The FERRO project is excited to announce its participation in the Aquatic Confluence: Science, People, Knowledge - ASLO–SIL 2026 Joint Meeting, taking place from 12 to 16 May 2026 in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. This international congress brings together scientists from freshwater and marine disciplines, fostering the exchange of methods, perspectives and knowledge across scales. The meeting highlights the many intersections of aquatic environments, from organismal interactions to the stratification processes underpinning biogeochemical conditions, while also strengthening connections between researchers, stakeholders and indigenous knowledge keepers in support of codesigned solutions to today’s most pressing water-related challenges.

FERRO will be featured in two dedicated sessions during the congress, and together with our sister project FutureLakes will co-host a session about “A ‘Silver Bullet Assessment’ of Nature-based Solutions (and other measures) for Lakes”. This session will focus on the real-world application of Nature-based, Circular Blue Economy and Biodiversity-focused measures for lake restoration and management, exploring which approaches deliver tangible and sustainable outcomes. FERRO will be represented by its coordinator, Tallent Dadi, who joins fellow session organisers: Bryan Spears from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Miquel Lurling from Wageningen University & Research and Rowen Monks from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Additional contributions will be provided by FERRO’s other sister projects, EuroLakes and ProCleanLakes, further enriching the discussion and sharing broader insights from the lake-restoration research community.

In a second session, Olga Tammeorg from the University of Helsinki, alongside Gertrud Nürnberg from Freshwater Research, will co-host and present FERRO-related research in “Sediment-derived Nutrients, Cyanobacteria and Climate Change”. This session focuses on the role of internal phosphorus and nitrogen loading from lake sediments in driving cyanobacteria proliferation, particularly under the influence of climate change, including rising temperatures, droughts, storm events, and changes in ice cover. Contributions are invited that critically examine the hypothesis that legacy nutrient release from sediments is a key factor in recent increases in cyanobacteria blooms, and that explore climate-resilient strategies for mitigating these blooms in lakes worldwide.

Together, these two sessions will provide a comprehensive platform for showcasing FERRO’s work, engaging with leading experts, and exchanging knowledge on both practical restoration solutions and the underlying biogeochemical processes affecting lake health.