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

Living Danube Challenge - Ignite NEB Event 2025

Changemakers ignite nature stewardship in the Danube River Basin. Are you a changemaker eager to apply citizen-led, nature-based solutions to local challenges in the Danube River Basin? And do you want to pitch for a 10k-valued development trajectory to transform your idea into a real business or initiative? Join us for DANUBE4All x EIT Community NEB’s Living Danube Challenge! The Living Danube Challenge is a free innovation launchpad for emerging changemakers ready to restore and protect the Danube River Basin through nature-based solutions and citizen-led action. Co-produced by EIT’s Ignite NEB Programme, DANUBE4all, PULSAQUA, and ZSI, the program includes: ️- A dynamic series of three online trainings (17:00-18:00 CET on Wednesdays, September 17, 24, and October 1) on nature-based solutions, citizen science, and social business strategy - A two-day in-person ideation sprint at BOKU University’s River Lab in Vienna (October 10-11 2025) with workshops & arts programming - A pitch process towards an 8-month, 10k-valued development trajectory to bring 3 winning ideas to life. Registrations are now open until September 15th.

ECS Collaboration Session - Citizen Science and Ethics

Do we ever stop to consider the ethical issues and dilemmas that arise within citizen science and other participatory processes? And what are the causes of, and possible solutions to, such issues? Are our organisations even adequately equipped to navigate these issues? Join our Collaboration Session on ethics in citizen science to discuss and work through these key issues. For this session, we will welcome the contributions of Stefanie Schuerz and Matimba Swana, who will share some of their experiences working on this topic. The session will consist of a presentation from the speakers, as well as a participatory group activity related to the topic. Information about the speakers: Stefanie Schuerz is a sociologist who works as a researcher and project manager at the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI). Her primary focus is on evaluation and impact assessment, multi-stakeholder engagement and citizen science, research ethics and integrity, as well as data ethics and open science. Stefanie has coordinated processes for the co-design of R&I policy recommendations and has collaborated with funding agencies in the development and evaluation of ethical participatory activities. Matimba Swana is a PhD student at the University of Bristol with experience working in the UK Government Office for Science, Stemcell Technologies, and the Medical Research Network. Her research centres on cancer nanomedicine, swarm robotics, and bioethics, particularly regarding regulatory frameworks for cancer trials using nanoswarm technology, with a focus on Patient and Public Involvement. She co-founded PROTEAS to promote sustainable practices in robotics and Black and Brown in Bioethics to advance racial equity in the UK bioethics community, and serves on various committees related to cancer research and the arts.

SDG Summer School 2024 - Prototype Open Source solutions related to Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games

Initiated seven years ago, the SDG Summer School offers students a framework for engagement and training in sustainability issues through the prototyping of solutions to concrete problems. For several years, this training program has been carried out in partnership with the University of Geneva This immersion program supported by the Institute of Challenges, co-founded by the Learning Planet Institute and the Université Paris Cité, will run from June 24th to July 19th. It is exclusively based on project-based learning and will be taught mainly in English. It is intended for students of legal age enrolled in a higher education institution in France or abroad. The diversity of profiles is an asset, so participants coming from natural sciences, humanities, medicine, computer science, design, gaming or arts are encouraged to apply.

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  ».

Citizen Science for Health conference 2023

Τhe first global Citizen Science for Health conference will take place on Sunday 29 October – Wednesday 1 November 2023 at DesignLab, University of Twente, the Netherlands. The conference will be organized in close cooperation with University of Twente's TechMed Centre, as part of the MedTech Twente Week 2023. The event is initiated by the Working group Citizen Science for Health of the European Citizen Science Association ECSA. The conference takes place over four days and the scope aims to mark the start of a more concerted approach towards the development of Citizen Science in the domain of Health. The conference aims to touch both minds and hearts, and to inspire collaborations beyond paradigms. Therefore, a format is chosen that goes beyond a more traditional conference set-up. Besides scientific symposia, the conference will include a diversity of interactive formats such as: dialogues, round tables, co-creation sessions, networking, poster sessions, field visits, walking meetings and art. The conference is open to a broad global public (including academics, students, policy makers, citizens, societal organizations and companies), but also to a local audience interested in Citizen Science for Health.

Citizen science and co-design tools for cities

As part of the 2023 European Week of Regions and Cities, SOCIO-BEE will be participating in the participatory/political lab, ‘Citizen science and co-design tools for cities’, on Tuesday, 10 October 2023 at 9:30 CET in Brussels. SOCIO-BEE and nine other EU-funded projects will present the tools and resources they have developed to help communities make their cities more sustainable.

City Nature Challenge 2023

Started in 2016 as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the City Nature Challenge (CNC) has grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in their own cities. Run by the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), the CNC is an annual four-day global bioblitz at the end of April, where cities are in a collaboration-meets-friendly-competition to see what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal. The 2023 CNC takes place in two parts: 1. Taking pictures of wild plants and animals: April 28 – May 1, 2023 2. Identifying what was found: May 2 – May 7, 2023 Results will be announced on Monday May 8, 2023.

Fostering Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Integrating Open and Citizen Science in Higher Education Institutes

Join the INOS Project for our final project event: Fostering Change: Challenges and Opportunities for integrating Open and Citizen Science at Higher Education Institutions. The workshop will celebrate and share the work of INOS on assessing the social impact of Higher Education Institutions as knowledge hubs, and look to the future of how HEIs can better situate their role in current demands for civic engagement, and societal impact and open learning opportunities. The event will take place in person at Leiden University Library on 31st August, from 9:00AM-13:00PM CEST. There will also be the opportunity to join parts of the event online.

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

2021 Inclusive SciComm Symposium

Inclusive SciComm comprises varied perspectives, including community engagement, informal science learning, arts, community organizing, journalism, community-based participatory research, inclusive pedagogy, service learning, library science, and many others. The purpose of the Inclusive SciComm Symposium is to build a community that actively challenges the dominant, frequently marginalizing norms of STEMM and deficit-oriented approaches to communication culture, and promotes science communication that values individual and group assets. Through these transformations, the Inclusive SciComm community will reimagine and change how science is conducted and discussed.

Ciencia ciudadana en apoyo a los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)

[ES] El próximo 30 de septiembre, el grupo OSDG (formado por la consultora lituana PPMI, el grupo SDG AI Lab del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (UNDP) y una creciente comunidad de investigadores) junto con el Instituto INAECU (UAM-UC3M) organizará la Jornada ‘Ciencia ciudadana en apoyo a los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)‘ que se realizará de forma virtual. La jornada se articulará en tres partes. En primer lugar, una mesa introductoria que reunirá a expertos internacionales relacionados con ciencia abierta y los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible. En una segunda parte, un workshop práctico dónde se presentará el proyecto OSDG Community Platform, un proyecto de ciencia ciudadana que pretende analizar como la ciencia, la tecnología y la innovación pueden contribuir a los ODS, mediante la participación de múltiples actores. Finalmente, se realizará una breve actividad participativa entre los asistentes sobre los enfoques y los principales dilemas/desafíos para conseguir las metas establecidas en la Agenda 2030. Agenda: 17.00-17.05 | Breve introducción (UNDP SDG AI Lab) 17.05-17.17 | Ciencia ciudadana para la sostenibilidad (Elías Sanz-Casado, UC3M) 17.18-17-30| ¿Qué podemos esperar de los los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible? (Javier Benayas, UAM) 17.30-17.45 | OSDG Community Platform: ciencia ciudadana para los ODS 17.45-18:15| ¿Cuáles son los enfoques y los principales desafíos relacionados con los ODS? (reflexión en pequeños grupos). 18:15-18.30 | Observaciones finales y cierre [EN] On September 30, the OSDG group (formed by PPMI, the SDG AI Lab group of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and a growing community of researchers) together with the INAECU Institute (UAM-UC3M ) will organize the Conference 'Citizen Science in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)' to be held virtually. The day will be divided into three parts. First, an introductory table that will bring together international experts related to open science and the sustainable development goals. In the second part, we will present the OSDG Community Platform projec , a citizen science project that aims to analyze how science, technology and innovation can contribute to the SDGs through participation of multiple actors. Finally, we will hold a brief participatory activity on the approaches and the main dilemmas / challenges to achieve the goals established in the 2030 Agenda. The event is free of charge, join us!