10 June 2024
European Ecological Forecasting Initiative (EEFI)
General Assembly
It’s been a year since the European chapter (EEFI) officially launched and in that time, we’ve connected with a vibrant European ecological forecasting community. It’s clear to us that there is exciting work underway across the continent, being pioneered by many committed and passionate individuals.
As we reflect on the first year of EEFI, we also begin to look to the future. What do we want EEFI to become? To that end, the EEFI Steering Committee will be holding a general assembly during the EFI2024 Conference in Helsinki, where we will:
- Introduce the EEFI Steering Committee and discuss the EEFI strategic plan where all participant can contribute to define what the chapter will do
- Have working group opportunities and interactive break-out activities,
- Present upcoming projects and events
On Monday, 10 June, the General Assembly will take place from 14h-18h with the opportunity to go to dinner as a group afterwards. The assembly will take place in the same place as the EFI2024 Conference venue, Dynamicum, Finnish Meteorological Institute. The EEFI dinner venue will be in Downtown. You may join all or any of the activities. There is also an optional workshop that will be held in the morning prior to the General Assembly.
Monday, 10 June – Agenda
| 14.00-14.30 | EEFI General Assembly welcome, overview |
| 14.30-15.00 | EEFI Steering Committee, governance, operation & Strategic plan |
| 15.00-15.30 | Activities: seminar series, workshops and online courses to teach ecological forecasting materials, working group meetings, and larger community meetings |
| 15.30-16.00 | Break & networking |
| 16.00-17.00 | Working group activity 1 – Setting up a European-focused forecasting challenge: Predicting bird occurrence and abundance across Europe |
| 17.00-18.00 | Working group activity 2 – brainstorm activities and discuss next steps for a COST Action proposal |
| 18.00-21.00 | EEFI Dinner in Downtown |
Cost Action Proposals:
A COST Action is an interdisciplinary research network that brings researchers and innovators together to investigate a topic of their choice for 4 years. COST Actions are typically made up of researchers from academia, SMEs, public institutions and other relevant organisations or interested parties. COST Actions offer an inclusive, pan-European environment for individuals of all levels of seniority to grow their professional research networks and boost their careers.
Optional Workshop Opportunity
The NEON Ecological Forecasting Workshop which will be a key event for transfer of knowledge on background, skills and shared tools for participating and hosting future ecological forecasting challenges will be hosted in the morning before the General Assembly. If you plan to attend the workshop and the General Assembly, there will time for lunch prior to the start of the General Assembly. Lunch is available to purchase at the Conference venue or nearby.
Workshop Details – Can you predict the future? Introducing the NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge
This session will introduce the Ecological Forecasting Initiative Research Coordination Network’s (EFI-RCN) National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Forecast Challenge, a continental-scale effort to generate real-time forecasts at 34 aquatic and 47 terrestrial sites across the USA. The EFI-NEON Forecast Challenge is cultivating a community of forecasters by soliciting submissions of forecasts of near-term ecological conditions at NEON sites before data are collected. This workshop will provide all of the information and hands-on materials to learn about the Challenge and help you start submitting forecasts. The primary goals of the session are to 1) introduce the Challenge and forecast themes; 2) familiarize participants with Challenge documentation, and supporting software, tools, and templates that have been developed in the R programming language; and 3) and facilitate participants in submitting their own forecast to the Challenge. By working through an example forecasting workflow in R, participants will have the foundation to develop their own forecasting model and submit a forecast to the Challenge by the end of the workshop. If time permits, workflow automation will also be introduced so that you can submit new forecasts every day.
Schedule for the Workshop
| 09.00-09.30 | Arrivals and welcome |
| 09.30-11.00 | Workshop: “Can you predict the future? Introducing the NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge” |
| 11.00-11.15 | Break |
| 11.15-12.30 | Workshop cont’d. |
European EFI 