Webinar #6
AI Technology in Biodiversity Monitoring
The sixth webinar of the MOD Alliance series, was hosted by the OBAMA-NEXT project, and happened on
Thursday 5 March 2026 at 11.00 am CET (UTC+1).
Meet the speakers:
Dr. Jose Fernandes-Salvador (AZTI) is a data scientist with 18+ years of experience applying machine learning and big data to marine research, climate impacts, and policy support. He currently chairs the ICES Working Group on Machine Learning and is an editor for Fisheries Research in AI for fisheries.
Dr. Mihailo Azhar (Aarhus University) is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in computer vision and machine learning for marine ecology, with a focus on semi-supervised benthic habitat mapping. He works on the Horizon EU OBAMA-NEXT project and helps coordinate a Europe-wide drone imagery initiative for coastal habitats.
Abstract:
The speakers highlighted that trustworthy AI for biodiversity monitoring requires validating the entire data-to-model pipeline, using robust evaluation methods, and avoiding biases in training data. They stressed the need for compliance with FAIR, CARE, and TRUST principles for responsible data handling. They also linked these technical requirements to international and EU biodiversity policies to show how AI can better support real-world policy and data needs.