Scalable eDNA and Earth observation monitoring for ecosystem condition indicators

NatureMetrics is a nature intelligence company built on environmental DNA, with high-throughput laboratories and samples processed from over 100 countries. We are looking to join or help build consortia for the January 2027 Horizon Europe Nature calls, with cost-effective biodiversity monitoring for EU policies (HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02-05) as our primary interest.

WHAT WE BRING

Field-to-score delivery at scale. Sampling protocol design, kit production and logistics, accredited laboratory capacity, bioinformatics pipelines, and a client-facing platform that returns results to end users rather than leaving them in a dataset.

Ecosystem Condition Indices. We translate biological and remote sensing data into 0–100 condition scores aligned to the UN SEEA Ecosystem Accounting framework. Our Soil ECI is accredited under the UK Accreditation for Nature scheme and is in commercial delivery. A Freshwater ECI for GB rivers and streams launched in 2026. A Vegetation ECI combining eDNA with geospatial foundation model embeddings is in development.

Reference-state methodology. The hard problem in condition assessment is the reference state. Our direction of travel is to hold reference states independently, so that a single field sample can be scored without the user having to supply a matched reference site. This is where we would most value research collaboration, and it is directly relevant to making monitoring affordable at EU scale.

Policy and disclosure alignment. We work day to day against the EU Soil Monitoring Law, the Nature Restoration Regulation, the Water Framework Directive, TNFD, CSRD/ESRS E4, SBTN and the Global Biodiversity Framework, and we design indicators to be usable inside them.

Route to uptake. We are a commercial supplier with an established corporate, financial and public-sector client base. Projects are often strong on excellence and weak on impact; we can contribute demonstration sites, end users, and a credible path from method to deployed service.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

- Coordinators and experienced lead partners already assembling a January 2027 bid

- Partners to come in under projects we lead

- Regulators, agencies and other end users who need monitoring evidence and can demonstrate measurable policy impact

- Research groups working on reference conditions, biodiversity indicators, soil biology, freshwater ecology and invertebrate monitoring

We are open on role: technical work package lead within an experienced consortium, or a larger partner role where the fit is right.

Contact: Dr Bastian Egeter, Ecology Director, NatureMetrics.