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Exploring Transformative Change in Biodiversity: BIOTRAILS at the Alternet Conference
As Europe’s leading network for inter- and transdisciplinary biodiversity research, Alternet brings together natural and social scientists, policy-makers, and practitioners to foster collaborative approaches to sustainability.
Celebrating two decades of impact, Alternet hosted its landmark “Achieving Transformative Change for Biodiversity” Conference from 12–16 May 2025 in Aveiro, Portugal. Organised by the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) at the University of Aveiro, this year’s event marked a milestone gathering for the European research community working on biodiversity and transformative change.
The conference showcased important insights on the most recent IPBES assessment, as well as on communication approaches, theoretical models and educational initiatives. Besides plenary talks, parallel sessions provided ample opportunities for discussions and networking. An original example of collective thinking was the “fishbowl” discussion organised during a thematic session on barriers and levers for transitioning systems.
Aiming to illuminate pathways for achieving transformative change, BIOTRAILS Work Package leaders Evangelia Drakou, Raffaele Giordano and Frini Lazarou organised the special session “Transdisciplinary Pathways for Addressing the Biodiversity-Climate-Society Nexus: Insights and Collaborative Opportunities”. Animated with talks, posters and an open discussion, the session (15-16 May) was jointly chaired by Anastasia Gioti and Charis Chalkiadakis from the HUA team, along with Marco Bernardi from the CNR team. Researchers from several EU- and nationally-funded projects presented different participatory approaches and lessons learnt from a variety of use cases adopted for the study of transformative change.
Methodologies were also covered, with the talk of Charis Chalkiadakis on PLS-SEM analysis of the Greek fisheries and aquaculture supply chains sparking the discussion. In his second presentation on the regional assessment of benefit flows, Charis emphasised the importance of integrating justice into stock-and-flow models of ecosystem services. The same point was echoed in other sessions of the conference, where critical discussions on current models and tools of change extended to inclusivity, the efficacy of living labs, or even the roles and limits of intervention of researchers as citizens.
BIOTRAILS members returned from Portugal with new ideas for bridging research, local knowledge, policy, and practice, aiming to help move from isolated interventions to systemic shifts. Moreover, the project now has potential new allies in this direction: Alternet participants have shown considerable interest in contributing to the Special Issue on transformative change pathways, announced by BIOTRAILS and currently in development.