 | The EFI Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion working group will host a book club to read "97 Things About Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know" edited by Bill Franks in July 2023. The goal of the book is to "help readers understand the importance of applying proper ethics to analytics and data science initiatives." The goal of the reading club is to provide an opportunity to learn and discuss these ethical issues and consider how they apply to ecological forecasting and data science. Anyone is welcome to join the discussions. Email info@ecoforecast.org to receive more details and the poll to schedule the calls. |
| New Blog Post! Barriers to Inclusivity in Ecological Forecasting | Our goal in the blog post is to spark perhaps new considerations for the EFI community about what the barriers to ecological forecasting are and ways to begin addressing those barriers. This is an ongoing and iterative process that we want input on from the EFI community. What part about the human component of ecological forecasting or the impact of ecological forecasts for humans do you most care about? Is it missing from the barriers or figures shared in the post? We welcome comments, suggestions, and feedback on these ideas presented. Our future goal is to turn this post into a manuscript that builds from these ideas and we invite anyone that would like to share comments or participate as a co-author in the manuscript effort to reach out to us in the comments on the post or at info@ecoforecast.org. |
| New EFI Publication! | Willson, A. M., H. Gallo, J.A. Peters, A. Abeyta, N. Bueno Watts, C.C. Carey, T.N. Moore, G. Smies, R.Q. Thomas, W.M. Woelmer & J.S. McLachlan. 2023. Assessing opportunities and inequities in undergraduate ecological forecasting education. Ecology and Evolution, 13, e10001. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10001 This paper was supported through connections from the NSF Research Coordination Network (RCN) grant, funds from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and input from the Education and DEI working groups. |
| European EFI Chapter Monthly Seminars | The European EFI Chapter (EEFI) is hosting monthly seminars in 2023 on 10 May, 14 June, 13 September, 11 October, 8 November, and 13 December at 1pm CET. Dr. Cara Gallagher from the University of Potsdam will present on 14 June on “Modelling energetics & behavior: Insights from mammalian swimmers, flyers, and runners.” Register to join the call at https://bit.ly/41yqKdD. Details about the speakers, links to register for upcoming calls, and recordings from previous presentations can be found on the EEFI webpage. |
| Oceania EFI Chapter Monthly Seminars | The Oceania EFI Chapter (OEFI) is hosting monthly seminars in 2023 on 25 May, 22 June, 24 August, 21 September, 2 November, and 14 December at 3pm AET, noon AWT, and 5pm NZ. Dr. Steph Brodie from CSIRO will present on 25 May on "Skillful ecological forecasts for marine resource management". Register to join the call at https://bit.ly/427AOMb. Details about the speakers, links to register for upcoming calls, and recordings from previous presentations can be found on the OEFI webpage. |
| Save the Date!EFI 2024 Conference | Date: June 4-6, 2024 Location: Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland This 3-day community-wide EFI meeting aims at bringing together scientists, agencies, industry, and stakeholders to build a community of practice and to advance research, applications, and collaboration around near-term (subdaily to decadal) ecological forecasts. Find more details and updates on the EFI 2024 Conference webpage. |
 | EFI and the ESA Statistical Ecology Section wrapped up the second round of the Statistical Methods Virtual Webinar Series in May. Speakers present a statistical method or tool followed by an overview of R code used with that method and what to be aware of with those R packages. Recordings and R resources from previous webinars in this series are available on the webinar webpage. A new schedule for the third round of the series will be shared as we get closer to September. |
 | The EFI-NEON Research Coordination Network is an NSF-funded grant to create a community of practice that builds capacity for ecological forecasting by leveraging NEON data products. The first round of the NEON Ecological Forecast Challenge begins in 2021. The Challenge revolves around five theme areas that span aquatic and terrestrial systems, and population, community, and ecosystem processes across a broad range of ecoregions that uses data collected by NEON. |
| Opportunity to Get Involved! EFI Distributed Leadership & Governance Committee | The Distributed Leadership & Governance committee helps EFI to delegate tasks, distribute leadership across the organization, and cultivate new leaders to promote open, clear, and consistent communication with the EFI membership about what EFI is doing. EFI is seeking expressions of interest from individuals from a range of backgrounds and career stages who are interested in contributing as stewards of change to the governance and operational needs of EFI. The Distributed Leadership Committee will be comprised of 3-4 individuals and will provide opportunities for mentorship and leadership within EFI. Additional details about the Distributed Leadership Committee can be found on page 17 of the Strategic Plan. Interested individuals can fill out this form to provide a short description (200-300 words) of your interest in participating on the committee and the skills and viewpoints you will bring to the committee. The EFI Steering Committee will review expressions of interest during their June call and will follow up after that. |
 | About: Mission Statement, Shared Values & Principles, Member Profiles and Forecasting Projects |
 | Working Groups Organized Around Seven Cross-Cutting Themes: Theory; Statistical Methods & Tools; Cyberinfrastructure; Education; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Translation and Actionable Science; Standards for Forecast Output and Metadata |
 | Resources: Publications, Educational and Multimedia Resources, Videos |
 | Stay Connected: Our Listserv shares high-level announcements, our Blog highlights forecasting activities going on, you can follow us on Twitter @ecoforecast, or you can request to join our community of forecasters on Slack (send request to eco4cast.initiative@gmail.com) |
Ecological Forecasting Initiative
Forecasts to understand, manage, and conserve ecosystems
