RiViVe: A Transdisciplinary Residential Laboratory for Reimagining the Diversity of Life

The 2024/25 RiViVe Laboratory is a pilot project within the Biodiversity Science Gateway, a legacy of the NFBC- National Biodiversity Future Center after the end of the PNRR (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza). RiViVe offers a space for transdisciplinary reflection on biodiversity to inspire new visions, research trajectories, and action to protect the diversity of living things. The project involves experts with different disciplinary skills and experiences, such as art, ecology, anthropology, natural and social sciences, from universities, research, and cultural centers in the co-creation of a (trans)formative path addressed to those who deal with biodiversity in various fields: study, research, education, public communication, management, art. The project wants to create new languages and formats of communication and education that allow researchers to interact with different audiences, disciplines, and knowledge, to address the challenges related to the loss of biodiversity collaboratively but also to the valorization of its richness (Mangia and L'Astorina 2022). RiViVe is a project built through self-training, knowledge exchange, land, and cultural exploration that will culminate with a final residence in Collelongo (L’Aquila, Italy). The place was chosen because of its cultural, societal, environmental, and ecological heritage. Collelongo-Selvapiana is not only a Long-Term Ecological Research site (LTER) but also a place where young generations keep old traditions alive. It is an archaeological site, an open-air museum surrounded by beech woods where people have found their way to coexist with the wild (Fig. 1). The Collelongo-Selva Piana beech forest is part of a larger forest area that also extends to the territory of the Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park. It is part of the vegetation system of the Serra Lunga, a mountain range in western Abruzzo. The main LTER research site is Selva Piana, which has been active since 1991. In 1993, the first tower in Europe for measuring carbon, water vapor, and energy fluxes between forests and the atmosphere was installed. Within RiViVe, the connection between humans and the lands they inhabit is crucial, as well as the exchange of different forms of knowledge and wisdom between people who live in the same area and experience diverse aspects of the same land. The distinctive atmosphere or character of a place, the sum of all physical and cultural elements that give a location its unique identity is embodied by the concept of genius loci, the “spirit of place”. It aims to build, over different editions that may take place in other LTER-Italya sites, an extended research community (made by “Ambassadors”) that shares the reflections made during the RiViVe laboratory, promoting communication and public involvement actions on biodiversity issues and the intersection of nature, science, and society. During the residential laboratory, the most current issues regarding the diversity of humans and other human living beings - on a theoretical and practical level – will be addressed, such as taxonomy and biodiversity monitoring and evaluating practices. The aim is to inspire new visions and trajectories of research and action in the younger generations and in all those who deal with biodiversity issues in various roles, and to develop skills necessary to operate as "agents of change”. RiViVe is the result of the collaboration of a Transdisciplinary Working Group made up of personnel from various CNR institutes (IREA, ISMAR, IBE, IRSA, IRBIM), from the LTER Italia Network and non-CNR bodies (Fondazione Pianpicollo Selvatico ETS, center for research in the arts and sciences; National Association of Scientific Museums (ANMS) - Scientific Museum Education Group (GEMS); Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice - New Institute - Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE Centre), all involved in various capacities in the NBFC research.