ACCTING final conference. Empowering change: Building a fair and inclusive Green Deal

The European Green Deal aspires to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, with a commitment to ‘leave no one behind.’ However, current environmental policies often overlook the diverse social impacts on marginalised groups. Low-income populations, racial minorities, women, or rural communities frequently bear the brunt of environmental challenges, while also facing significant barriers to accessing green solutions. These groups are often excluded from decision-making processes despite possessing the necessary local knowledge and demonstrating resilience and innovation in the face of environmental challenges. ACCTING has critically examined the social and economic impacts of the European Green Deal on marginalised groups. By employing a gender+ intersectional approach, the project has demonstrated how Green Deal policies affect individual and collective behaviours, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities. Based on these extensive research insights, ACCTING has developed innovative, evidence-based solutions, including pilot actions and thematic recommendations that empower vulnerable communities and guide inclusive policymaking. The ACCTING Final Conference, “Empowering Change: Building a Fair and Inclusive Green Deal,” invites a diverse audience of civil society representatives, NGOs, policymakers, researchers, and Green Deal stakeholders to engage with actionable strategies for achieving a socially just and inclusive Green Deal.

ACCTING Panel Towards a fair and inclusive Green Deal: Insights from European research

The European Green Deal sets out ambitious goals to achieve a fair and green transition without leaving anyone behind. However, emerging research indicates that existing policies and practices largely fail to incorporate gender and other complex inequalities. Hosting presentations focused on the policy areas of disaster management, mobility, and food security, the panel’s presenters illustrate – through comparative case studies – what changes in behaviours of individuals in different positions of intersectional vulnerability are underway, and what changes are hindered. In doing so, the presentations highlight various factors that enable and hinder individual behavioural changes and changes in social practices within and across policy areas, such as access to certain kinds of material resources and social bonds, ideology and values, and reliance on technological and political solutions. The insights give further valuable insights on the effects which the politically envisioned green transformation has and will further have on various kinds of marginalised and vulnerable communities. On this backdrop, the panel further discusses to what extent digitalisation can complement and contribute to achieving a just and socially inclusive green transition.

Ethical and legal aspects of Citizen Science

This webinar will provide participants with a specific Citizen Science case study, which implies different levels of ethical and legal challenges, including GDPR compliance and various ethics dimension (i.e. research integrity, gender perspective, open access, public engagement, etc.). The moderators will take care of presenting the case study as a whole, highlighting the most sensitive aspects of its implementation to focus the participants’ attention on the needed interventions.

REINFORCE International Training Course 2022

Citizen Science creates numerous opportunities for all citizens – independent of their location, gender, or education – to be involved in ground-breaking fundamental research. Through citizen science activities, everyone can contribute to the development of new knowledge. Increasingly, scientists from Large Research Infrastructures and Frontier Physics experiments are starting to share their data and ask for citizens to support the optimization of their detectors to enhance discoveries potential. Have you ever wondered how you can contribute to cutting edge scientific research or how can frontier science contribute to society? Can you imagine yoruselves participating in a community with other citizens, teachers and researchers, analyzing real data, participating in exciting discoveries, and helping optimize Large Research Infrastructures in the fields of Gravitational Wave Astronomy, High Energy Physics, Neutrino Astronomy and Cosmic Rays? The REINFORCE International Training Course 2022 answers the questions above with a loud “Yes” and invites you to join a vibrant community of citizens, researchers and educators from all over the world aiming to bridge the gap between frontier research in Physics and Society through citizen science!

Stories about Women in Citizen Science

ECSA is celebrating the 2022 International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is promoted every year by UNESCO. Together with the ECSA Storytelling and Other Arts Working Group, we will share stories from many people (from all genders) from our community, who are particularly engaged in this field. One day a year is not enough to achieve equal opportunities for all, however even these symbolic moments are inspiring and need our strong support. The webinar and the stories will be broadcasted on the ECSA YouTube channel, so join us there from 11am on 11th February 2022: https://www.youtube.com/c/ecsaeuropeancitizenscienceassociation

Open17 Challenge: Citizen Science for Climate and Gender

Join the 2021 #Open17 Challenge to pitch a project on how to address challenges around the world related to the climate and gender equality, using crowdsourcing and citizen science. You may be selected for online coaching, challenge-based innovation workshops, and even an invitation to pitch your idea to UN experts in Geneva. For details of the challenges that have been curated by the UN, and more information on how to submit your 3-minute video pitch on the Goodwall platform, check the link below. Deadline for Applications: Sunday 3rd October, midnight CEST

Unleashing the potential of Citizen Science Data for monitoring the SDGs

Crowd4SDG Panel Discussion and Call for NSO challenges. As a Crowd4SDG project partner, UNITAR is hosting this online panel for National Statistical Offices and Systems to discuss how to leverage citizen science data using both “active” and “passive” approaches, and what quality assurance criteria to consider. The panel will present the results of the Crowd4SDG report developed with the guidance of the Advisory Group. Several National Statistical Offices and other organizations will share their experiences and work on the use of citizen science data. Following the presentation of the Crowd4SDG tools developed for citizen scientists,the event will also feature "Propose your Crowd4SDG challenge" segment in connection with a public competition to be launched later this year to develop citizen science projects that tackle climate change and gender inequality. Register in advance to receive materials! For more information, please contact: a2030@unitar.org