In today’s Morning Brief:

#BusinessNatureSummit is coming!

Registrations are now open for the 2021 European Business and Nature Summit (EBNS) on 30 November and 1 December. Business leaders and policymakers will meet at this virtual high-level political and technical forum to mobilise the business community and strengthen the European “Business for Biodiversity movement” called upon by the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

You can sign up for this virtual event here.

SUSHI DROP: Protecting Sustainable Fisheries

Traditional assessment techniques of ecosystems knowledge, such as fish capture, can be extremely invasive, including a high risk of capturing many non-targeted organisms.

The Italian-Croatian SUSHI DROP project aims to develop an accurate and non-invasive method for mapping of marine ecosystems, using an unmanned underwater vehicle or “UVV”.

So far, two missions have been conducted to confirm the capabilities and performance of “Blucy”, a customized UUV, even in adverse marine and weather conditions. During these test runs, the researchers have collected biophysical data, videos and high-resolution images.

Thanks to the advanced technologies of the drone, such as the multibeam and high-resolution camera, it is possible to obtain a complete description of a given underwater area, from a morphological as well as a fauna point of view, highlighting benthic communities, fish and rock formations.

Read more about it here.

Apply for the Commission Expert Group on COVID-19, Gender Equality and R&I

The European Commission is launching an Expert Group on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality in EU R&I, funded under the “Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area” 2021-2022 Work Programme of Horizon Europe.

The call for applications for selecting members of the Expert Group is now open. If you are an expert in one or more of the abovementioned areas, please complete your application, by filling out the necessary documents and enclosing a CV and cover letter, and send them by email to RTD-GENDERINRESEARCH@ec.europa.eu by 25 November 2021, 12 midday, CET.

What to watch for at COP26 in R&I

COP26, the event that begins this weekend, is being considered the mother of all climate change conferences as the topic becomes more and more serious.

It will have a different theme each day, with green finance, energy, water and oceans, land use, transport and cities all getting attention. Particularly relevant for researchers will be a day partly dedicated to ‘science and innovation” on Tuesday, November 9.

Science Business published a guide to six key questions that could animate the R&I debate in Glasgow as COP26 gets underway. Make sure you check it out here.

Science for a Net-Zero Transition

One of the ways in which the academic and research communities worldwide can address the urgent global challenges is by uniting efforts towards the net-zero transition. Realizing this transition represents and enormously complex challenge requiring mass collaboration.

For this reason, don’t miss Science Europe’s symposium in the fringe of COP26 to explore how the research community can unite their efforts to contribute to this transition. Find out more here, and register here!