A celebration of the ECS archipelago | Bringing citizen science to public libraries

As the European Citizen Science (ECS) project enters its final year, we are celebrating our achievements through a distributed series of events across Europe. Organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Citizen Science Network and Public Libraries, and as part of the ECS final event series, A celebration of the ECS archipelago, we are organising a day of collaboration and capacity building. This event focuses on the journey through the development of the ECS digital meeting point, the citizenscience.eu, showcases citizen science impact stories, delivers training on citizen science and highlights the importance of public libraries in creating community and enhancing scientific literacy. Attendance at the event is free, but as places are limited, participation is by invitation.

Layers of Values: Exploring Impact in Culture, Art and Education

On 25 September 2025, in the framework of MONDIACULT 2025, Layers of values: Exploring Impact in Culture, Art and Education will take place as an international meeting dedicated to advancing inclusive impact assessment in the arts, culture, and education sectors. In a time when social inclusion, civic participation, emotional well-being, and ecological transition are urgent priorities, the convergence of arts, culture, and education has proven to be a driver for building more diverse, resilient, and imaginative societies. Yet, despite the richness of this field, many initiatives still operate in isolation, and valuable learning remains fragmented. The event will gather projects, practitioners, and researchers working at the intersection of culture, education, and research to address complex evaluation challenges: capturing intangible outcomes, defining success with vulnerable groups or informal settings, and measuring layered impacts that go beyond simple metrics. Drawing on the New European Bauhaus values — beauty, sustainability, and inclusion — it will offer a space for peer exchange, co-creation, and methodological innovation. Organised by the EU-funded PULSE-ART project, in cooperation with European Citizen Science (ECS), the meeting aims to embed diversity not as an optional goal, but as a foundational condition for equitable impact. It will also strengthen connections between cultural, educational, and citizen science initiatives, paving the way for shared tools and collaborative frameworks. If your work touches on culture, education, or citizen science — and you are committed to developing rigorous, inclusive evaluation practices — this event offers a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and shape the future of impact assessment

SPLASH EU Blue Education Series

🌊 Be part of the change for our oceans through your participation in the BLUE EDUCATIONAL SERIES online seminars by Splash EU! 📅 July 24 & 25 | 🕒 15:00 - 19:00 CET 🧠 Learn – 📢 Get Inspired – 🌍 Take Action 🎯 Discover the power of citizen science in tackling marine pollution and the vital role of communication and education in ocean conservation. 📌 Register & learn more: https://www.mare-centre.pt/en/splashblueseries-en 📢 Coordinated by: MARE - Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambienteand MindmeUp L.P. 📢 Supported by: Universidade de Coimbra, #EU4Ocean, #ACTeon and European Commission

From Citizens to Science: Tools Driving Climate Action

On April 28, 2025, during the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna, the H2020 I-CHANGE project will hold its final scientific event titled “From Citizens to Science: Tools Driving Climate Action” Over the past four year, I-CHANGE has worked to place citizens at the core of climate action, demonstrating that informed, empowered communities are essential for achieving behavioural change. By combining active citizen participation, innovative technologies, and scientific collaboration, the project has fostered behavioural transformations towards more sustainable living. This closing event will present the outcomes of I-CHANGE, showcasing results from its eight Living Labs across Europe and beyond. These Living Labs served as active hubs for environmental monitoring, and community engagement, emphasizing how citizens can observe and reduce their own environmental impacts. The event will feature the presentation of the project’s final results, including scientific findings, technological and engaging activities that have been implemented to raise climate change awareness and foster participatory science. It will also include talks from sister projects involved in citizen science initiatives related to climate change, and offer reflections on how citizen-generated data can complement scientific observations and help shape a more sustainable future. In addition, on May 1, 2025, key I-CHANGE results will be featured during the EGU session titled “Engaging Citizens in Understanding Urban Climate and Climate Change Risks through Participatory Science.” This session invites contributions that explore citizen participation, crowdsourced data collection, and effective practices for integrating the public into climate adaptation efforts across Europe. For more information, please visit here

Les Prix de la participation 2025

10 ans de récompenses pour les initiatives de la participation citoyenne ! Avec l’ouverture des candidatures le 1er avril, Décider ensemble célébre le lancement de la 10e édition de sa récompense annuelle. ‍ Candidatez du 1er avril au 30 juin 2025 ! Faites reconnaître votre engagement pour une démocratie plus participative !

ECS Collaboration Session - Advocacy in CS

Are you involved in citizen science projects or networks? The ECS Collaboration Sessions give you a platform to learn about different citizen science projects, exchange insights about key topics and competencies in CS, and share updates on your own work with a wide range of CS professionals. The ECS project is organising Collaboration Sessions once every two months. In these online Sessions, CS practitioners have the floor to host presentations, activities, and learning moments for the benefit of the European citizen science community. Do you want to learn about ongoing projects and specific competencies that can boost your own work? You are welcome join and participate in these sessions. Or do you want to host your own session, in which you share insights from your own work with the European CS community? Then, feel free to reach out to alex@stickydot.eu to arrange your session. Upcoming Session: February 4th - Amplify your Impact: Advocacy for Citizen Science Are you passionate about citizen science but unsure how to fully showcase its value to policymakers, funders, or even colleagues in your own organisation? Advocacy is a powerful tool for increasing awareness, recognition, funding, and policy change — but it can be tricky to get right! Join the upcoming ECS collaboration session focused on advocacy training for CS practitioners to learn and practice effective strategies to better communicate the value of your work and secure the support you need for your projects. This session is ideal for citizen science practitioners, project leaders, researchers, educators, and anyone passionate about advancing the field of citizen science. About the speaker: Ilona Kish With a wealth of experience in policy development and advocacy, Ilona has been a driving force behind numerous campaigns that have successfully highlighted the value of libraries to policymakers, funders, and communities across Europe and beyond. As Director of Public Libraries 2030, Ilona has been working to expand and reinforce the role of public libraries as beacons of citizen participation in science – and she sees the crucial role that advocacy skills play both in mainstreaming CS in Europe and in securing support for organisations working in the field. Session details: February 4th, 11:00 - 12:30 CET Online Format: Presentation from advocacy expert Ilona Kish + interactive group activities Interested in joining? Enter your email address below to receive the invite.

Enhancing Air Quality Sensor Networks for citizen science. Clustering approaches by COMPAIR, FunSNM and SOCIOBEE

Citizen science (CS) involves public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Despite its potential, producing CS collected data that is perceived as trustworthy enough to be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and influence policy-making remains a challenge, in part due to issues involving data accuracy and standardisation. For example, the use of mobile field sensors in CS provides us with the opportunity to monitor air quality at a higher spatial resolution, but requires more thorough data analysis. Join us for a webinar featuring three short talks on the lessons learnt and recommendations from leading EU Horizon projects, COMPAIR, FUNsnm and SOCIO-BEE, to improve the reliability of air quality CS sensor networks. The session will conclude with a discussion among the speakers and the audience. This webinar is open to anyone interested in air quality sensor networks and CS. Talks & Speakers: - Local source detection using mobile “low-cost” particle matter (PM) sensors. Bram Verbeek (COMPAIR & VMM) - Metrology, the science of measurement, how does it relate to citizen science? Gertjan Kok (FunSNM & VSL) - Addressing the challenges of citizen science air quality measurements in the SOCIO-BEE project. Sergi Udina (SOCIO-BEE & Bettair Cities) Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpduygrTIoHtb8lISfAYqI48jsvvDCSDqF The event is part of the SOCIO-BEE project. More info here: https://socio-bee.eu/

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).

[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.

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  ».

Impliquer les publics grâce aux démarches participatives

Réaliser des médiations culturelles et scientifiques favorisant la participation des publics – Choisir le niveau de participation d’un projet – Identifier les leviers et freins de la participation dans votre structure – Estimer la pertinence d’un jeu de discussion comme outil de médiation – Proposer un plan d’action pour rendre un projet plus participatif

Citizen Science Summer School: Transforming research through public participation

What are the potentials of citizen science for increased dialogue between science and society? How can citizen science contribute to solving societal challenges and transforming science? How do I improve equity and inclusion in and through my participatory research project? What skills and competencies do researchers and citizens need to do citizen science? The Citizen Science Summer School tackles these and other issues from 04-09 June 2023 in Zurich, Switzerland. We welcome researchers from all research institutions and disciplines. However, we also encourage practitioners who work in the field of citizen science to apply! The School is organized by the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. The fee of 290 CHF incl. tax entails access to 5 days of lectures and practical course work, accommodation, lunch and coffee breaks. In cases of special financial burden, we are able to grant a participation fee reduction of CHF 100 for a limited number of applicants. Apply by March 1st, 2023!