News
ANTENNA kicks off in Halle, Germany
On 14-15 March 2024, ANTENNA held its official kick-off meeting. Project partners came together in Halle, Germany for two days to outline objectives, discuss strategies, and set the groundwork for this venture.
The goal of ANTENNA is to fill key monitoring gaps through advancing innovative technologies that will underpin and complement EU-wide pollinator monitoring schemes and to provide tested transnational pipelines from monitoring activities to curated datasets and enhanced indicators that support pollinator-relevant policy and end-users
The project is coordinated by the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research and consists of eight prestigious institutions from across Europe.
The combined expertise of the consortium will allow ANTENNA to address the following specific objectives:
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Advance automated sample sorting and image recognition tools from individual prototypes to systems adoptable by practitioners, through a co-design approach;
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Expand pollinator monitoring to under-researched pollinator taxa, ecosystems, and pressures;
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Quantify the added value of a broad range of novel monitoring systems in comparison and combination with ‘traditional’ methods in terms of information gains related to economic costs;
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Provide a framework for integrative monitoring by combining multiple data streams and for developing routines for near real-time forecasting models as bases for early warning systems;
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Upscale from local demonstrations to the implementation of large-scale transnational pipelines and provide context-specific guidance for the choice and combination of monitoring methods and indicators for policy and end-users.
The first day of the kick-off meeting started with a welcome from project coordinator Dr. Oliver Schweiger (UFZ) and an introductory presentation, giving an overview of goals, objectives and actions for the next 3 years. The rest of the kick-off meeting was dedicated to the work packages, their tasks and objectives.
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WP1: Co-design and technology readiness level advancement
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WP2: Added value of novel technologies
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WP3: Integrative monitoring and modelling
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WP4: Large-scale implementation of novel monitoring approaches
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WP5: Project coordination, and communication
The meeting was an excellent opportunity for the team to meet and get to know each other. They also had the chance to discuss the project’s structure and management concepts, exchange valuable ideas and conclusions, as well as to develop thorough work plans within and across the five work packages.
The two-day event set a strong foundation for the ANTENNA project, laying out clear objectives and fostering a collaborative environment to drive the project forward over the next three years.