The series will also help set the scene for discussions at the OBON Annual Meeting, taking place from 30 November to 4 December 2026 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by giving us an opportunity to hear from projects ahead of the meeting and identify common themes, opportunities and priorities across the community.

All project leads have been emailed directly to share webinar dates and a link to help us finalise the programme.  We request all projects to complete the form by 14 September.

Please note that this year’s webinars will only be open to those directly involved with OBON (ie SAC members, project teams and working group members).  However, the presentation recordings will be made available on OBON’s YouTube channel after the event.

Please contact Luz in the OBON project office if you have any questions.

To help us with planning, we ask OBON project representatives to please complete the registration form as soon as possible: https://forms.gle/YViXwnK3KNSnQ6Fn6

We expect to share the draft agenda in early October, but in the meantime, we would appreciate receiving your registration and travel support information as early as possible.

Travel support

Please complete the form as soon as possible so that we can plan the allocation of travel support funding. Responses will be reviewed as they are received, and available funding will begin to be allocated from 15 September on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note that travel support funding is limited this year. If you have access to other sources of funding for your travel, we would be very grateful if you could use those resources, as this will allow us to support colleagues who would otherwise be unable to attend.

For those requiring travel support, the registration form will remain open until 14 September 2026.

If you do not require travel support, the form will remain open until 30 October 2026.

Looking ahead

As a new addition this year, the registration form also includes an opportunity to express interest in hosting a future OBON Annual Meeting. To help the community plan further ahead and secure dates earlier in organisational calendars, we are beginning discussions around potential hosts for the 2027 and 2028 Annual Meetings.

If your organisation may be interested in hosting, we encourage you to indicate this in the form. Interested organisations will have the opportunity to present their proposal during the Annual Meeting, after which nominations will be considered through the OBON election process.

Unable to attend?

If you already know that you will not be able to attend, please let us know responding to this message. We would also encourage your organisation or project to nominate a delegate to participate on your behalf where possible, so that we can ensure broad representation from across the OBON community.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Dhaka and bringing the community together for what promises to be an exciting and productive meeting.

The Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) is building a global network of researchers, observing systems, and infrastructure to generate interoperable biomolecular data across the inland-to-ocean continuum. Concurrently, the network is working to expand reference libraries, integrate biomolecular data into ecological models, and build global capacity to ensure equitable access to these technologies.

OBON has a session at ALSO 2027 and invites contributions from both limnological and oceanographic communities. We particularly welcome studies spanning methodological advances, observing system development, reference library creation, time-series and field observations, modelling applications, and the translation of biomolecular data into management and policy outcomes. We particularly encourage research demonstrating how biomolecular observations can address the drivers of environmental change, map freshwater-to-marine connectivity, and create new opportunities for aquatic ecosystem stewardship, conservation, sustainable living marine resources and resilient aquatic futures.

Find out more, and submit your abstract (from 28 July) at: https://www.aslo.org/san-juan-2027/

Keywords: eDNA, Biodiversity, Biomolecular, Technology, Citizen Science

As endorsed projects of the UN Ocean Decade, we have all agreed to make our data reach FAIR standards. But it’s hard, right? Let’s work on it together!

We are excited to offer an online workshop just for OBON members. Drawing on expertise from within the OBON network, the workshop will help you programmatically create outputs of YOUR eDNA data and protocols. These outputs will not only be compatible with standards, but will be uploadable to OBIS and other international platforms when you are ready.

1. Codify the variety of methods used by your project that follow BeBOP standards to make your methods both transparent and machine-readable.
2. Standardize your eDNA data and metadata following FAIR eDNA (FAIRe) guidelines.
3. Know how to publish DNA-derived data using OBIS eDNA Services.

BeBOP

• You will be able to report to the UN Ocean Decade and your funders that you are following international standards to make your eDNA data FAIR.
• Your data will be interoperable which means we can start to combine our data and analyse them together. By analysing our data together we can be greater than the sum of its parts!
• We will attempt to make conversions programmatic when possible, so work now will pay off in future years.

• Members of any OBON project who have eDNA data in hand and are able to do some coding. This first workshop will be especially useful for anyone with metabarcoding data, but targeted (qPCR) projects will also benefit.

• The workshop will have self-paced tutorial videos with example datasets for you to work through on your own time, and then two synchronous online group sessions to work together and answer questions.
• Tutorial materials will be distributed approximately two weeks before each session. It is expected that you work through the materials before the group session, but we are here to help.
• Each online session will be held twice to accommodate different time zones.

• Session 1: FAIRe/BeBOP
  • 21 July 2026 1:00 – 3:00 am UTC
  • 23 Jul 2026 13:00 – 15:00 pm UTC
• Session 2: OBIS and review
  • 4 August 2026 1:00 – 3:00 am UTC
  • 6 August 2026 13:00 – 15:00 pm UTC

Tutorial Videos on YouTube

Links to other workshop materials

• FAIRe demo datasets: https://github.com/FAIR-eDNA/Workshop/tree/main/2026-07%20OBON%20workshop
• FAIRe-NOAA datasets: https://github.com/aomlomics/ODE_testdata/tree/main/noaa-sefsc-gu1901

OBON hosted two sessions at the 2026 Ocean Sciences Meeting, which was held in Glasgow, UK, from 22-27 February 2026.

Both sessions were part of the Ocean Technology and Observatories topic.

The Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) featured prominently at the Ocean Sciences Meeting (26 February 2026, SEC, Glasgow) with both an oral session (OT41B) and a poster session (OT44F), highlighting rapid progress in biomolecular approaches to ocean observing and sustainable development.

The Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) is a global initiative revolutionizing ocean monitoring through biomolecular science, including environmental DNA (eDNA).

Endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade, OBON leverages cutting-edge science to enable real-time, large-scale observation of marine life and ecosystems. OBON has established a global biomolecular network that collects and analyzes eDNA and other biomarkers from coastal to open waters, with the aim to address critical issues such as pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. OBON is also building global capacity to improve biomolecular observation and analysis, while promoting equitable access to ocean knowledge and resources.

Through Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data principles, integrated models, and collaborative approaches, OBON enhances the usability and interpretation of biomolecular data and contributes to the creation of actionable ocean knowledge. This work supports informed decision-making by empowering researchers, policymakers, and communities to better manage and conserve marine ecosystems.

With its scalable framework and inclusive approach, OBON serves as a critical tool for sustainable ocean stewardship and for advancing a holistic vision of ocean health in the decades ahead.