TRAINING in German: CAS Citizen Science and Public Engagement

Hast Du eine Idee für ein partizipatives (Forschungs-)Projekt und fragst Dich, wie Du diese am besten umsetzen kannst? Steckst Du mitten in der Projektarbeit und merkst, dass die Dinge nicht ganz so laufen, wie Du es Dir vorgestellt hast? Oder bringst Du schon einiges an Erfahrung mit in partizipativen Projekten und möchtest über Deinen Tellerrand schauen? Dann bist Du hier richtig - egal ob ganz am Anfang einer vagen Idee oder schon mittendrin. Denn: Gemeinsam wissen wir mehr. Vielschichtige Perspektiven & Erfahrungen Neben Inputs zu zentralen Themen rund um partizipative Projektarbeit lebt der CAS von den vielschichtigen Perspektiven und Erfahrungen der Teilnehmenden. Diese kommen aus ganz unterschiedlichen Bereichen: zum Beispiel aus der Forschung, Museen, Bibliotheken, Archiven, NGOs, der Verwaltung oder dem Gesundheitsbereich. So vielfältig diese Zielgruppe auf den ersten Blick sein mag, sie eint das Interesse an der Umsetzung partizipativer Projekte, an gemeinsamer Wissensproduktion und dem Einbezug der Bevölkerung. Genau in dieser Kombination aus Unterschieden und Gemeinsamkeiten der CAS-Teilnehmenden sehen wir eine grosse Chance für das Von- und Miteinander-Lernen und für die Vernetzung mit Gleichgesinnten, die sich in ganz anderen institutionellen Umgebungen bewegen und zu den verschiedensten Themen arbeiten.

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/

Belgian Citizen Science Networking day

Nature Observation Marathon

Nature observation marathon invites naturalists to explore the biodiversity in their favorite area. The maraton is following format of BioBlitz, an international species recording scheme. In BioBlitz volunteers and researchers will identify as many species of animals, plants and fungi as possible in a given place in a given period of time. BioBlitz usually lasts 24 hours to observe the forms of biodiversity throughout the day. In previous years the marathon was a national event in Estonia, but in 2024 we will also invite other naturalist around Baltic Sea and in Nordic countries to join in. The main event takes place during 24 hours in 8.-9 June, but the observation areas should be registered by May 5th.

Let’s imagine training for facilitators in citizen science projects!

ECS and ECSA will be present at the Ecsite conference 2024 (https://ecsite.wildapricot.org/Programme/). Discover and share skills and training methods to facilitate participatory research and citizen science projects. Science centers and museums, universities and third-places are key players in participatory citizen science projects. These programs aim to give citizens their place in the production of knowledge, and can range from the simple collection of scientific data to the co-construction or even co-governance of research projects. In recent years, these approaches have beenstriving to become a mainstream approach to scientific research well beyond the classical topics connected to environment and biodiversity. But citizen science faces many challenges, such as reliable data, recruitment and participation of citizens or reluctance to use this approach by scientists and researchers. A less discussed issue, and perhaps a solution to some of these challenges, is that of the skills needed to facilitate this type of project. Indeed it is essential to create the conditions for dialogue and work for all stakeholders (research teams, citizens, partners, associations...). They need support to create together, transform their perspectives, adapt tools to their context, stay involved, understand each other in depth…What specific skills, knowledge and attitudes do facilitators need in these participatory projects? Could a training programme in facilitation and participation help? This session will offer a feedback from institutions involved in citizen science (inter)mediation and facilitation training. These short presentations will break down the problem into several sub-questions. They will form the basis of the workshop, during which participants will collectively identify the list of skills and training methods that are most relevant for the people in charge of facilitating particpatory citizen science projects. Speakers: Catherine Oualian (Universcience, France), Claudia Aguirre Rios (Groupe TRACES, France), Aoife Taylor (Trinity College, Ireland), Simona Cerrato (ECSA), Paul Boniface (Groupe TRACES, France).

Mainstreaming citizen science at Ecsite2024 conference

In a 3-minutes show, the representatives of ECSA and of the ECS project showcases the potential of citizen science, the way ECSA works and the main characteristics of the ECS project. They use 3 coloured balls of yarn to create a web that unravels during the show and ultimately involve the viewers. The Ecsite conference is one of the main events dedicated to public engagement with about 1000 participants from science centres, museum, universities, associations and private companies.

Building resilience to natural disasters

Based on insights developed in ACCTING (https://accting.eu/) research activities and experience from related projects and initiatives, this webinar will explore the vital role of local communities and indigenous knowledge in responding to natural disasters and preserving ecosystems.

PolSCA Webinar series on Horizon Europe – Citizen Science Policy and Practicalities of Engaging Citizens in R&I

Join us as we explore the transformative potential of Citizen Science in shaping the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond. The webinar is organized within the scope of the PolSCA Horizon Webinars series, targeting research managers, project administrators, and researchers operating in Poland. Its goal is to enhance understanding of citizen engagement, the multi-actor approach, and social readiness concepts in the context of the second Strategic Plan for the Horizon Europe program, upcoming calls within the Work Programmes 2025, and the increasing importance of citizen science in R&D projects. Citizen Science, endorsed by the European Commission and encapsulated within the Horizon Europe programme, represents a paradigm shift in research and development. It champions a multi-actor approach, inviting citizens to actively participate in scientific endeavors, from data collection to analysis, thus democratizing the scientific process. Within the framework of Horizon Europe, Citizen Science serves as a catalyst for social readiness, fostering inclusivity, transparency, and trust in research and innovation.

[OneAquaHealth] Webinar: Citizen Science in Environmental Observation and Health Research

OneAquaHealth aims to identify early warning indicators and enhance environmental monitoring with digital tools such as a Citizen Science App, to raise awareness and engage all relevant stakeholders to jointly achieve thriving ecosystems and healthier communities for the future. Thus, citizen science has a pivotal role in OneAquaHealth participatory research approach and contributes to shape the way in which data will be collected, shared, and used in the project to deliver accurate monitoring and decision support tools. OneAquaHealth aims to collaborate with projects and initiatives that tackle similar issues to promote healthier communities. Therefore, OneAquaHealth project and and Wise Angle Consulting S.L (OneAquaHealth work package leader) are delighted to invite you to a webinar dedicated to share experiences and viewpoints on the most successful engagement strategies in Citizens Science projects and the usage of Mobile Applications. This webinar will cover two main themes. The first part will focus on Citizens Science Approaches, featuring presentations from publicly funded projects, namely OneAquaHealth, DRYvER, and E4WARNING. Specifically, it will explore how these projects have engaged with citizens to achieve successful participation for the collection of feedback, which is crucial for the development, diffusion, and utilisation of the projects’ digital tools. The second part will delve into Mobile Apps – Challenges and Solutions, with presentations from PHArA-ON and Invasoras.pt Apps, exploring common hurdles faced in promoting the apps or designing them to be user – centric.

Collaborations Workshop 2024

Collaborations Workshop 2024 (CW24) will bring together researchers, developers, innovators, managers, funders, publishers, policy makers, leaders and educators to explore best practices and the future of research software. CW24 will take place as a hybrid event from Tuesday 30 April to Thursday 2 May 2024, at the University of Warwick, UK. Registration is open via Eventbrite until Friday 5 April 2024. The full agenda can be found here. The themes of CW24 will be: Environmental Sustainability AI/ML tools for science Citizen science Each topic will be the subject of a keynote talk: Keynote 1: AI/ML Tools | Arfon Smith is a product manager at GitHub and works on integrating AI into the core GitHub experience. He also works on bringing open source to academia by improving support for scholarly work on the platform. Keynote 2: Citizen Science | Lucy Robinson leads the Community Science Programme at the Natural History Museum, London, and is an internationally recognised citizen science specialist with 15 years of experience. Keynote 3: Environmental Sustainability | Dr Kelly Widdicks is a Software Systems Architect at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and leads research on the responsible co-design of digital research infrastructure for environmental science. Further information about the keynote speakers can be found here.

Let’s discuss data and the eu-citizen.science platform with and for the citizen science community!

The ECS project invites everyone from the citizen science (CS) community to a joint event featuring the launch of the latest updates of the eu-citizen.science platform on April 24th, followed by the Cluster event on data infrastructure, services and practices on April 25th, 2024. On April 24th, from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST, we will present the eu-citizen.science platform's latest features, designed to benefit the CS community. Plus, there will be a training session to demystify the use of metadata generated by CS platforms. This session will use an interactive approach to describe and better understand the communities behind these platforms, enhancing your ability to engage with and contribute to the CS community. On April 25th, from 9:00 to 12:30 CEST, we will hold the Cluster Event on data practices, services and infrastructures in CS. The first part of the event will include presentations and Q&A sessions with key speakers in the field. The second part of the event will enable participants to discuss their needs and challenges in terms of data visualisation and analysis, qualitative data infrastructures and services as well as data ethics and policies. Key speakers are: - Michael Arentoft, Head of Unit, Open Science and Research Infrastructures, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission - Karel Luyben, President of the EOSC Association - Giovanni Maccani, Research Director, Ideas for Change - Dr. Pierre Bonnet, Botanist, CIRAD, BIOS Dept., UMR AMAP and Scientific coord. of the Pl@ntNet citizen science platform - Dr. Gefion Thuermer, Head of Research, Open Data Institute - Alessia Smaniotto, Citizen Science Officer, Operas See here the full agenda for both days: https://tinyurl.com/p3yb77w9 Register here: https://tinyurl.com/mp4yrrjx

“Médiation et Recherches Participatives” Journée d’étude #2

Pour leur deuxième rendez-vous, les journées “Médiation & Recherches Participatives” s’invitent donc au TURFU Festival afin de proposer aux professionnel·le·s de la médiation et de la recherche un temps d’échange et de pratique.

TERRA SCIENTIFICA, LE RENDEZ-VOUS DES VOYAGES QUI ONT DU SENS !

C’est notre participation active à nous, citoyens, en incluant la science à la vie en général et à celle de la communauté humaine. C’est la réappropriation de l’éducation par les citoyens, et leur implication dans les sciences, avec pour objectif la délégation des enseignements aux différents «  sachant  ». Tout le monde possède un ou des savoirs (savoir, savoir-faire, savoir-être) à transmettre aux autres membres de la communauté (jeunes ou âgés)  : «  Un savoir se doit d’être transmis, gardé en secret, il ne sert à rien ni personne  »  Les sciences viennent plus s’impliquer dans nos vies de citoyens et nous rendent service. Ex  : confort, maîtrise de l’impact de nos vies sur les autres vies environnantes, ou promulgation de la vie dans notre quotidien.  C’est la mise en corrélation de la Recherche Scientifique avec la communauté de concitoyens que NOUS sommes. En s’impliquant dans un projet de recherche communautaire en amont, dans son cours sa conclusion et sa promulgation, on s’oriente alors vers la «  Recherche Participative  ».

ECS Policy Event "Redefining Excellence: The CoARA Agreement as an Opportunity for the Citizen Science Community"

In this upcoming ECS policy event, we will explore the central role of citizen science in reforming research assessment and redefining scientific excellence. Join our online panel of experts and decision-makers from science and policy as we discuss the CoARA Agreement - a unique opportunity to advance the integration of citizen science into mainstream academic funding and reputation systems. Together we will explore ways in which policymakers can champion this integration and reflect on its wider implications for both the field of citizen science and academia as a whole. Register here: https://forms.gle/1M34MnzGVLGk7MXP6

From idea to impact: Successful citizen science in Flanders

Scivil turns five in 2024! To celebrate this anniversary, we invite you to join us on March 11 in Leuven for an inspiring afternoon dedicated to successful citizen science projects in Flanders and beyond. Four projects will showcase how they successfully developed citizen science from concept to impact. Following the presentations, you can ask all your burning questions to the project initiators during a panel discussion. We will conclude with a festive reception.