Fábio Emanuel Lopes de Matos, from the University of Aveiro’s Department of Biology and CESAM, is leading the project “AURORA: Bringing Deep-Sea Biodiversity Data to Light”. He works in collaboration with several international partners, including the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and REV Ocean, who are also involved in the project.
This work is one of the ten winning projects from the second DTO-BioFlow Open Call. The interview was recorded during the exclusive data training workshop in Paris, held from 3–5 June 2025. The immersive event brought together experts and project teams for hands-on sessions in data transformation, quality control, metadata management, and collaborative discussions, refining methodologies and strengthening connections across the growing marine biodiversity data network.
Read the full written interview
Who are you, and what is the name of your institute?
My name is Fabio, and I work at the University of Aveiro in the Department of Biology and CESAM. My lab focuses on marine biodiversity data, covering ecosystems from shallow coastal habitats to the deep sea. We collaborate with several international partners, including the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and REV Ocean, who are also involved in this project.
What types of data does your institution work with?
We work with a wide range of marine biodiversity and environmental data collected using many different types of instruments—from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to more traditional sampling methods. These tools allow us to collect biodiversity, environmental, and physical data across various ecosystems.
We run several projects mainly in European waters, but also in the South Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.
Could you describe the AURORA project and its goals?
The main objective of the AURORA project is to bring deep-sea data to light. We aim to automate the process of standardising previously non-standardised datasets, making it easier to submit them to open-access platforms and ensuring they are accessible to all users.
Our plan is to create a continuous data-submission workflow, enabling us to submit both historical data stored at our institution and new data collected in future projects. This will improve the representation of deep-sea biodiversity and environmental data in platforms like EMODnet Biology.
Why is this work important?
Deep-sea ecosystems are still poorly represented in public repositories such as EMODnet. Our project will help fill this gap. The information we provide will be valuable for researchers, decision-makers, and managers by highlighting the importance of deep-sea ecosystems and contributing to their conservation.
How will this project benefit your institution?
This project will allow us to improve and streamline our workflow, giving us more time to dedicate to research. It's a significant contribution to our institution.
We also plan to raise awareness among our team members about the importance of contributing biodiversity data to platforms like EMODnet Biology, to strengthen the visibility and usefulness of deep-sea information.
What are your thoughts on the Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO)?
The Digital Twin of the Ocean is a great initiative. It will allow different types of users—scientists, managers, and policymakers—to explore various scenarios and understand how the marine system might respond to environmental change. It is an important tool that will become increasingly valuable in the future.
By submitting our data, we will contribute to the DTO by helping to fill a significant gap in deep-sea data, an area that is still poorly represented in repositories like EMODnet Biology.