Fostering Integration: SELINA’s 5th project Workshop on the Azores unites partners to strengthen collaboration

(Press-News.org) Between 12–15 May 2025, the SELINA partners, including scientists, decision-makers, and ecosystem service experts, gathered in Ponta Delgada, Azores for the 5th SELINA thematic Workshop, hosted at the University of the Azores. The event brought together approximately 80 in-person attendees and 10 online participants, marking the first in-person SELINA Consortium meeting in nearly a year, a timely and welcome opportunity to reconnect and refocus the project’s collaborative efforts.

The central theme of the 5th SELINA Workshop was “Integration”, highlighting the importance of strengthening alignment across SELINA’s 11 Work Packages, diverse expertise, outcomes and next steps. In the four-day program, the partners reviewed the project’s progress over the past year and laid the groundwork for enhanced synergies across scientific disciplines, stakeholder networks as well as public and private decision-making-relevant outputs.

Interactive sessions focused on two cornerstone tools of SELINA: the Communities of Practice (CoP) and the Compendium of Guidance (CoG). A significant development announced during the Workshop was the launch of a dedicated CoP section on the SELINA website, offering a centralised platform for knowledge exchange and engagement across Europe’s growing CoP network.

The Workshop also spotlighted the Early Career Research Network (ECRN), promoting cross-generational dialogue and building capacity among emerging professionals. Hands-on working groups encouraged active knowledge sharing and fostered cross-partner collaboration in support of SELINA’s goals for integrated biodiversity and ecosystem service assessments. Feedback from international experts was collected during the Advisory Board meeting.

Benjamin Burkhard, SELINA Project Coordinator from Leibniz University Hannover, commented: “This fifth SELINA thematic Workshop, which was held together with the Project’s midterm Conference, illustrated once more the extraordinary capacity of the Consortium members to interact in a strongly transdisciplinary, collaborative and pleasant manner. The inspiring atmosphere of São Miguel island with its high biodiversity and specific ecosystem services provided additional motivation to fulfill SELINA’s mission.”

This Workshop built upon the outcomes of previous SELINA events held in Sofia, Madrid, Leiden, and Trondheim. The baton was passed from the colleagues of the Azores to the University of Trento, Italy, which will host the 6th SELINA Workshop in October 2025.

As SELINA continues into its second half, the project remains committed to co-producing robust, interdisciplinary, and decision-making-relevant knowledge to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem management across Europe.

For morefor more updates, visit SELINA website and follow the project's social media channels on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and YouTube.

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