What we do
Activity areas
The following activity areas were agreed in January 2014. They are being coordinated by ALTER-Net Management Board members:
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Events and Communication |
ALTER-Net Summer School |
Research Collaboration |
High Impact Actions |
Multi-Site Research |
Science-Policy Interface |
Infrastructure |
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Hosting events (including bi-annual ALTER-Net Conferences) and communicating with partners and the wider community. |
Equipping the next generation of ecosystem researchers with expert knowledge and skills at the ALTER-Net Summer School in Peyresq. |
Supporting joint proposals, expertise sharing and international collaboration with the Mobility Fund and Call Exchange platform. |
Supporting research on hot topics with high impact outputs.
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Enabling partners to engage in multi-site and collaborative research activities. |
Supporting the development of better engagement between researchers and policymakers, including through the upcoming management of the EKLIPSE mechanism. |
Supporting the development of Europe's long-term ecosystem research infrastructure, especially LTER-Europe |
Highlights
Recent ALTER-Net activities...
ALTER-Net conferences |
Active in IPBES-3 |
Summer School |
EU research projects |
Strategic alliances |
Communication |
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Our most recent conference, entitled "The EU Biodiversity Strategy Beyond 2020" took place from 18-20 May 2015 in Ghent. Prior to that, ALTER-Net held engaging and innovative conferences on the following topics: Nature and Society: Synergies, conflicts, tradeoffs (2017) Nature & Urban Wellbeing: Nature-based solutions (2015) Science underpinning the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy (2013) Each of these conferences was held at the Augustinian Monastery of Ghent, Belgium. |
In January 2015, many ALTER-Net members took part in the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 3rd Plenary meeting in Bonn, Germany. They were heavily involved in negotiations concerning the IPBES Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. ALTER-Net partner UFZ also helped organise the pre-conference stakeholder days. |
ALTER-Net's flagship initiative attracts around 30 students each year to Peyresq, France, to learn about key aspects of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services research from leading experts in the field. The Summer School takes an interdisciplinary perspective, and is a unique learning opportunity. |
Recent and ongoing projects such as EKLIPSE, KNEU, BESAFE, ROBIN, OPERAS and OPENNESS originated from ALTER-Net partnerships. The large-scale FP7-funded project OpenNESS on operationalizing ecosystem services and natural capital, was a joint ALTER-Net response. All of these projects are led by an ALTER-Net member. Meanwhile, ALTER-Net is facilitating the establishment of new consortia for members to take part in multi-million Euro research projects funded via the EU's Horizon 2020 programme. |
ALTER-Net has built strategic alliances with other networks in order to increase joint impact. We strengthened our links, through presentations or joint action, with networks such as IPBES (providing a European input into this global process), LTER, IALE, EPBRS, PEER, the BiodiversityKnowledge network, and MarBEF. |
We have developed our communication activities, growing our presence on social media, creating a summary brochure, videos and a range of promotional material. |
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Other ALTER-Net meetings:
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ALTER-Net projects:
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Our journey...
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2004-2009 |
ALTER-Net IALTER-Net began life in 2004 as an EU Network of Excellence (Project no. GOCE-CT-2003-505298, Framework Programme 6). This phase (we call it ALTER-Net I) ran until March 2009, and was coordinated by Terry Parr (NERC CEH, UK). The project consisted of a series of linked Work Packages (WP). Six Work Packages dealt with the integration objectives, whilst a further six covered the joint programme of research. These Work Packages interacted and supported one another, so that the research WPs, in identifying gaps in knowledge, tools, etc., informed the integration WPs, which aimed to develop the necessary tools and frameworks for integration. ALTER-Net actively promoted interdisciplinary biodiversity and ecosystems research. We launched our annual Summer School in this period, and also developed the pan-European LTER-Europe network of long-term research and observation sites. A further two WPs were specifically tasked with the 'spread of excellence'. One WP addressed communication and dissemination, and focussed on communication of biodiversity research to the wider community, including other researchers, the media and policymakers. The second dealt with training and mobility issues, so that the necessary skills base for biodiversity research and communication could be strengthened. Final report of ALTER-Net Phase I... |
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2009-2014 |
ALTER-Net IIAfter the EU grant ceased in 2009, ALTER-Net relied on financial support from its members. From 2009 until 2011, we also benefited from generous support from the Norwegian Government, which helped to fund the secretariat at NINA (Jiska van Dijk headed the secretariat). In this period of ALTER-Net, we established the ALTER-Net Council and Management Board. Terry Parr remained at the helm, chairing the Council until 2011, before handing over to Eeva Furman of SYKE, Finland. The Secretariat also moved to SYKE at this time. The Management Board was chaired first by Daniel Terrason (CEMAGREF, France), then by Leon Braat (Alterra, Netherlands). Twenty-two of ALTER-Net's original partners continued in the network. Membership grew to 27 partner institutes in 18 countries. ALTER-Net helped to develop several project consortia which secured European Union FP7 research funds. We continued to run our Summer School in Peyresq, France and also organised several important events (see Outputs for details). ALTER-Net became active in the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, and showed its strong support for BiodiversityKnowledge, a network of knowledge aiming to bridge the gap between science and policy. In addition, through its Science-Policy Interface activities, ALTER-Net has established excellent working relations with the European Commission DG Environment and other policy makers. A conference organized by ALTER-Net with DG Environment in April 2013 was instrumental in this. |
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2014-2017 |
ALTER-Net IIIApril 2014 marked ALTER-Net's 10th birthday and the start of what we are calling Phase III of the network. Maurice Hoffmann (INBO, Belgium) takes over as Chair of the Network Council, whilst Allan Watt (NERC CEH, UK) and Jiska van Dijk (NINA, Norway), co-chair the Management Board. Phase III sees a major revision of our focus areas, although several key activities of ALTER-Net, such as support for long-term research infrastructures, promotion of interdisciplinary research and training via our Summer School, will continue. A major activity is the organisation of our second conference in Ghent, on Nature-Based Solutions. |
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2017- |
ALTER-Net IVNow into its second decade, the network continues with Maurice Hoffmann (INBO) chairing the Network Council and Jiska van Dijk (NINA) chairing the Management Board. We continue with our annual Summer School in Peyresq, France, our High Impact Actionand our calls for Multi-Site Research projects. In May 2017, we held our third Ghent conference, Nature and society: synergies, conflicts, trade-offs. 2018 saw the implementation of the ALTER-Net Call Exchange, a clearinghouse mechanism to facilitate collaboration between partners on joint proposals. In 2019, the fourth Ghent conference, entitled The EU Biodiversity Strategy Beyond 2020: Research insights and needs for biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe was jointly hosted by ALTER-Net and EKLIPSE. This conference saw not only rich discussion of the role of research in shaping the post-2020 European Biodiversity Strategy, but also the official agreement by ALTER-Net to take over the management of the EKLIPSE mechanism in 2020 as part of its commitment to the science-policy interface. |