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Thanks to everyone who made it out to the EFI2025 meeting! It was a great meeting, with many familiar faces but also many first-time attendees. Special thanks also to the Virginia Tech crew for hosting, NEON for organizing a site visit to Mountain Lake, Cayelan Carey for organizing such a fun evening at the Mountain Lake Lodge, and Quinn Thomas for, not only serving as lead organizer for the meeting, but also lead PI for the overall EFI RCN effort and NEON forecast challenge. Congrats also to Charlotte Malmborg and Parul Vijay Patil for winning best student talk and poster, respectively. For those who missed out this year, note that EFI2026 will be hosted by CEFI in the greater Toronto area.
In addition to the EFI2025 recap, I wanted to highlight a few other things in this month's newsletter:
- The newly-launched African EFI Chapter (AEFI) will be hosting this year's EFI short course in Cape Town 21-25th July (application deadline June 9th)
- EFI's summer book club starts late June and is reading Data Feminism
- New video tutorials on Co-production and Engaged Science from the Translation WG
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Members of the DEI working group are hosting the 2025 book club in June and July to read and discuss Data Feminism by Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein. The book is available wherever books are sold, online at https://data-feminism.mitpress.mit.edu/, and as an audiobook on Hoopla and other sources of audiobooks.
The group will meet three times in late June and mid-July.
Email info@ecoforecast.org if you would like to receive the poll to schedule the calls.
The poll will be sent early in the week of June 9.
Data Feminism uses feminist theory to examine and challenge the assumptions, biases, and practices within data science. It advocates for more inclusive, equitable, and ethical data practices by recognizing that data is not neutral and is shaped by social power dynamics. The book aims to address how data collection, analysis, and interpretation perpetuate and amplify existing inequalities.
| | Forecasting Short Course in Africa | | |
The African EFI Chapter (AEFI) has officially launched! The group will host a short course in Cape Town 21-25th July. Applications are open until 9 June.
Find details and the link to the application form at: https://ecoforecast.africa/events/current/course_2025/
Please share with your African colleagues and collaborators!
| | Tutorials on Co-production and Engaged Science | | |
Understanding how to engage with stakeholders and the use of co-production was one of the key translation needs identified in short interviews with EFI community members and summarized in the 2023 blog post "Translation Needs for the EFI Community" (see point #2 in the post). To meet this need, the Translation & Actionable Science EFI working group is creating short YouTube videos to give an overview of the why, what, who, when, where, and how of engaging with interested parties, stakeholders, and end users of forecasts. Each overview also provides snippets from interviews with EFI community members and teams that exemplify a range of ways such collaborations have taken place.
The following two tutorials are now public. Others will continue to be rolled out as they are finalized and approved by the interviewees and can be viewed on the EFI webpage: https://ecoforecast.org/engaged-research-tutorials/ OR this EFI YouTube Channel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmpgJtGjCb06MMmdT6nplmjhND6lBLXhq
Tutorials
Introduction of the Tutorial Series: https://youtu.be/-WQEwt7U7sE
Why Engage with interested parties: https://youtu.be/Pek5HtAqE9A
When in the project should you engage with end users? https://youtu.be/o3DnY4IJfEM
| | EFI2025 Conference Summary | | Congratulations to the EFI2025 Conference Outstanding Presentation Award Recipients! | | Oceania Ecological Forecasting Initiative (OEFI) Chapter | | |
The recording from OEFI's 20th May virtual seminar on "Recent advances in satellite earth observation based water quality monitoring and forecasting in complex coastal ocean waters" is now available at: https://youtu.be/nCm73-zXdEE
The OEFI community is working on a horizon scanning manuscript to identify emerging trends, knowledge gaps, and future priorities for the Oceania community. Email info@ecoforecast.org if you are interested in learning more about participating as a co-author on this manuscript. Community calls on 24 July and 20 November will focus on furthering the manuscript.
The OEFI co-chairs are also pleased to announce their session on "Ecological forecasting: Advancing ecological theory and management in Oceania with near-term forecasts" was accepted for the MODSIM conference to be held 30 November - 4 December 2025. Early bird registration closes 31 July. Submissions for 7-page full papers or 1-2 page abstracts will close on 15th and 27th August, respectively.
Details and previous seminar recordings are available on the OEFI webpage
https://ecoforecast.org/oceania-ecological-forecasting-initiative/. Invitations for future events are sent to the OEFI email listserv, which you can sign up for here.
| | European Ecological Forecasting Initiative (EEFI) | | |
EEFI is hosting a Community Call on 11th June at 1pm CET to share activities in progress and upcoming opportunities to build the European ecological forecasting community and gather feedback from the European forecasting community. Add the event to your calendar with this link: https://calendar.app.google/V35sAaaRcdou2dCn6
After the June Community call, the group will take a break until September, at which time the EEFI monthly seminar series will pick back up!
Find recordings from previous seminars on the EEFI seminar page, https://euro-ecoforecast.wordpress.com/seminar-series/
| | EEFI Google Group: Updates and communications for EEFI activities are shared via the EEFI Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/european-efi. Click the link then click the "Ask to join" button to be added to the group and stay up to date with activities and opportunities to participate in EEFI. | | Canadian Ecological Forecasting Initiative | | |
The Canadian Ecological Forecasting Initiative (CEFI) enjoyed a busy May, punctuated by a number of our steering committee members attending the EFI2025 Conference. Korryn Bodner (University of Guelph), Deepit Bhatia (Penn State University), and Cole Brookson (Yale University) were able to attend and present their research at the meeting. It was an excellent opportunity to chat with colleagues about both the exciting research that CEFI members are doing, as well as about advancing the CEFI chapter. A huge thanks from CEFI to the Virginia Tech conference organizers for an excellent conference (and for the opportunity to square dance)!
CEFI is actively applying for funding to host the 2026 EFI conference in Toronto, ON. Alongside applying for financial support, the conference organizing committee has formed, and is beginning to pencil in workshops and sessions. The group is also pursuing various collaborations within Canada to gather supplementary support towards funding the conference.
If you want to stay up to date on the goings-on of CEFI, please visit the CEFI website, https://canadianefi.ca/, and subscribe to the mailing list!
| | Working Group Calls and Summaries | | |
The Working Groups are open for anyone to join at any time. Email EFI to be added to the mailing lists or Slack channels for these groups.
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Theory - Tuesdays at 2pm US ET on June 17 and August 5
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Translation & Actionable Science - Wednesdays at 2pm US ET on June 11, July 9, August 6
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Education and Diversity & Inclusion - will meet jointly for the summer on Mondays at 1pm US ET on June 9, July 21, and August 18
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Cyberinfrastructure/Methods - A poll will go out soon to schedule a new set of calls
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Student & Early Career Association (EFISECA) - Mondays at 1pm US ET on June 23, July 28, and August 25
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EFI Steering Committee
The 2025-2026 cohort of the Steering Committee had their first meeting in May. Quinn Thomas (Virginia Tech) was elected as co-chair to support chair Mike Dietze (Boston University). The group reviewed the master calendar, expenses, and budget. Newly elected and appointed members were updated on the status of the exploration of a potential fiscal sponsor for EFI.
Ecological Forecasting Initiative Student & Early Career Association (EFISECA)
This month, EFISECA arranged a lunch for students and early career forecasters at the EFI2025 Conference. This allowed many in the group to meet for the first time in person, build connections, and discuss current challenges for students and early career forecasters. The group also brainstormed ideas for future EFISECA meetings and projects. EFISECA summer meeting times are the fourth Monday of the month from 1-2pm EST. On the June call, the group will work on creating a resource guide and advice document to demystify the student and early career ecological forecasting experience. Add these calls to your calendar with this link.
Email info@ecoforecast.org to connect with the group.
Theory & Synthesis
The Theory working group prepared for the Predictability of Nature working group for the EFI2025 Conference. The goal of the Conference working group was to jumpstart a manuscript to synthesize what predictability means and its relationship to forecasting and exploring the parallels between predictability and stability. There was a lot of interest in and input about this topic during the Conference, which will shape future next steps in developing the manuscript.
Translation & Actionable Science
On the May call, the Translation working group went over updates about the status of the tutorials on the why, what, who, when, and how to connect with partners and forecast users. A few of the tutorials were ready for final approval from the interviewees. Plans and the timeline for reaching out to them were put in place. The group also provided input to Alexis O'Callahan (University of Arkansas) about her draft presentation for the EFI Conference, which focused on updates from the group and the tutorials.
Education and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In May, the Education and DEI working groups continued to work together asynchronously to finalize the plans for the "EFI University for Everyone" working group for the EFI2025 Conference, and then, after the Conference, followed up on plans to develop a blog post highlighting the ideas that were developed during the Conference. The two groups will meet jointly over the summer to finalize that blog post, hopefully by August. The DEI working group will also host the book club to read and discuss Data Feminism in June and July.
Methods & Tools and Cyberinfrastructure
The Cyberinfrastructure and Methods working group finalized plans for the Spatial forecast of post fire recovery using MODIS LAI workshop tutorial for the EFI2025 Conference. Find the html version of the tutorial here and the GitHub repository here.
| | Call for Papers - AGU & ESA Special Collection | | |
Ecological Forecasting in the Earth System - This joint special collection between AGU and the Ecological Society of American focuses on the emerging field of ecological forecasting, which involves predicting the future states of ecosystems. The issue welcomes contributions that use novel methodologies (e.g., machine learning, process-modeling, uncertainty quantification, forecast evaluation, digital twins, inverse modeling), interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., integration with decision science, computer science), real-time data integration (e.g., data assimilation, measurements and monitoring to support forecasting), and multi-forecast synthesis to enhance the accuracy, uncertainty representation, applicability, and equality of ecological forecasts.
Accepted submissions to the following journals will be included in the special collection.
AGU Journals: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences; Journal of Geophysical Research: Machine Learning and Computation; Water Resources Research; Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
ESA Journals: Ecology; Ecological Applications; Ecological Monographs; Ecosphere; Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment; Earth Stewardship
Submission deadline: October 31, 2026. Find details HERE.
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New EFI Members
Sepideh Heydari - University of Waikato
Mark Urban - University of Connecticut
Chris Terry - University of Oxford
Abby Keller - University of California, Berkeley
Matthew Hipsey - The University of Western Australia
Beth Bowers - Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Benjamin Hlina - University of Windsor
Mike O'Brien - University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Patricia Dumandan - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Hunter Milles - San Diego State University
Bridget Deemer - U.S. Geological Survey
Mary Alldred - SUNY Plattsburgh
Jordan Zabrecky - University of Nevada, Reno
Joy Flowers - The Pennsylvania State University
Sanne Evers - Doñana Biological Station
Collin VanBuren - Virginia Museum of Natural history
Joseph Savage - Dartmouth College
The EFI Members page provides a directory of the 336 EFI members and a map showing the general location of EFI members. EFI membership is free, allows individuals to be elected to the EFI Steering Committee and cast a vote in the Steering Committee elections, and demonstrates a commitment to the field of ecological forecasting. If you are not already a Member you can sign up here.
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EFI Logos
The EFI logos are available for people to use in presentations.
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EFI Slack Group
The EFI Slack Group provides an outlet for the group to share ideas and conversations on the day-to-day timescale. This is a great resource for real-time updates and discussions for Working Groups, the NEON Ecological Forecast Challenge, new papers, job postings, and funding opportunities.
Email EFI to request access to the Slack Group.
#funding and #jobs Channels
As a reminder, you can post and view funding and job opportunities to the EFI Slack. If you are not on Slack, you can still share opportunities by emailing the information to info@ecoforecast.org.
Funding opportunity -
Job postings
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Multiple positions at NASA. Research Scientist and Data Scientist working on remote sensing/modeling/data science for the Wildfire, Ecosystem, Resilience,and Risk Assessment Initiative (WERK). See details on Slack
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Multiple Postdocs at the University of Potsdam. Damaris Zurell is recruiting postdocs to work on ecological coupling and macroecological modeling. See details on Slack
- Multiple positions at Varaha ClimateAg
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Carbon and GHG Modeler: Process-based modeling (DayCent/DNDC), validation, calibration, MRV.
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Research Scientist: Agricultural Statistics & Modeling: Experimental design, Bayesian and frequentist approaches, spatial statistics, MRV support.
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Shop for EFI Gear
You can get your own shirt, magnet, notebook, and more from the EFI Store, https://ecoforecast.threadless.com/. Proceeds generated from the sale of products will be used to support EFI awards and activities. We have kid-size shirts and baby onesies for all those future ecological forecasters!
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June 2-7, 2025: "Perspectives and Challenges in Biodiversity Forecasting" session at the SIBECOL Conference, Pontevedra, Galicia
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June 9: Applications due for the AEFI Short Course
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June 11, 2025: EEFI Community Call
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June 23-27, 2025: "Ecological Forecasting for Integrated Science" session at eLTER 2025, Tampere, Finland
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July 24, 2025: OEFI virtual call
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July 21-25, 2025: AEFI Short Course
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July 31, 2025: MODSIM Early Bird Registration Closes
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August 10-15, 2025: EFI session at Ecological Society of America Conference
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August 15, 2025: 7-page full paper submissions for MODSIM closes
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August 27, 2025: 1-2 page abstract submission for MODSIM closes
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September 24, 2025: OEFI virtual call
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November 20, 2025: OEFI virtual call
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November 30 - December 4, 2025: OEFI-hosted session on “Ecological forecasting: Advancing ecological theory and management in Oceania with near-term forecasts” at the 26th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM25).
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January 6-10, 2025: The International Biogeography Society (Denmark)
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