Tag: horizon europe

Values and dependence of society on pollinators: Pensoft joins the EU project VALOR

VALOR is to prompt better understanding of our relationship with pollinators. Pensoft will lead activities related to co-developing tools for expanding engagement and interaction, and support communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities.

Animal pollinators have become a flagship for biodiversity conservation, largely due to their globally recognised role in supporting broader biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human well-being.

Despite this recognition and the widely acknowledged benefits of pollination, many of the pressures on pollinators persist. As a result, there is growing evidence of localised yet significant deficits in pollination services, affecting both crop pollination and other communities.

Coordinated by Dr Tom Breeze (University of Reading) and funded by Horizon Europe, VALOR is a multi-actor project that will develop a comprehensive, systems-based approach to gaining a deeper understanding of the cascading impacts of pollinator shifts from flower to fork and beyond.

The project will examine the effects of pollinator shifts on ecosystems, farm businesses, and local communities through primary research and modelling.

VALOR’s coordinator Dr Tom Breeze (UREAD) gave an introductory presentation during the project’s kick-off meeting in February (Reading, United Kingdom). 

The project aims to empower actors to develop a deeper comprehension of relationships with pollinators and will produce a range of co-developed tools for landowners, businesses, and policymakers.

These tools will facilitate a better understanding of pollination-related risks and enable users to conduct their own studies by replicating the project’s methods and applying its models. To ensure comprehensive data collection without compromising scale, VALOR will adopt a systems-based approach, employing a series of in-depth case studies in focal regions to assess the importance of pollinators.

VALOR launched in January 2025 and will be running until the end of 2028.

To achieve its goals the VALOR project has six objectives: 

  1. Co-develop a better understanding of stakeholder knowledge needs around pollinators.
  2. Better understand the dependence of society and the economy on pollinators.
  3. Measure and model the cascading impacts of plant-pollinator networks on ecosystems and human well-being.
  4. Explore the consequences of pollinator loss through value chains.
  5. Forecast the resilience of pollinator networks and human benefits under future conditions.
  6. Co-develop tools to engage and empower actors about pollinator conservation.

Pensoft’s role

Building on its experience in communication, dissemination, and exploitation of results, Pensoft will focus on maximising the project’s impact and long-term legacy. This involves a broad scope of activities, including the development of the project’s visual identity and online presence, as well as the translation of research findings into policy recommendations.

As a leader of the work on co-developed tools for expanded engagement and interaction, Pensoft will support the development of a spatially explicit tool to allow users to explore the fine-scale changes in pollinator abundance and diversity, as well as pollination services resulting from a change in landscape management.

Moreover, Pensoft will assist the VALOR project in contributing to the Safeguard Knowledge Exchange Hub (Safe-Hub).

Pensoft will also facilitate collaboration opportunities with other projects, leveraging its expertise in numerous EU-funded projects. These efforts will be directed towards VALOR’s sister project: BUTTERFLY (101181930).

International consortium

The VALOR consortium comprises partners from thirteen European institutions, along with three associated partners, including China and Australia.

The consortium spans a wide and diverse range of scientific disciplines, from pollinator ecology, sociology, and economics to stakeholder engagement and communications. 

  1. University Of Reading (UREAD)
  2. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
  3. Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (ALU-FR) 
  4. Jagiellonian University (UJ) 
  5. The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
  6. Wageningen University (WU)
  7. Lund University (ULUND)
  8. University of La Laguna (ULL)
  9. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)
  10. The University of Helsinki (UH)
  11. Pensoft Publishers (PENSOFT) 
  12. World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC)
  13. European Landowners’ Organization (ELO)
  14. University of New England (UNE)
  15. China West Normal University (CWNU)
  16. Beijing Forestry University (BJFU)

The VALOR project website is coming soon!

In the meantime, follow the project’s progress via its social media channels on BlueSky and LinkedIn.

Promoting sustainable agriculture for pollinators: Pensoft joins the EU project AGRI4POL

The new Horizon project is to assist the transition of agriculture to a positive force for biodiversity, crop pollination services, ecosystems and people. Pensoft will lead the communication, dissemination, exploitation and synergies with other projects.

Threats to pollinators and pollination services that support agriculture and provide benefits to people are a worldwide problem, recognized by intergovernmental scientific assessments, national or transnational initiatives as well as policies.

Intensive agriculture is among the principal threats to pollinator biodiversity and the crop pollination services that pollinators provide. Moreover, typically crop breeding has tended to overlook the benefits of pollination for sustained crop yields in favour of other crop traits.

Coordinated by Dr. Adam Vanbergen (INRAE) and funded by Horizon Europe, the AGRI4POL project takes an ambitious and achievable interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach to achieve a transition towards sustainable pollinator-friendly farming.

AGRI4POL kick-off meeting (February 2025, Brussels, Belgium).

The project aims to deliver an integrated state-of-the-art analysis of the crop – farming system – pollinator interplay across levels of biological organisation from the crop gene to the agroecosystem. 

AGRI4POL launched in January 2025 and will be running until the end of 2028.

To achieve its goals, AGRI4POL project has outlined six objectives:

  1. Establish and work with a multi-actor community to drive the transition towards more pollinator friendly farming systems and value chains.
  2. Evaluate genetic diversity of crop floral traits governing pollinator interactions to stimulate breeding of pollinator-smart varieties.
  3. Find out how pollinator-crop relationships are modified by intra- and interspecific crop diversification in space and time.
  4. Optimise ecological infrastructures (EI = landscape features, non-crop habitats) for crop pollination, pollinator biodiversity and multiple ecosystem benefits.
  5. Assess the social, economic and environmental opportunities and obstacles presented by pollinator friendly farming options to understand their feasibility and acceptability. 
  6. Evaluate the influence of the policy landscape and the practitioner awareness of the benefits and challenges of pollinator-friendly farming at [sub]national, European and international scales.
AGRI4POL’s coordinator Dr. Adam Vanbergen (INRAE) gave an introductory presentation during the project kick-off meeting in Brussels (February 2025, Belgium).

Pensoft’s role

Building on its experience in communication, dissemination, and exploitation of results, Pensoft will focus on maximizing the project’s impact and long-term legacy. This encompasses a wide array of activities, ranging all the way from building a project’s visual identity and online presence and creating a podcast to translating results into policy recommendations. Moreover, Pensoft will be facilitating collaboration opportunities with other projects, leveraging on its involvement in numerous EU-funded projects. As of now, Pensoft takes part in six EU Pollinator projects, which serves well to facilitate synergies.

International consortium

The AGRI4POL consortium comprises partners from fourteen European institutions along with five associated partners, including China. Consortium covers a wide diverse range of scientific disciplines spanning from pollinator ecology and agriculture to stakeholder engagement and communications. 

  1. INREA (France)
  2. INRAE Transfert (France) 
  3. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Germany)
  4. The University of Reading (United Kingdom)
  5. Wageningen University and Research (Netherlands)
  6. Lund University (Sweden)
  7. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) (Spain)
  8. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany)
  9. Pensoft Publishers (Bulgaria)
  10. Global Change Research Institute – Ustav Vyzkumu Globalni Zmeny Av Cr Vvi (CzechGlobe) (Czech Republic)
  11. Université de Mons (Belgium)
  12. University of Ljubljana – Univerza v Ljubljani (Slovenia)
  13. Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy)
  14. WCMC LBG – UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (global)
  15. Associació Paisatages Vius – Living Landscapes (global)
  16. Maisadour Semences Romania SRL – MAS Seeds (Romania)
  17. Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori (Italy)
  18. Eidgenoessisches Departement fuer Wirtschaft, Bildung und Forschung (WBF-Agroscope) (Italy)
  19. Swiss Association for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas (Switzerland)
  20. Institute of Apicultural Research – Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences 
  21. China West Normal University 
  22. Gansu Agriculture University

The AGRI4POL project website is coming soon!

In the meantime, follow the project’s progress via its social media channels on BlueSky and LinkedIn.

Pensoft joins new Horizon Europe project to help tackle terrestrial invasive alien species

Pensoft will play a vital role in public awareness, engagement and promoting effective strategies for monitoring and managing IAS.

The Chinese muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) is an invasive alien species for Europe with established populations across the western part of the continent. Photo by Mario Shimbov (Pensoft).

As one of the partners in charge of maximising the project’s impact, Pensoft will work on OneSTOP’s visual branding, communication, dissemination and exploitation, and the development of a data management plan for the project. 

Invasive alien species (IAS) pose one of the most significant threats to global biodiversity, contributing to species extinctions, ecosystem degradation, and economic losses exceeding $400 billion annually. 

To tackle this, the EU enforces Regulation (EU) 1143/2014 and the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, aiming to prevent IAS introduction, enhance early detection, and manage their spread. Member States coordinate efforts with scientific support and citizen engagement to minimise their impact and protect Europe’s biodiversity. Addressing this urgent challenge, the EU Horizon project OneSTOP has officially launched as part of a coordinated European effort to combat biological invasions in terrestrial environments.

Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Invasive Alien Species

OneSTOP is one of two ambitious projects funded under the Horizon Europe programme, the other being GuardIAS, which focuses on marine and freshwater habitats. The two collaborative initiatives held their joint official kick-off meeting in January at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. Together, these projects aim to develop innovative solutions for detecting, preventing, and managing invasive alien species across all ecosystem realms.

Coordinated by Dr Quentin Groom from Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium, and Prof Helen Roy from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, OneSTOP will integrate advanced scientific research, cutting-edge detection technologies, and policy-driven strategies to enhance biosecurity across Europe. 

The ОneSTOP project consortium at the project’s kick-off meeting held on 20-24 January 2025 in Ispra, Italy.
The project is structured around four key objectives:
  1. Improve species detection and response time by incorporating computer vision, environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis and citizen science initiatives.
  2. Facilitate swift action against invasive species threats by openly sharing data in international standards for biodiversity data with stakeholders who need it.
  3. Support policy-makers in making informed decisions about where and how to allocate resources for invasive species management by developing data-driven systems.
  4. Ensure stakeholder collaboration and knowledge exchange by implementing Living Labs at the regional level and an international policy forum, thereby encouraging socio-political action.

OneSTOP aligns with the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN) mission to protect EU biodiversity by improving IAS management through advanced biosecurity technologies and enhanced data integration. By fostering collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and supporting Member States with innovative tools, the project strengthens the EU’s capacity to detect, respond to, and mitigate IAS threats in line with existing regulations.

Pensoft’s role in OneSTOP

As the leader of Work Package 1, Pensoft is responsible for shaping OneSTOP’s visual identity and developing a comprehensive strategy for communication, dissemination, and impact. This includes crafting a data and knowledge management plan to ensure the project’s findings are effectively shared and utilised. By fostering collaboration with key biosecurity networks, these efforts will strengthen OneSTOP’s long-term influence.

A key part of this work is to raise awareness about invasive alien species (IAS) and their pathways, ensuring that policymakers, researchers, and the public understand their impact and the importance of prevention. Pensoft will contribute to translating complex scientific findings into accessible content—including infographics, policy briefs, and interactive visualisations—to engage policymakers, researchers, and the public. These efforts will ensure that IAS knowledge is effectively shared, fostering collaboration and informed decision-making across sectors. Knowledge transfer materials will be shared through various channels, including OneSTOP’s five Living Labs across Europe, where stakeholders will be actively engaged in outreach and citizen science initiatives.

Pensoft will play a vital role in strengthening public awareness, fostering engagement, and promoting effective strategies for monitoring and managing IAS.

International Consortium

The project brings together twenty international partners from fifteen countries operating in various sectors, ultimately contributing with diverse expertise:

  1. Meise Botanic Garden – Belgium
  2. Aarhus University – Denmark
  3. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology – United Kingdom
  4. Biopolis – Portugal
  5. Coventry University – United Kingdom
  6. The Cyprus Institute – Cyprus
  7. Research Institute for Nature and Forest – Belgium
  8. Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences – Czech Republic
  9. Lincoln University – New Zealand
  10. Platform Kinetics – United Kingdom
  11. Pensoft Publishers – Bulgaria
  12. Stellenbosch University – South Africa
  13. University of Exeter – United Kingdom
  14. University of Vienna – Austria
  15. Greenformation – Hungary
  16. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – Germany
  17. Ovidius University of Constanta – Romania
  18. Natural Resources Institute Finland – Finland
  19. The Binary Forest – Belgium
  20. Experimental Station of Arid Areas of the Spanish National Research Council – Spain

The OneSTOP project website is coming soon!

For more information visit the OneSTOP project website, and make sure to follow the project’s progress via our social media channels on BlueSky and LinkedIn.

Advancing carbon cycle understanding: Pensoft joins the CONCERTO project

Combining expertise in project branding and stakeholder engagement, Pensoft will support the collaborative mission to enhance understanding and modelling of the terrestrial carbon cycle

Pensoft takes on a fundamental part in the newly launched EU-funded project: Improved CarbOn cycle represeNtation through multi-sCale models and Earth obseRvation for Terrestrial ecOsystems (CONCERTO) as a leader of Work Package 7: Communication, dissemination and synergies of project results and sustainability.

Officially started on 1st January 2025, the kick-off meeting for CONCERTO was held in Milan, Italy, on 21-22 January 2025. Over 35 participants attended the meeting in person, while several other colleagues joined online to shape the vision of CONCERTO’s aim to strengthen the European research ecosystem by creating an innovative scientific collaborative framework that enhances our understanding, monitoring, and modelling of the terrestrial cycle, and leads to reduced uncertainty and Earth system models convergence.

CONCERTO project’s kick-off meeting was held on 21-22 January 2025 in Milan, Italy. The meeting also welcomed project members remotely.
The Project

The key objectives of the CONCERTO project are:

To enhance the understanding, monitoring, and modelling of the terrestrial carbon cycle, while reducing uncertainty, and enabling Earth System Model convergence.

To utilise novel Earth Observation data to advance research and improve the representation of land cover, leaf area index, and management intensity through high-resolution maps.

To integrate advanced Data Assimilation and Machine Learning into modelling to deliver more accurate and reliable insights.

To prepare for the incorporation of FLEX data into land surface models and leverage data to improve understanding of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions.

Pensoft’s role in CONCERTO

As the leader of Work Package 7, Pensoft will focus on disseminating the science behind the project by ensuring effective communication and engagement strategies. A distinctive brand identity will be established through the creation of a project logo, branding guidelines, promotional materials, and a dedicated website. This website will act as a central hub for project content and updates, providing stakeholders and the public with easy access to relevant information.

To maximize the project’s impact, Pensoft will develop a comprehensive communication and dissemination strategy to share project results with key stakeholders and target audiences. Additionally, stakeholder engagement efforts will produce high-quality content such as videos, press releases, and newsletters. These materials will communicate the project’s progress and results, reaching a wide audience and fostering greater understanding and awareness of the project’s scientific objectives.

International Consortium

The project brings together thirteen international partners from seven countries operating in various sectors, ultimately contributing with diverse expertise:

  1. FONDAZIONE CENTRO EURO-MEDITERRANEOSUI CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI, Italy
  2. METEOROLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH OBSERVATION SRL, Italy
  3. SISTEMA GMBH, Austria
  4. EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS, United Kingdom
  5. BARCELONA SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER CENTRO NACIONAL DE SUPERCOMPUTACION, Spain
  6. UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN, Belgium
  7. CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION ECOLOGICA Y APLICACIONES FORESTALES, Spain
  8. UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE, Netherlands
  9. INSTITUT ROYAL D’AERONOMIE SPATIALEDE BELGIQUE, Belgium
  10. POLITECNICO DI TORINO, Italy
  11. PENSOFT PUBLISHERS, Bulgaria
  12. THE UNIVERSITY OF READING, United Kingdom
  13. IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE, United Kingdom.

Over the coming months, the CONCERTO project will focus on creating innovative resources to support professionals in improving multi-scale models and Earth observation for terrestrial ecosystems.

The CONCERTO project website is coming soon!

In the meantime, make sure to follow the project’s progress by following our social media channels on BlueSky and LinkedIn.

Clear, Open and Engaged: Pensoft’s perspective on the mission of a science communicator

Teodor Metodiev, senior communications officer at Pensoft, offers his thoughts on why and how research should be publicised today.

Teodor Metodiev, senior communications officer at Pensoft at the opening of “The pollinators we can’t live without” temporary exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2023).

With more than three decades of experience in the domain of science communication, Pensoft has a rich perspective on what it takes to bring science into the spotlight. A testament to this is its growing projects department, where the public face of some of Europe’s most innovative research undertakings is being moulded by a cohort of experts. 

Among their ranks is Teodor Metodiev, a communicator with years of experience when it comes to bridging the gap between the scientific and the public. He recently sat down for an interview to share his observations on the significance, challenges and lessons of the job. 

Read below to find out how effective engagement can make today’s research tomorrow’s reality.  

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Why is science communication important and how can it influence the scope and impact of today’s research?

I believe science communication is fundamental because it eliminates the gap between researchers and users of their work, be they policymakers, practitioners or other stakeholders. By combining novel and traditional communication methods, scientific knowledge, results and data are much more likely to be shared, understood, and applied. If not communicated effectively, scientific results and advances have no real impact and are simply lost in an avalanche of emerging new information.

What are the most common challenges you encounter as a science communicator?

There are many diverse challenges one could encounter as a science communicator! I believe the most common one is the overall complexity of science, which is sometimes very difficult to communicate in a clear, visually appealing way. For me personally, one of the greater challenges is to delve into controversial topics such as climate change, vaccines, or genetic engineering, where emotions and ideologies may run high.

How can complex technical concepts be made accessible to non-science stakeholders and the general public?

Making complex concepts accessible to the general public is among the main responsibilities of a science communicator. There are many different approaches to do that, but it ultimately depends on the audience you want to engage – for example, you would not necessarily want to interact with a farmer through policy briefs. In general, I would list three main ‘pillars’ that can be considered when dealing with complex scientific information:

  • Simplify the language and avoid scientific jargon (i.e. by using short sentences with a clear structure)
  • Always leverage visual aids, such as infographics, animations, videos or graphical abstracts
  • Try to present the information in a narrative-like form – start with the background and problem, and then explain the solutions you are offering.

By adhering to these simple steps, I believe most challenging scientific concepts can be easily translated into an understandable format for laypersons or other stakeholder groups!

Which indicators do you consider crucial when assessing the success of a science communication campaign?

In my view, the success of any science communication campaign should be measured beyond quantitative indicators. Sure, audience reach, number of impressions and demographic data are important, but real success should be assessed through active engagement (i.e. comments or questions towards the topic, participation in events or activities, feedback and criticism from evaluation surveys, etc). I believe that monitoring these qualitative indicators on an ongoing basis is instrumental for a long-term awareness and understanding of a given topic over time.

What has made Pensoft unique and effective in the field of science communication?

I honestly believe the driving force behind Pensoft’s success in science communication is the motivated team behind it –  it has demonstrated that an openness to engage, combined with an urge to learn and expand your horizons, is ultimately the making of a successful science communicator. In addition to being curious and forthcoming, an environmental conscience is another fundamental characteristic of Pensoft which surely resonates with all of its members!

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Explore past and present research projects in Pensoft’s communication portfolio.  

Pensoft joins the FORSAID project in the next chapter for forest health

With its extensive experience in science communication and dissemination, Pensoft will help maximise FORSAID’s impact and ensure its long-term legacy.

As the dedicated communication partner of the project, Pensoft will lead efforts to popularise a new early detection paradigm targeting forest pests in Europe

The issue of pest proliferation is felt more acutely than ever in the wake of globalisation and climate change. As pests and pathogens spread across biomes, the threat to forests and the health of the plants within is only increasing. Cognisant of this worrying trend, the European Union has actively pursued mitigation and prevention measures over the last few years. Grassroots efforts are also on the rise as insights from academia and citizen science alike improve monitoring capabilities on the ground.

To address the core of the problem in its entirety, greater coordination and innovation across the board are required.

It is with this tenet in mind that FORSAID: FORest Surveillance with Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies – first emerged on the scene as a Horizon Europе-funded project. 

The goal of FORSAID is the inception and deployment of a technology-based early detection system for EU-regulated forest pests. 

The pursuit of that very goal brought together 17 partner organisations from 10 countries. FORSAID is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. Having officially started in September 2024, it is set to continue until February 2028.

Within the team, Pensoft has taken the lead in the domains of Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation. Its long-standing expertise vis-a-vis public campaigns for science initiatives will be harnessed in an attempt to show the benefits and solutions that the latest digital innovations can bring to plant health monitoring. Thus, Pensoft is to help maximise FORSAID’s impact and ensure its long-term legacy. 

The project will be presented across the public domain by following a tailored communication plan. Examples of its implementation include social media campaigns, regular updates of a dedicated FORSAID website and synergies with various stakeholder groups.

Foresight in FORSAID

The project consortium firmly believes that digital innovation is the key to a truly effective pest detection framework. This signifies the central role of technology at all stages of this paradigm’s development process. 

More specifically, the employment of digital tools will proceed on several levels: 

  • Satellite and drone surveillance will be employed to remotely map out forested areas of interest and assess the extent of plant damage caused by pests and pathogens.
  • Smart traps and DNA barcoding will serve to identify and sort out different species of pests.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) models will assist throughout this process as it helps to automate the procedure, thereby increasing efficiency. 

Building on the technology-based research and experimentation, insights from a variety of stakeholders will also be gathered to crystalise FORSAID’s approach.

 The consortium’s intent here is the consolidation of a network of interested and involved actors who would ensure the long-term application of the project’s results. A special focus is also placed on citizen scientists, whose practical needs will be considered in the design of the digital tools developed within FORSAID. Finally, a detailed economic analysis will assess the early detection framework and its associated technological instruments, in order to ensure its usability in the long run.

The FORSAID project consortium at the project’s kick-off meeting held on 26 September 2024 in Padua, Italy.

Full list of project partners:

  1. The University of Padua (Italy)
  2. The National Research Council of Italy (Italy)
  3. EFOS Information Solutions D.O.O. (Slovenia)
  4. European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (international)
  5. European Institute of Planted Forest (international)
  6. National Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Research – INRAE (France)
  7. National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (Portugal)
  8. Forest Research Centre (Portugal)
  9. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)
  10. Linnaeus University (Sweden)
  11. Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolutionand Biodiversity Science (Germany)
  12. Pensoft Publishers (Bulgaria)
  13. Slovenian Forestry Institute (Slovenia)
  14. Telespazio France SAS (France)
  15. University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
  16. Ukrainian National Forestry University (Ukraine)
  17. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (Switzerland)

You can follow the project’s progress and achievements on the dedicated LinkedIn and BlueSky pages and FORSAID’S brand new official website.

Unpacking the possibilities of Intellectual Properties for Open Science: Pensoft joins the IP4OS project

As part of the Horizon Europe consortium IP4OS, Pensoft will contribute with services and know-how in scholarly publishing and project branding.

As part of the Horizon Europe consortium, Pensoft will contribute with services and know-how in scholarly publishing and project branding.

Pensoft takes on an integral part in the newly launched EU-funded project: Intellectual Properties for Open Science: Pensoft (IP4OS) as a leader of the Work Package 5: Knowledge transfer: Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of project results and Sustainability

IP4OS focuses on the integration of Intellectual Property and Open Science to empower professionals across Europe in making research outputs more accessible and impactful.

The IP4OS project officially started with a kick-off symposium on 8-9 January 2025, in Kiel, Germany.

Over 50 participants from diverse fields came together for the first day of the event, which featured talks and discussions focused on the intersection between Intellectual Property and Open Science. The second day saw presentations of the work packages that mapped out the project’s activities over the next two years through a collaborative exchange of ideas.

Members of the IP4OS consortium at the project kick-off in early January 2025 (Kiel, Germany).

The Project

IP4OS aims to promote a practical connection between Intellectual Property management and Open Science principles. 

The project has outlined several objectives to reach this goal, including:

  1. Best-practice manual: IP4OS is to release a guide with actionable steps for integrating Intellectual Property and Open Science principles effectively.
  2. Raise awareness: the consortium is to inform about the use of Intellectual Property tools in the context of Open Science practices among key professional groups.
  3. Professional training: the project is to deliver educational programs to a broad audience and equip participants with practical knowledge and skills.
  4. Collaborative community: IP4OS is to engage professionals across Europe to create a network of individuals and organisations focused on the improvement of knowledge-sharing practices.

These goals are aligned with the European Commission’s vision to strengthen knowledge-sharing practices for societal and economic advancement.

Pensoft’s role in IP4OS

As the leader of Work Package 5, Pensoft is responsible for amplifying the visibility and long-term impact of the IP4OS project. 

Key activities under this work package include:
  1. Distinctive brand identity: Pensoft will create a project logo, branding guidelines, promotional content, and a website to serve as a hub for project content and updates.
  2. Communication and dissemination strategy: Pensoft will prepare a detailed plan for sharing project results amongst key stakeholders and audiences. The plan will be implemented during the early stages of the project.
  3. Project outcomes visibility: Pensoft will produce key informational materials, including the best-practice manual and educational resources. These will be shared through platforms like the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and Knowledge Valorisation Platform to extend the project’s reach.
  4. Stakeholder engagement: Pensoft will deliver content such as videos, press releases and newsletters to communicate the project’s progress and results to a wide audience.

These efforts, among others, aim to make the project results widely accessible and reusable by all relevant groups within and beyond the research community.

International Consortium

The project brings together nine international partners from eight countries operating in various sectors, ultimately contributing with diverse expertise:

Together, the consortium is committed to addressing the challenges of integrating Intellectual Property and Open Science practices.

Over the coming months, the IP4OS project will focus on developing resources to support professionals in advancing the use of Intellectual Property and Open Science practices. 

The IP4OS project website is coming soon!

In the meantime, make sure to follow the project’s progress by following our social media channels on BlueSky and LinkedIn.

Pensoft at the 7th European Congress of Conservation Biology as a publisher and Horizon project partner

At the Pensoft’s stand, delegates learned about the scientific publisher’s versatile open-access journal portfolio, as well as related publishing services and the Horizon project where Pensoft is a partner.

Between 17th and 22nd June 2024, Pensoft’s scholarly publishing and project teams joined the European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB), organised by the Society for Conservation Biology and hosted by the University of Bologna.

Here’s a fun fact: the University of Bologna is the oldest one still in operation in the world. It is also etched in history for being the first institution to award degrees of higher learning.  

This year, the annual event themed “Biodiversity positive by 2030” took place in the stunning Italian city of Bologna famous for its historical and cultural heritage, in a way building a bridge between the past of European civilisation and the future, which is now in our hands.

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At the Pensoft’s stand, delegates learned about the scientific publisher’s versatile open-access journal portfolio of over 30 journals covering the fields of ecology and biodiversity, as well as other related services and products offered by Pensoft, including the end-to-end full-featured scholarly publishing platform ARPHA, which hosts and powers all Pensoft journals, in addition to dozens other academic outlets owned by learned societies, natural history museums and other academic institutions.

In addition to its convenient collaborative online environment, user interface and automated export/import workflows, what ARPHA’s clients enjoy perhaps the most, are the various human-provided services that come with the platform, including graphic and web design, assistance in journal indexing, typesetting, copyediting and science communication.

Visitors at the stand could also be heard chatting with Pensoft’s Head of Journal development, Marketing and PR: Iva Boyadzhieva about the publisher’s innovative solutions for permanent preservation and far-reaching dissemination and communication of academic outputs that do not match the traditional research article format.

For example, the Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) journal was launched in 2015 by Pensoft as an open-science journal that would publish ‘unconventional’ research outputs, such as Grant proposals, Policy briefs, Project reports, Data management plans, Research ideas etc. Its project-branded open-science collections are in fact one of the Pensoft’s products that enjoys particular attention to participants in scientific projects funded by the likes of the European Commission’s Horizon programme.

Another innovation by Pensoft that easily becomes a talking point at forums like ECCB, is the ARPHA Conference Abstract (ACA) platform, which is basically a journal for conference abstracts, where abstracts are treated and published much like regular journal articles (a.k.a. ‘mini papers’) to enable permanent preservation, but also accessibility, discoverability and citability. Furthermore, ACA has been designed to act as an abstracts submission portal, where the abstracts undergo review and receive feedback before being published and indexed at dozens of relevant scientific databases.

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At ECCB 2024, our team was also happy to meet in person many authors and editors, whose work has frequented the pages of journals like Nature Conservation, Biodiversity Data Journal, ZooKeys and NeoBiota, to name a few.

On Wednesday, delegates also got a chance to hear the talk by renowned vegetation ecologist at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences and Editor-in-Chief at the Vegetation Classification and Survey journal: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Dengler. He presented findings and conclusions concerning neophytes in Switzerland, while drawing comparisons with other European countries and regions.

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At this year’s ECCB, Pensoft took a stand as an active Horizon project participant too. At the publisher’s booth, the delegates could explore various project outputs produced within REST-COAST, SpongeBoost and BioAgora. Each of these initiatives has been selected by the European Commission to work on the mitigation of biodiversity decline, while aiming for sustainable ecosystems throughout the Old continent.

In all three projects, Pensoft is a consortium member, who contributes with expertise in science communication, dissemination, stakeholder engagement and technological development.

Coordinated by the Catalonia University of Technology UPC-BarcelonaTech and involving over 30 European institutions, REST-COAST has been working on developing tools to address key challenges to coastal ecosystems – all consequences of a long history of environmental degradation of our rivers and coasts.

Having started earlier this year, SpongeBoost is to build upon existing solutions and their large-scale implementation by implementing innovative approaches to improve the functional capacity of sponge landscapes. The project is coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and will be developed with the active participation of 10 partnering institutions from seven countries across Europe. 

In the meantime, since 2022, the five-year BioAgora project has been working towards setting up the Science Service for Biodiversity platform, which will turn into an efficient forum for dialogue between scientists, policy actors and other knowledge holders. BioAgora is a joint initiative, which brings together 22 partners from 13 European countries led by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

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Still, REST-COAST, SpongeBoost and BioAgora were not the only Horizon projects involving Pensoft that made an appearance at ECCB this year thanks to the Pensoft team. 

On behalf of OBSGESSION – another Horizon-funded project, Nikola Ganchev, Communications officer at Pensoft, presented a poster about the recently started project. Until the end of 2027, the OBSGESSION project, also led by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and involving a total of 12 partnering organisations, will be tasked with the integration of different biodiversity data sources, including Earth Observation, in-situ research, and ecological models. Eventually, these will all be made into a comprehensive product for biodiversity management in both terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. 

On Tuesday evening, the CO-OP4CBD (abbreviation for Co-operation for the Convention on Biological Diversity) team: another Horizon Europe project, where Pensoft contributes with expertise in science communication and dissemination, held a workshop dedicated to what needs to be done to promote CBD activities in Central and Eastern Europe.

On the next day, scientists from the EuropaBON consortium: another project involving Pensoft that had concluded only about a month ago, held a session to report on the final conclusions from the project concerning the state and progress in biodiversity monitoring.

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You can find the detailed scientific programme of this year’s ECCB on the congress’ website. 

Use the #ECCB2024 hashtag on X (formerly Twitter) to relive highlights from the ECCB congress. 

Pensoft took a BiCIKL ride to Naturalis to report on a 3-year endeavour towards FAIR data

Three years ago, the BiCIKL consortium took to traverse obstacles to wider use and adoption of FAIR and linked biodiversity data.

Leiden – also known as the ‘City of Keys’ and the ‘City of Discoveries’ – was aptly chosen to host the third Empowering Biodiversity Research (EBR III) conference. The two-day conference – this time focusing on the utilisation of biodiversity data as a vehicle for biodiversity research to reach to Policy – was held in a no less fitting locality: the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. 

On 25th and 26th March 2024, the delegates got the chance to learn more about the latest discoveries, trends and innovations from scientists, as well as various stakeholders, including representatives of policy-making bodies, research institutions and infrastructures. The conference also ran a poster session and a Biodiversity Informatics market, where scientists, research teams, project consortia, and providers of biodiversity research-related services and tools could showcase their work and meet like-minded professionals.

BiCIKL stops at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center

The main outcome of the BiCIKL project: the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub, a one-stop knowledge portal to interlinked and machine-readable FAIR data.

The famous for its bicycle friendliness country also made a suitable stop for BiCIKL (an acronym for the Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library): a project funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme that aimed at triggering a culture change in the way users access, (re)use, publish and share biodiversity data. To do this, the BiCIKL consortium set off on a 3-year journey to build on the existing biodiversity data infrastructures, workflows, standards and the linkages between them.

Many of the people who have been involved in the project over the last three years could be seen all around the beautiful venue. Above all, Naturalis is itself one of the partnering institutions at BiCIKL. Then, on Tuesday, on behalf of the BiCIKL consortium and the project’s coordinator: the scientific publisher and technology innovator: Pensoft, Iva Boyadzhieva presented the work done within the project one month ahead of its official conclusion at the end of April.

As she talked about the way the BiCIKL consortium took to traverse obstacles to wider use and adoption of FAIR and linked biodiversity data, she focused on BiCIKL’s main outcome: the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub (BKH).

Key results from the BiCIKL project three years into its existence presented by Pensoft’s Iva Boyadzhieva at the EBR III conference.

Intended to act as a knowledge broker for users who wish to navigate and access sources of open and FAIR biodiversity data, guidelines, tools and services, in practicality, the BKH is a one-stop portal for understanding the complex but increasingly interconnected landscape of biodiversity research infrastructures in Europe and beyond. It collates information, guidelines, recommendations and best practices in usage of FAIR and linked biodiversity data, as well as a continuously expanded catalogue of compliant relevant services and tools.

At the core of the BKH is the FAIR Data Place (FDP), where users can familiarise themselves with each of the participating biodiversity infrastructures and network organisations, and also learn about the specific services they provide. There, anyone can explore various biodiversity data tools and services by browsing by their main data type, e.g. specimens, sequences, taxon names, literature.

While the project might be coming to an end, she pointed out, the BKH is here to stay as a navigation system in a universe of interconnected biodiversity research infrastructures.

To do this, not only will the partners continue to maintain it, but it will also remain open to any research infrastructure that wishes to feature its own tools and services compliant with the linked and FAIR data requirements set by the BiCIKL consortium.

On the event’s website you can access the BiCIKL’s slides presentation as presented at the EBR III conference.

What else was on at the EBR III?

Indisputably, the ‘hot’ topics at the EBR III were the novel technologies for remote and non-invasive, yet efficient biomonitoring; the utilisation of data and other input sourced by citizen scientists; as well as leveraging different types and sources of biodiversity data, in order to better inform decision-makers, but also future-proof the scientific knowledge we have collected and generated to date.

Project’s coordinator Dr Quentin Groom presents the B-Cubed’s approach towards standardised access to biodiversity data for the use of policy-making at the EBR III conference.

Amongst the other Horizon Europe projects presented at the EBR III conference was B-Cubed (Biodiversity Building Blocks for policy). On Monday, the project’s coordinator Dr Quentin Groom (Meise Botanic Garden) familiarised the conference participants with the project, which aims to standardise access to biodiversity data, in order to empower policymakers to proactively address the impacts of biodiversity change.

You can find more about B-Cubed and Pensoft’s role in it in this blog post.

On the event’s website you can access the B-Cubed’s slides presentation as presented at the EBR III conference.

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Dr France Gerard (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) talks about the challenges in using raw data – including those provided by drones – to derive habitat condition metrics.

MAMBO: another Horizon Europe project where Pensoft has been contributing with expertise in science communication, dissemination and exploitation, was also an active participant at the event. An acronym for Modern Approaches to the Monitoring of BiOdiversity, MAMBO had its own session on Tuesday morning, where Dr Vincent Kalkman (Naturalis Biodiversity Center), Dr France Gerard (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) and Prof. Toke Høye (Aarhus University) each took to the stage to demonstrate how modern technology developed within the project is to improve biodiversity and habitat monitoring. Learn more about MAMBO and Pensoft’s involvement in this blog post.

MAMBO’s project coordinator Prof. Toke T. Høye talked about smarter technologies for biodiversity monitoring, including camera traps able to count insects at a particular site.

On the event’s website you can access the MAMBO’s slides presentations by Kalkman, Gerard and Høye, as presented at the EBR III conference.

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The EBR III conference also saw a presentation – albeit remote – from Prof. Dr. Florian Leese (Dean at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, and Editor-in-Chief at the Metabarcoding and Metagenomics journal), where he talked about the promise, but also the challenges for DNA-based methods to empower biodiversity monitoring. 

Amongst the key tasks here, he pointed out, are the alignment of DNA-based methods with the Global Biodiversity Framework; central push and funding for standards and guidance; publication of data in portals that adhere to the best data practices and rules; and the mobilisation of existing resources such as the meteorological ones. 

Prof. Dr. Florian Leese talked about the promise, but also the challenges for DNA-based methods to empower biodiversity monitoring. He also referred to the 2022 Forum Paper: “Introducing guidelines for publishing DNA-derived occurrence data through biodiversity data platforms” by R. Henrik Nilsson et al.

He also made a reference to the Forum Paper “Introducing guidelines for publishing DNA-derived occurrence data through biodiversity data platforms” by R. Henrik Nilsson et al., where the international team provided a brief rationale and an overview of guidelines targeting the principles and approaches of exposing DNA-derived occurrence data in the context of broader biodiversity data. In the study, published in the Metabarcoding and Metagenomics journal in 2022, they also introduced a living version of these guidelines, which continues to encourage feedback and interaction as new techniques and best practices emerge.

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You can find the programme on the conference website and see highlights on the conference hashtag: #EBR2024.

Don’t forget to also explore the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub for yourself at: https://biodiversityknowledgehub.eu/ 

Providing solutions to restoring the natural water retention function of landscapes: Pensoft joins the SpongeBoost project

At SpongeBoost, Pensoft is to take charge of the project’s identity, while building a strong network, and providing comprehensive knowledge and well-packaged information.

In recent years, Europe’s landscapes have become the victims of extreme events – ranging from floods to droughts – that have caused considerable damage to nature as well as human society. 

With the aim to tackle such severe circumstances, the newly-started Horizon Europe-funded project SpongeBoost will be working towards protecting and promoting natural sponge landscapes. 

Within SpongeBoost, the functional capacity of sponge landscapes is to be enhanced through building upon existing solutions and their large-scale implementation, but also through innovative approaches.

Pensoft is among the partnering institutions within SpongeBoost and serves as the leader of Work Package #5: “Communication, dissemination, exploitation, showcasing best practices and networking”. WP5 will aim to contribute to the project’s mission by building the overall project identity, building a strong network, and providing comprehensive knowledge and well-packaged information to targeted stakeholders.

The project 

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme with a budget of EUR ~3 million, the project is coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and will be developed with the active participation of 10 partnering institutions from seven countries across Europe. Having been officially launched in January 2024, SpongeBoost is to wrap up in December 2027. 

The project is part of the EU mission “Adaptation to Climate Change”, whose task is to support EU regions, cities and local authorities in their efforts to build resilience against the impacts of climate change.

“The protection and revitalisation of wetlands, particularly through peatland rewetting and river floodplain restoration, plays a central role in this,“

says project manager Mathias Scholz from the UFZ. 

SpongeBoost held its official kick-off meeting in late February (2024) in Leipzig, Germany.

To officially kickstart the project, the first consortium meeting took place on 21-23 February in Leipzig, Germany. The kick-off meeting saw all 10 partnering institutions meet in person to officially lay the foundation of a promising collaboration that will flourish over the next four years.

The joint mission before the newly formed consortium is to enhance the natural sponge function of wetlands and soils in Europe, aligning with EU policies for climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and biodiversity. To achieve that, the project plans to employ both bottom-up and top-down approaches, which will foster networking and synergy at the regional and EU level.

SpongeBoost will focus on five main objectives over the next four years:

  1. Conduct a comprehensive literature review to create a standard reference catalogue for securing and enhancing sponge functions in adaptation to climate change. This catalogue will integrate social, economic, technical, and ecological effects and serve as a widely used resource across Europe and beyond.
  1. Build a knowledge base on existing approaches for enhancing sponge functions, and highlight the reasons for success or failure. The goal is to enable regions and communities to replicate effective transformative solutions. Meanwhile, the consortium is to facilitate networking initiatives with other projects and identify suitable pilot sites for monitoring long-term success using the results of previous projects.
  1. Work on the implementation, tests, refinement, and adjustment of best practices and innovative solutions through EU-wide case studies. The goal is to enhance climate resilience to extreme events and enable upscaling from local to EU levels.
  1. Develop a roadmap with practical tools to empower stakeholders, drive transformative change, and integrate sponge solutions into regional, national and European climate adaptation processes to achieve EU Green Deal targets.
  1. Connect communities and compile online resources for climate change adaptation. The goal is to facilitate access and combine a library of tools for restoration and share research findings on soil, water, and groundwater interconnection for replication across Europe.

In addition to leading the “Communication, dissemination, exploitation, showcasing best practices and networking” work package at SpongeBoost, Pensoft is to also assist the Environmental Action Germany (DUH) in the implementation of different innovative communications methods and ideas meant to support the project’s goals.

As part of the creative communication strategy, DUH will take the lead in the development of a “SpongeBooster superhero” character. By creating such a character that will be also featured in comics, the team will translate complex concepts into clear visuals and engaging narratives, thereby shaping the project’s visual identity and letting non-experts join the discourse. The Sponge Booster is to serve as an innovative method to disseminate project knowledge and address barriers with humour while fostering dialogue and avoiding potential conflicts. 

International Consortium 

The SpongeBoost project brings together a team of 10 partners from seven European countries, spanning research, policy, and management fields. The consortium members, who individually represent various restoration projects, will join forces and expertise to promote collaboration, knowledge exchange and synergies across European regions, to ultimately instil a lasting positive impact on sponge restoration for climate change adaptation.

  1. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Germany 
  2. Pensoft Publishers, Bulgaria
  3. Wetlands International, the Netherlands
  4. University of Tartu, Estonia
  5. Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic
  6. Iberian Center for River Restoration, Spain
  7. Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, Portugal
  8. RWTH Aachen University, Germany
  9. Stroming BV, the Netherlands
  10. Environmental Action Germany, Germany

Stay tuned for more project information on the SpongeBoost website coming soon at: www.spongeboost.eu/. In the meantime, you can follow SpongeBoost on social media on X and Linkedin.