To kick-off the new and third phase of SITES, Asa Research Station hosted a meeting during 8-10 of February. More than 50 persons participated physically at the meeting with several representatives from each SITES station, the Thematic Programs, the SITES Secretariat and the SITES Steering Group.
An important part of the meeting was to discuss and agree on the strategy and goals for SITES III. During the first ten years the focus within SITES has been on building the infrastructure, starting up the three Thematic Programs and making data from the stations available. The value of SITES to the science community was evident in the “Cool Science” presentations, which focused on multi-station research during SITES II related to eDNA, lake greenhouse gases and soil organic carbon decomposition.
During SITES III, the core for SITES is to continue to have a well-functioning and sustainable infrastructure over time that supports high-quality research with easy access to the infrastructure and data from the stations. The strategic goals for SITES during phase III reflect this, categorized by three watchwords; Quality, Openly Available and Sustainable.
In addition to the strategical work, the Kick-off meeting also had presentations from the stations, a session on data and user engagements, focused discussions within each Thematic Program and guest speakers to talk about SITES international engagements with LIFEPLAN, ICOS/ACTRIS and eLTER. The group also heard about the interesting history of Asa Reserach Station and toured the field station.
A detailed summary of the SITES meeting will be featured in the March Newsletter, so stay tuned!