OneAquaHealth IEEE Global Hackathon
Join the OneAquaHealth IEEE Global Hackathon 2026 ! A worldwide call to innovators, creators, and problem‑solvers - the IEEE and OneAquaHealth project invite participants from across the globe to co‑create breakthrough solutions for healthier urban freshwater ecosystems. This global hackathon unites AI enthusiasts, environmental thinkers, designers, developers, researchers, and citizen‑science champions to transform real environmental and community data into tools that protect biodiversity, strengthen resilience, and improve human wellbeing. Whether you’re passionate about AI for good, urban water health, biodiversity, climate resilience, or digital innovation, this is your moment to make an impact on a global stage. Build. Collaborate. Innovate - with the world watching. Be part of a global movement shaping smarter, healthier, more sustainable cities. To register for the hackathon, visit: https://oneaquahealth-ieee-hackathon.devpost.com/rules ***Coming Up Next on June 12, 2026: Session 1 - Introducing the OneAquaHealth Project*** Explore the mission, technical tracks, and innovation opportunities behind the IEEE OneAquaHealth Global Hackathon. To register for the webinar, visit: https://www.oneaquahealth.eu/introducing-oneaquahealth-project/
PREP4BLUE Webinar series: Planning for Citizen Participation in Mission Ocean & Waters
PREP4BLUE is running a spring/summer webinar series titled “Planning for Citizen Participation in Mission Ocean & Waters.” Over five one-hour sessions, participants will learn how to design a project, work package, or programme of activities in alignment with the citizen engagement targets of the EU Mission: Restore Our Ocean and Waters By 2030 (or Mission Ocean). The webinars are designed as bite-sized, targeted sessions that will equip the audience with key information and knowledge of where/how to access more details or expertise. The webinar series is aimed primarily at anyone applying for Mission Ocean funding under Horizon Europe. It will also be of interest to current Mission-funded projects, as well as those working on citizen engagement in marine and freshwater-related activities across the NGO, industry, research, community, citizen science groups, and local government sectors. The European Commission’s ambition in relation to citizen engagement with Mission Ocean falls under a handful of clear themes. Each of the webinars in this series is structured around one of these themes. Overall, the series will equip the audience with the knowledge required to orient project proposals and restoration, anti-pollution, and other related activities towards the Mission’s targets in relation to citizen engagement. More information for the webinar series schedule and registration is available here: https://prep4blue.eu/events/prep4blue-webinar-series-planning-for-citizen-participation-in-mission-ocean-waters/
Join the NEWSERA final conference in Brussels – or follow the livestream – on March 29th 2023 to learn about the project’s journey and results, and join the conversation around citizen science communication and citizen science journalism. During the event, hosted at the “BIP Meeting Centre”, the NEWSERA Consortium members will discuss the achievements of the project and present the NEWSERA Blueprints on innovative citizen science communication. These documents are the results of the many learnings of the #CitSciComm Labs and will be presented with the participation of representatives from the NEWSERA Pilots. Moreover, the NEWSERA final conference will be an occasion to go deeper into the concepts of citizen science communication and citizen science journalism, and will feature the participation of fellow EU-funded projects ENJOI, COALESCE, IMPETUS, and ECS. After the event, participants are invited to visit the DATA4CitSciNews exhibition at 7PM, which was first launched in Barcelona in November 2022. Hosted in the impressive venue “Au Bassin”, the exhibition will showcases several artworks to set off the concept of citizen science journalism, through alternative visuals, installations and critical narratives. The exhibition aims to spark a discussion about how citizens and journalists and well designed data collection can be the drivers behind investigation to ultimately respond to societal needs and benefit communities.
Cos4Cloud final event: its legacy for the citizen science community
The Cos4Cloud project is coming to an end! To wrap up over three years of the project and its community, Cos4Cloud and ECSA are co-organising a final event for everyone interested to learn about the project’s main achievements, discover how to use Cos4Cloud’s products and celebrate the community that has actively contributed to the project. The event will take place online on 2nd March 2023, 15:00-16:15 CET. What can you expect during the event? 1) Learn about the main project achievements and legacy of the project for the citizen science community. 2) Discover how you can take advantage of Cos4Cloud’s products and outputs and where to find them (13 services to improve citizen observatory technologies, the co-design methodology guide, the educational guideline, etc.). 3) Celebrate the community that has actively participated in Cos4Cloud events to improve the services, the co-design methodology, and to learn how to integrate citizen science into school practice.
ECS Satellite event on Science Communication
The 2023 Annual Conference of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) will be held in Cordoba (Spain) on 24-25 February 2023. The day before the Conference - 23 February 2023 - a Science Communication Training Workshop will be held as a satellite event, organised by the European Citizen Science (ECS) project in collaboration with the MCAA Communication Working Group. The overall objective of the European Citizen Science (ECS) project is to enlarge, empower and strengthen the European Citizen Science community through training, capacity building and awareness raising activities which encompass the whole range of needs and challenges. As a member of the project consortium, the MCAA is taking part in several work packages and tasks. More specifically, through the ECS project, the MCAA will support the co-creation of the European Citizen Science Academy by designing training for educators, trainers, and researchers. As part of the ECS project, the MCAA is organising the training workshop “Science Communication: How to create a successful research blog.” Blogging is a powerful and effective way to communicate research to a wider audience and engage citizen into the science endeavour. Within the general framework of citizen science, in this workshop participants will learn the ins and outs of what it takes to explain their research in a popular science blog that can be understood by anyone. The one-day full-immersion workshop will be highly interactive and aims to teach by doing. It will also be an introductory course into science communication for researchers with and without prior experience. During the training workshop, participants will: - have an overview of citizen science and the ECS project - learn how science communication can positively impact society as well as a researcher’s career - write a short popular science blog that can be published after the workshop - learn to adjust the text to the communication goals and audience - learn how to reduce the scientific complexity and make scientific insights accessible and interesting The training will be guided by Science Matters, a leading European science communication agency led by scientists, with extensive experience in supporting universities, companies, media, and museums. The training workshop is open to both MCAA members and non-MCAA members. In order to make it as interactive as possible and provide personalised feedback, the workshop is limited to only 30 participants. The deadline for registration is 30 January 2023, 23:00 CET. Selection of participants will be done on a rolling basis, until all 30 seats are filled. Thanks to the support of the ECS project, participants will be able to attend the workshop paying a fee of 150 Euro, which corresponds to a 50% discount on the full price.
Driving changes to embed Citizen Science at your institution
Join this TIME4CS online interactive workshop to learn how you can contribute to fostering the adoption of citizen science as research methodology within your organization through the use of institutional roadmaps. You will have the chance to: - Discuss challenges and opportunities for citizen science in your institution - Learn about using institutional roadmaps as a tool for change - Co-create your own Grounding Action with the TIME4CS Reflection Tool! Hands-on session using our tool, designed to support the development of personalized action plans: reflect on the big vision for your organization, identify relevant stakeholders, define success criteria and necessary resources, and make your action plan. Takeaway for participants: - Identify institutional resources and support needed for CS - some concrete examples and suggestions on how to stimulate institutional changes to promote CS
Citizen Science for Policy and Practice event
Join us to discuss participatory research and citizen science and their impact on policy and practice. This event aims to inspire and support you to explore what citizen science is and the opportunities it offers, for policymakers, funders and researchers alike. A range of speakers from international research and policy areas will reflect on citizen science as a form of participatory research, and its impact on policymakers and practitioners around the world. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about current projects funded by UKRI and FSA which are exploring ways of embedding citizen science across research, from the safety of infant formula to young people’s mental health. There will be opportunities to explore themes based on your interests in citizen science and its potential impacts, and network with others interested and involved in citizen science. Who should attend this event? This event is open to anyone to attend. You may be interested in this event if you are a policy-maker, funder, commissioner of research, or a researcher. You are welcome to attend if you are familiar with citizen science or interested in finding out more. UKRI, the Food Standards Agency and the Institute for Community Studies are pleased to be partnering to organise this event. The event is also supported by the Government Social Research Profession. Speakers Dr Marc J Kuchner, Citizen Science Officer at NASA Professor Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at Kings College London and director of The Zoe Project Professor Robin May, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Food Standards Agency Achla Joshi, Senior Program Officer, Health Canada Professor Jennifer Gabrys, Chair in Media, Culture and Environment, University of Cambridge Dr Margaret Gold, Coordinator, Citizen Science, Leiden University Dr Christian Reynolds, Senior Lecturer in Food Policy, University of London Sian Whyte Head of Strategic Design and Insight, The Young Foundation Dr Helena Hollis, Senior Researcher, Institute for Community Studies Dr Steve Scott, Public Engagement Lead, UK Research and Innovation
After three exciting and intense years, CoAct is coming to an end. Citizen Social Sciences intends to collaborate equally between citizen groups and academic actors. As a consortium, we propose a new understanding of Citizen Social Science as participatory research co-designed and driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern. They become co-researchers in processes commonly dominated by academic researchers. Throughout the last three years, we brought together and further developed methods to give citizen groups an equal ‘seat at the table’ through active participation in research, from the design to the interpretation of the results and their transformation into concrete actions. But we also enabled intensive discussions and knowledge sharing regarding the framing of participation and the predominant understanding of science. All these activities generated experiences and lessons learned, which we wish to share and discuss with everyone interested in our Final Event Week. We are organising three days of knowledge sharing, reflecting, and discussing the future of CSS based on these learnings.
Cos4Cloud and its services for the citizen science community
Cos4Cloud is a EU-funded project that is co-designing, prototyping and implementing a number of new tools and services that address the technological challenges shared by citizen observatories. These services can help citizen observatories to improve data and information quality of observations and can be used as modules, so that any existing citizen science observatory will be able to choose and install the technological services they wish. In this webinar, we will give a short introduction of the project and present two of the services developed: MOBIS and FASTCAT-Cloud. MOBIS is a service to create integrative citizen science apps where you can report all your environmental and biodiversity observations in one Android or iOS app. FASTCAT (Flexible Ai System for CAmera Traps)-Cloud is an open website service that allows you to automatically filter out most unwanted pictures and video streams, keeping images of animals, and to integrate machine learning technology, among other things. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A with speakers. The webinar will last one hour. After closing the webinar we will keep the Zoom channel open for participants to ask further questions and make suggestions about how Cos4Cloud can benefit their citizen science project(s).
Webinar: Unlocking the Potential of Citizen Science Collaborations
This webinar is designed to discuss different approaches to citizen science by LIBER and ECSA Citizen Science Working Groups together with Leiden University, with the purpose of discovering synergies and potential opportunities for collaboration. During the webinar, speakers will cover: (1) achievements in advancing citizen science at libraries and universities; (2) the organisation of citizen science activities in universities, including a citizen science ‘engine room’ at the University of Southern Denmark; (3) how to embed citizen science activities for research and education purposes through sharing best practices, policies, and ‘sharing’ programmes; (4) finding the ‘sweet spot’ for citizen science in the matrix of faculty silos, top-down research, and bottom-up collaboration. We will hear the insights of four amazing speakers: Tiberius Ignat, Director of Scientific Knowledge Services (SKS); Anne Kathrine Overgaard, Head of External Projects at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark; Thomas Kaarsted, Deputy Library Director at the University of Southern Denmark; and Margaret Gold, Coordinator of the Citizen Science Lab at Leiden University.
Online Course on Management of Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas
If you are a post graduate student, young scientist, member of a MAB Youth Group, educator or manager working on Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas, then, this online course is for you! The course is the virtual part of the 2021 Asterousia Hybrid University on Management of Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas, and will run from 10 January to 6 February 2022. The course in a nutshell : DURATION: Four weeks, starting from 10 January to 6 February 2022. FORMAT: It combines asynchronous (self-paced) and synchronous sessions (weekly live meetings). COMMITTMENT: The total training time for learners is approx. 20 hours (~5 hours/week). PARTICIPANTS: MAB Youth Group members, Post-Graduate Students, Young Scientists, Educators and Managers of Biosphere Reserves and other designated areas, with a priority to be given to applicants from European and Mediterranean countries. LANGUAGE: English. CERTIFICATION: Learners who succesfully complete 80% of the course assignments will get the course's certificate co-signed by the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe and the UNESCO Chair & Network on Sustainable Development Management and Education in the Mediterranean. COST: Thanks to the kind contribution of the organizers this course will be free of charge for all participants! ORGANISERS: MIO-ECSDE and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (Venice Office) REGISTRATIONS: https://www.eventora.com/en/Events/2021_Asterousia_hybrid_university MORE INFORMATION: https://medies.net/2021-asterousia-hybrid-university-phase-b-online-course
Technology in and for Society. Innovating well for inclusive transitions
This conference seeks to develop a policy agenda to pair the transformative potential of emerging technology with the necessity of good governance: how can we innovate both more and well, i.e. within inclusive processes, with values at the centre, and with lasting positive impact. The multi-stakeholder meeting aims to explore values, design principles, and a possible practical agenda for leveraging good governance for critical sociotechnical transformations.
What’s new in citizen science training: from open science to public engagement
EU-Citizen.Science contains a wide array of free, self-directed training modules on citizen science on its Moodle page. The themes of the training modules range from introduction to citizen science over research design and methods, engagement and impact to communication and regulations and ethics. At this event, we will showcase three of these training modules and offer the opportunity to meet the trainers who developed them. We will launch the final version of the EU-Citizen.Science platform and show its new features. Finally, the winners of the #MonthOfTheProjects campaign will be presented.