registration request to be approved by the administrator.

The Submitter is the person who submits one or more abstracts to the conference after registering to the Community platform.

The submission of an abstract is done through the conference abstract submission page. The person submitting an abstract may not be one of the authors, or the one presenting the abstract during the conference.

Author is the person who wrote the abstract. Authors may be more than one and do not need to register on the Community Platform unless they are also responsible for submitting the abstract.

In order to submit an abstract, a call for abstracts must first be activated and launched. The link for abstract submission will be added on the conference website and on the main menu of the Community platform , e.g. on a “Abstract Submission” page.

To submit an abstract to a conference, you must register on the Community platform, create your profile and activate your account. After logging in, you will be redirected to your personal area where you can click on “+ New Abstract” and fill in the form to submit your abstract.

All the fields displayed in the abstract submission form are mandatory.

Title: The title of your abstract.

Text: The main content of your abstract, please note that the max. number of words allowed is indicated on the count down below the text box.

Keywords: The main topics associated to your abstract, place them separated by comma.

Topic: The topic that better fits your abstract content. This often corresponds to conference sessions and can be selected from the drop down menu on the left hand side.

Author information: All details concerning the author(s) of the abstract, including name/last name, email address, affiliation (organisation). For each co-author it is necessary to add the full set of information. Please note that this information will appear as inputted on the Abstract Book.

Presenter information: All details concerning the Presenter of the abstract, including name/last name, email address, preference (to be selected among the options provided by the Scientific Committee). Only one Presenter can be assigned to each abstract, should you need to change their details after the abstract status is switched to "Under review" you have to reach out to the conference contact address. Please note that this information will appear as inputted on the Abstract Book.

Preference: A series of predefined options (i.e. poster, oral communication, etc.) are available for your selection in the drop down menu. The Scientific Committee/Reviewer can modify the suggested option.

Terms and condition: Terms and condition checkbox must be ticked. By ticking the checkbox you agree to LifeWatch ERIC privacy policy.

You can add co-authors to your abstract by clicking the plus sign button on top of the "Author Information" box on the right hand column of the abstract submission page.

Please note that this information will appear as it is inputted on the Abstract Book.

The Presenter is the person who will present the abstract during the conference, using one of the options provided by the Scientific Committee (i.e. Oral communication / Poster), pending confirmation from the reviewer.

Presenter can be different from Authors and must be indicated during the abstract submission phase inside the "Presenter Information" box. Only one Presenter can be assigned to each abstract.

Please note that this information will appear as it is inputted on the Abstract Book.

No, the Presenter information can't be modified after the abstract change of status from "Under Review" to "Accepted", if you need to change anything before the conference starting date, please write to the email address indicated on the conference's website contact page.

No, it doesn't. Please, make sure you also filled in the form available in the conference registration page.

No, you have not, but some conferences might require a fee to attend or to access some accessory events. Please make sure you check the information on the conference webpage.

A first notification email will be sent, as confirmation of the successful submission of your abstract.

A second notification email will be sent, when the assigned Reviewer will take care of your abstract changing the status from "Pending" to "Under review".

Others notifications emails will be received if:

  • Any comment is added by the Reviewer and the status is updated from "Under review" to "Pending";

  • The status of your abstract is updated from "Under review" to "Accepted" or "Rejected".

Yes, you can modify your abstract or the information added to it after the submission, but only if the abstract status is "Pending". Editing won't be allowed if the status of the request is "Under Review", "Accepted" or "Rejected".

Pending: this status will be automatically assigned to the abstract after the submission and will be used by the Reviewer every time they will add a note to ask for a correction or a change within the submission. The status "Pending" allows the Submitter to modify the abstract if needed.

Under review: this status will be used by the Reviewer when they are working on the review of the abstract assigned to them. The status "Under review" will block the possibility for the Submitter to modify the abstract.

Accepted: this status will be used when the review is over and the abstract is accepted

Rejected: this status will be used when the review is over and the abstract is rejected.

Reviewers are selected by the scientific committee of each conference and assigned by platform administrator. You cannot become a reviewer unless you were invited to be one by a specific conference scientific committee. Reviewing team varies from one conference to another.

Once you have been nominated Reviewer, logging in into your account you will see the list of all the abstracts assigned to you and you can:

  1. Edit the text and the keywords inside the abstract (only the first time you open it, before changing the status).

  2. Add a note (asking for any corrections)

  3. Review the abstract by filling in the following options

    • Relevance (Excellent, Good, Average, Poor);

    • Quality (Excellent, Good, Average, Poor);

    • Modify Type (selecting one of the available options)

    • Modify status (Pending, Under review, Accepted, Rejected).

Pending: this status will be automatically assigned to the abstract after the submission and will be used by the Reviewer every time they will add a note to ask for a correction or a change within the submission. The status "Pending" allows the Submitter to modify the abstract if needed.

Under review: this status will be used by the Reviewer when they are working on the review of the abstract assigned to them. The status "Under review" will block the possibility for the Submitter to modify the abstract.

Accepted: this status will be used when the review is over and the abstract is accepted

Rejected: this status will be used when the review is over and the abstract is rejected.

When an abstract is assigned to you for the review you will find it in your dashboard and you can start the review by clicking on the "review" link.

During the reviewing period the status of the abstract must be moved from "Pending" to "Under review" in order to avoid any modification from the Submitter during this phase.

If any modification is needed you can write a comment in the review comment text-box and change the status from "Under review" to "Pending". The change of the status allows the Submitter to make the modification required.

When the review is completed you can change the status of the abstract from "Under review" to "accepted/rejected"

As Reviewer you will receive a notification email once the abstract will be assigned to you by the Admin. You will also receive a notification email when the Submitters will modify any part of their abstracts during the review process.

After you have provided comments to any abstract and switch the status, if you wish for the author to make changes to the actual text, you have to reset the status to "Pending". Once the author will have modified their abstract, you'll receive a notification email informing you about the edit and proceed modifying the status again (Accepted/Rejected). Scientific Committees may put deadlines to perform such operations.

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