The social and economic challenges of ageing populations and chronic disease can only be met by translation of biomedical discoveries to new, innovative and cost effective treatments. The ESFRI Biological and Medical Research Infrastructures (BMS RI) underpin every step in this process; effectively joining scientific capabilities and shared services will transform the understanding of biological mechanisms and accelerate its translation into medical care. Biological and medical research that addresses the grand challenges of health and ageing span a broad range of scientific disciplines and user communities. The BMS RIs play a central, facilitating role in this groundbreaking research: inter-disciplinary biomedical and translational research requires resources from multiple research infrastructures such as biobank samples, and resources from multiple research infrastructures such as biobank samples, imaging facilities, molecular screening centres or animal models. Through a user-led approach CORBEL will develop the tools, services and data management required by cutting-edge European research projects: collectively the BMS RIs will establish a sustained foundation of collaborative scientific services for biomedical research in Europe and embed the combined infrastructure capabilities into the scientific workflow of advanced users. Furthermore CORBEL will enable the BMS RIs to support users throughout the execution of a scientific project: from planning and grant applications through to the long-term sustainable management and exploitation of research data. By harmonising user access, unifying data management, creating common ethical and legal services, and offering joint innovation support CORBEL will establish and support a new model for biological and medical research in Europe. The BMS RI joint platform will visibly reduce redundancy and simplify project management and transform the ability of users to deliver advanced, cross-disciplinary research.

REDRESS aims to provide a key contribution to the EU commitments towards restoring degraded ecosystems, especially in the deep sea. REDRESS will provide solutions to prioritize future restoration actions, extend deep-sea restoration to previously neglected habitat types, and demonstrate the feasibility, potential, and value for success of deep-sea ecosystem restoration. The project will focus on habitats that have great potential to contribute to carbon sequestration and climate mitigation but have been degraded by deep-sea fishing, especially trawling. Specifically, we will study vulnerable marine ecosystems, including sea pens and bamboo corals on soft sediments, coral gardens, cold-water coral reefs, sponge fields, and cold seeps. REDRESS will map degraded deep-sea habitats and identify habitat refugia to prioritize restoration efforts that will adapt to future scenarios of climate change. To adopt and adapt cutting-edge solutions for both restoration interventions and monitoring, REDRESS will make a significant technological investment and will benefit from a relevant ship time by in-kind contribution (136 days). REDRESS will offer nature-based solutions to public authorities and operators to advance ecosystem restoration in the deep sea. Building on the MERCES experience, REDRESS will go beyond the state of art, either developing new methodologies, using sophisticated technologies, defining success indicators, and expanding the target habitats also to cold seeps. The results will enable a significant advancement in the EU's marine restoration strategy. The project will also provide socio-economic data, protocols, and tools to plan, and upscale restoration interventions in deep-sea habitats. REDRESS will provide novel insights into the advantages and limits of active vs passive deep-sea restoration, and related cost-benefit analysis in different deep-sea habitats supporting policies and decision makers in the future application of the Nature Restoration Law.

OBAMA-NEXT aims to develop a toolbox for generating accurate, precise and relevant information characterising marine ecosystems and their biodiversity. This will be achieved by integrating new/emerging technologies, including remote sensing, eDNA, optical instruments and citizen science, with existing marine monitoring techniques for improving our capacity to describe ecosystem function and biodiversity with higher spatial and temporal resolution. The project will contribute to shaping next generation monitoring programs and defining Essential Ocean/Biodiversity Variables (EOVs/EBVs). Stakeholders will be involved from the onset of the project to identify products needed in an iterative co-creating and specification process. These specifications will guide the application of algorithms, including advanced statistical analyses and artificial intelligence, which combine and translate different data sources into information products (i.e., maps and indicators) to fulfil stakeholders’ needs. Routines for visualisation and methods for uncertainty assessment are also important components of the toolbox development. The toolbox will be evaluated and improved based on 12 selected Learning Sites (LS), representing diverse ecosystems and data sources within the four European regional seas. The applicability of the information products, compiled with the toolbox on LS data, will be evaluated as input to models for predicting biodiversity and as support for environmental and biodiversity policies. The project will also assess the usefulness of the products with respect to the EU objective of designating an ecologically coherent MPA network and the applicability of C-burial rates in angiosperm habitats for carbon offsetting and Nationally Determined Contributions. OBAMA-NEXT will strengthen Europe’s capability in acquiring and utilising biological ocean observations for better management of marine resources through strong public outreach and active stakeholder communication.