Integrated European
Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and
socio-ecological Research

First eLTER regional cluster meeting in Brussels

19 January 2023

On 17-18 January the eLTER coordination, National Coordinators and site managers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK gathered in Brussels to discuss current developments in their national networks.

The meeting proved to be a great opportunity to identify common challenges and exchange experiences with pushing forward national processes towards establishing eLTER. Moreover, the participants were thoroughly updated on the current status of eLTER from a European perspective.

“It was a useful opportunity to share thoughts with, and learn from, other countries regarding national eLTER development approaches and challenges, and to clarify various issues with the Head Office team”, said Don Monteith from the UK team. Participants were happy to learn about the development not only of the project in general, but of the other national networks: learn from each others mistakes, borrow good ideas and improve shared practices.

This is best summarised by Nathalie Cools from Belgium: "The cluster meeting was a very instructive and helpful meeting for us as national coordinators. We now know better where we stand in the eLTER process compared to our neighbouring country networks.

Participants during the first eLTER regional cluster meeting in Brussels