Highlights from the eLTER Science Conference 2025

From 23–27 June 2025, over 350 participants from around the world gathered in Tampere, Finland, for a milestone event in the life of the European Long-Term Ecosystem, Critical Zone and Socio-Ecological Research Infrastructure (eLTER RI): the first eLTER Science Conference.

Representing 41 countries across Europe and beyond, attendees brought a rich diversity of perspectives—from Finland, France, and Germany to Bulgaria, Oman, South Korea, the United States, and South Africa—underscoring the truly global nature of the eLTER community.

Held under the motto “Towards a Whole-System Approach for Ecosystem Science”, the event was a celebration of transdisciplinary inquiry, long-term environmental research, and international collaboration. The conference aimed to foster dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and solidify the foundation of a growing research community dedicated to understanding and safeguarding Earth’s complex socio-ecological systems.

“Thank you for being at the first eLTER Science Conference! We hope this will be a memorable event for everybody.” - Jaana Bäck warmly welcomed the participants in the biggest gathering of the eLTER community so far

A Vision Realized

The inaugural eLTER Science Conference was envisioned as a space where scientists from diverse fields—ecology, atmospheric sciences, social sciences, critical zone research, and more—could engage in meaningful exchange. The goal: to see through each other’s lenses, speak a common language, and begin forming a truly integrated scientific front against the planetary crises of our time.

And it delivered on that promise.

Through its inter- and transdisciplinary scientific programme, the conference created a space for holistic discussions. Sessions addressed the intertwined challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and unsustainable resource use. Importantly, early career researchers were not only welcomed but actively supported.

25 prominent keynote speakers presented their latest research at the conference

The Urgency of Whole-System Research

In an era of unprecedented environmental change, the need for long-term, integrated ecosystem research has never been more urgent. The first eLTER Science Conference brought together a vibrant community of researchers, site and platform coordinators, and visionaries dedicated to understanding and safeguarding the complex systems that sustain life on Earth.

The conference marked “…a pivotal moment in our shared journey toward deeper understanding, collaboration, and stewardship of our planet's complex socio-ecological systems. It marks an important milestone in the scientific work towards the Whole Systems Approach that is the unique foundation of the eLTER RI, addressing the Earth system at different spatial and temporal scales in order to answer many of the burning scientific and societal questions of our time.” (Bäck et al 2025)

In the Anthropocene, environmental research must develop a truly holistic approach to address the compounded impacts of multiple stressors such as climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, pollution, and unsustainable resource use. No scientific community can address these challenges in isolation. The eLTER Science Conference offered a unique opportunity to explore how diverse disciplines and communities can unite to study not only the individual spheres—geo-, hydro-, bio-, atmo-, and socio-sphere—but more importantly, the linkages between them, across the fragile, life-sustaining skin of the Earth.

Jerome Gaillardet: “A community of scientists coming from different backgrounds, all interested to understand the living path of our planet and prepare a better future for the next generations. I’m happy to welcome you at the first eLTER Science Conference!”

The WAILS Concept: Making its Debut

A key scientific milestone of the conference was the first full presentation of the WAILS concept (Whole system Approach for In-situ research on Life-sustaining Systems).

Highlights included:

• Presentations from sites and platforms piloting WAILS-aligned work
• Keynotes exploring WAILS as both a conceptual challenge and a practical framework
• Identification of frontier research objects, such as trees—studied simultaneously through atmospheric, ecological, and hydrological lenses—and instrumentation as both tools and conceptual connectors across disciplines

eLTER coordinator Michael Mirtl during his talk at the conference

Grounded in Science, Committed to Sustainability

In keeping with eLTER’s ethical and environmental values, the event was organized in a carbon-neutral framework. It took place in Finland’s first carbon-neutral congress centre, with local vegetarian and vegan catering and a commitment to offsetting the event’s climate footprint through a Finnish reforestation program on former peat extraction sites.

eLTER Science Conference organising committee members Jaana Bäck and Nina Hobbhahn at the excursion to Hyytiälä SMEAR II Station 

The field excursions—one of the highlights of the week—took participants to Hyytiälä SMEAR II Station, Lammi Biological Station, Seitseminen National Park, and a peatland restoration experiment in Tammela. These trips offered not only a window into world-class research but also immersion in the serene beauty of Finland’s lake and forest landscapes in midsummer bloom.

Scientific Programme: Whole-System Thinking in Action

The conference programme spanned a wide array of topics. Sessions included:

• Groundwater’s Role in Ecosystem Dynamics
• Ecosystem Restoration
• Novel Environmental Monitoring Technologies
• Carbon Farming
• Integrated Observations Across the Atmosphere–Biosphere Continuum
• Studying the Sustainability of Globally Embedded Socio-Ecological Systems

A unifying element across all sessions was the insistence on cross-disciplinary leadership. Each session was co-convened by at least two researchers from different fields, with a focus on diversity in terms of career stage, gender, and geography. Inspiring keynote speakers opened each session, setting the stage for dynamic, data-rich, and often provocative conversations.

Supporting Early Career Researchers

The conference placed special emphasis on supporting the next generation of scientists. A dedicated Early Career Researcher Poster Award was established. 

🏆 Congratulations to Helena Rautakoski (Finland), winner of the ECR Poster Award!

Poster sessions showcased collaborative research across LTER sites in Europe, featuring impressive visual communication and interdisciplinary thinking.

The Early Career poster award jury from right to left Ulf Mallast, Alexandra Tzvetkova and Johan Pauw talking to a researcher. The judges' evaluation focused on scientific relevance, visual quality, and clarity of conclusions.

A special workshop, organised by the eLTER Early Career and Friends group, welcomed early-career administrators and technicians to network, exchange ideas, and explore new collaborative opportunities.

Paulina Rajewicz, speaker at the workshop and executive coordinator for the local organising committee of the eLTER Science Conference, offered a thoughtful message to the early-career scientists:

“How to say no, let go of opportunities, accept changes, balance life and work? It’s OK to change priorities! 
Your private life will always be more important than any job in the world!”

More than Science: Arts, Outreach, and Inspiration

The conference also featured the eLTER InSites photo exhibition, showcasing visuals from eLTER sites and platforms across Europe. These striking images captured the beauty and urgency of socio-ecological research and were accompanied by drone video footage from the research stations, as well as the specially produced explanatory video “This is eLTER”.

The special Kin-spheres performance installation by Saara Hannula, Kaisa Kukkonen, Gesa Piper, Iiris Raipala and Terhi Rasilo approached the thematics of the eLTER Conference from an artistic and embodied point of view, weaving connections between scientific and embodied knowledge through bodily movement, sensing and relating.

Nathalie Cools posing in front of her own photo in the field, part of the eLTER InSites exhibition

Exhibitors at the first eLTER Science Conference included:

• Finapp – advanced environmental monitoring
• Sty Neutronica – neutron-based measurement technologies
• Li-Cor – tools for data-driven environmental insights
• Nuria Altimir – scientific illustration and art
• Pensoft Publishers – scholarly publishing and research project dissemination

Reflections and Next Steps

The conference motto—“Towards a whole-system approach for ecosystem science”—set the tone for a week of ambitious, collaborative, and courageous dialogue. Many participants noted that the disciplinary diversity of the eLTER community is both its greatest strength and its biggest challenge. Several proposals for future formats emerged, including “Exposure Talks,” where speakers from one field are engaged by experts from others to stimulate constructive debate and cross-cutting insights.

The eLTER Science Conference 2025 was organized by the EU-funded eLTER PLUS project (Grant Agreement No. 871128), with generous support from the University of Helsinki, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, Metsämiesten Säätiö Foundation, and the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC)—a Flagship of the Research Council of Finland.

Meet the eLTER Science Conference 2025 Scientific Committee and Organisers!

Looking Ahead

This was just the beginning. With the formal establishment of the eLTER ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) on the horizon, the community will continue alternating between Sites and Platforms Forum meetings and Science Conferences in the years ahead.

📍 Next steps:

• 2026 – eLTER Sites & Platforms Forum (SPF)
• 2027 – Second eLTER Science Conference

In an era of planetary urgency, the eLTER Science Conference affirmed a powerful truth:
No discipline can tackle the climate and biodiversity crises alone. But together—across fields, spheres, borders, and generations—we can strive to do the science that our planet needs.

The eLTER Science Conference Proceedings with all abstracts is available here.

References:

Conference closing remarks by Jaana Bäck, Jérôme Gaillardet and Michael Mirtl

Bäck J, Rajewicz P, Hobbhahn N, Asenova D, Tzvetkova A, Alam SA, Olascoaga B, Souza A, Korhonen JJ, Mirtl M, Gaillardet J (2025) Welcome to the first eLTER Science Conference. ARPHA Conference Abstracts 8: e158932. https://doi.org/10.3897/aca.8.e158932