5th General Assembly & Technical and Scientific Committee

Blue-Cloud Event

22 May 2025 09:00 – 23 May 2025 18:00

Online

The Blue-Cloud 2026 team is reconvening for its 5th General Assembly (GA) and Technical and Scientific Committee (TSC) meetings, taking place online on 22 and 23 May 2025.

This two-day meeting brings together project partners to assess progress since the last GA and to align on priorities for the next implementation phase of Blue-Cloud. With the project now entering a critical phase, the meeting focusses on technical integration, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability planning - all essential steps toward delivering a federated FAIR and Open Research Ecosystem for marine data.

A dedicated session also explores Blue-Cloud’s involvement in the EDITO initiative, discussing synergies and future opportunities to support the development of the European Digital Twin of the Ocean.

The main activities of this event include:

22 May 2025 - General Assembly: Project updates from all Work Packages, Virtual Lab highlights, cross-WP discussions, and stakeholder engagement activities.
23 May 2025 - Technical and Scientific Committee Meeting: Deep-dive into the technical progress and coordination across WPs, including expert feedback and planning for the final stages.

Please note that participation in the General Assembly and the TSC meeting is restricted to members of the Blue-Cloud 2026 consortium. It can be done by accessing this link.

Agenda

Day 1

The first day of the Blue-Cloud 2026 5th General Assembly features a full agenda combining project updates, interactive sessions, and open discussions. Highlights include the status of the Blue-Cloud workbenches and virtual labs, the evolution of the VRE platform, and the project’s positioning within EOSC, EDITO, and EMODnet.

Time (CEST)	Topic	Chairs / Speakers
09:00 - 09:30	Towards a Marine Thematic Node for EOSC Welcome, intro to the 5th GA and Status of the project at M29	Sara Pittonet, Trust-IT, Blue-Cloud 2026 Project Coordinator Pasquale Pagano, CNR-ISTI, Blue-Cloud Scientific Coordinator
09:30 - 09:45	Interactive session #1
09:45 - 10:45	WP3 Developing and testing analytical Blue Cloud workbenches for generating highly qualified EOV data collections Status at M29 and open discussion with the consortium	Marine Vernet, IFREMER, WP3 Leader Simona Simoncelli, INGV, WB1 Leader Catalina Reyes, OGS, WB2 Leaders Meike Vogt, ETHZ, WB3 Leaders
10:45 - 11:15	Coffee break
11:15 - 11:30	Interactive session #2
11:30 - 13:00	WP4 Blue-Cloud Virtual Labs for demonstrating cross-domain web-based open science Status at M29 and open discussion with the consortium	Cyrielle Delvenne, VLIZ, WP4 Leader Joao Vitorino, Hidrografico, VLab 1 Leader Abel Dechenne and Alexander Barth, ULiege, VLab 2 Leader Steven Pint, VLIZ, VLab 3 Leader Francesco Palermo, CMCC, Lab 4 Leader Julien Barde, IRD, Lab 5 Leader
13:00 - 15:00	Lunch & break
15:00 - 15:15	Interactive session #3
15:15 - 16:00	WP5 Blue-Cloud VRE platform evolution and integration with EOSC resources and services Status at M29 and open discussion with the consortium	Massimiliano Assante, CNR, WP5 Leader Enol Fernández, EGI
16:00 - 16:15	Coffee break
16:15 - 16:45	Blue-Cloud positioning with respect to EOSC, EDITO and EMODnet Status and next steps	Marina Tonani, MOI
16:45 - 17:15	WP1 - Project Management and coordination Administrative status of the project	Pasquale Pagano, CNR-ISTI, Blue-Cloud Scientific Coordinator Elisa Molinaro, CNR

Day 2

The second day focuses on strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and meetings with the Blue-Cloud's Technical and Scientific Committee.

Time (UTC)	Topic	Chairs / Speakers
09:00 - 10:30	WP7 Exploitation, Strategic Roadmap to 2030 and Sustainability internal workshop	Julia Vera, SSBE, WP7 Leader
10:30 - 11:00	WP6 Outreach, engagement, and education - Part 1 Status at M29 and open discussion with the consortium	Rita Meneses, Trust-IT, WP6 Leader
11:00 - 11:30	Coffee break
11:30 - 12:00	WP6 Outreach, engagement, and education - Part 2 Status at M29 and open discussion with the consortium	Rita Giuffrida, T6.3 Leader
12:00 - 12:15	Interactive session #4
12:15 - 13:00	WP2 Data Discovery & Access Service upgrading and expanding following actions from D2.3 Introduction Progress with level 1 information from BDIs for extended common metadata profile, including semantics, and proposed actions by BDIs Progress with upgrading DD&AS for extended common metadata profile, including semantics, harvesting level 2 information and data links from BDIs Progress with semantic analyser and mappings	Dick Schaap, MARIS, Blue-Cloud 2026 Technical Coordinator Enrico Boldrini, CNR-IIA Paul Weerheim, MARIS Alexandra Kokkinaki, NOC-BODC
13:00 - 14:00	Lunch
14:00 - 16:00	WP2 Progress reports by selected BDIs about contents improvements and semantic support, following actions from D2.3 Presentations and updates from EMODnet Physics, EuroArgo, Elixir-ENA, Mgnify, EMBRC-EMOBON data, EcoTaxa, EMSO and SIOS	Antonio Novellino, ETT Thierry Carval and Julie Le Vu, IFREMER Stephane Pesant, EMBL-EBI Tosca Sala, EMBRC Jean-Olivier Irisson, SU Aljaz Maslo, EMSO Ilkka Matero, SIOS
16:00 - 16:15	Coffee break
16:15 - 17:55	WP2 Subsetting and Data Lakes development progress, following D2.5 Beacon data lakes on Blue-Cloud VRE and ongoing activities Connection Beacon data lakes - WebODV and other tools/services Feedback from WorkBenches 1 and 2 Open discussion and brainstorming about future developments, considering DD&AS, Beacon Data Lakes, EDITO Data Lake, in connection with Vlabs and WBs	Robin Kooyman, MARIS Sebastian Mieruch, AWI Massimiliano Assante, CNR Simona Simoncelli, INGV Catalina Reyes, OGS Dick Schaap, MARIS
18:00	Closure of the meeting	Dick Schaap, MARIS, Blue-Cloud 2026 Technical Coordinator & Sara Pittonet, Trust-IT, Blue-Cloud 2026 Project Coordinator

Blue-Cloud | 5th General Assembly & Technical and Scientific Committee

Agenda

Day 1

Day 2