Education for Climate Community Café - How do you become an Energy Community?

AURORA - Joint event with the Education for Climate Group Community Café 10th September 2025 from 17.00hrs - 18.00hrs Topic School Energy Communities To join the event register here - https://education-for-climate.ec.europa.eu/community/challenge_hub/event/community-cafe-september, This is an exciting event where you can learn about how the Palomeras Cultural Centre School in Spain has pioneered the first school Energy Community in Madrid with the AURORA project. The school, in a working class area of Madrid, has installed solar energy on the roof tops of their buildings, along with two air source heat pumps to keep the classrooms cool in summer. Funds of €140,000 have been raised from their community, staff and parents of the school, along with students and professors from the Technical University of Madrid as part of a share offer. This means everyone can have a stake in the energy transition. Lower energy bills, no capital cost to the school and a small return on investments from everyone supporting the scheme. It really is true that such transformations not only lower carbon emissions, supporting efforts to reach net zero carbon, but they also lower costs by diverting what would have been fossil fuel profits, back into the local community. The renewable energy generated will also be tracked via the AURORA energy tracker app to allow investors to see the energy being generated and to offset their own personal carbon emissions based on the investment they have made. It will join other projects at Aarhus University Denmark and Ljubljana University Slovenia already connected to the AURORA Energy Tacker app . Could schools in your country follow their lead and be the first school in your town, in your city, moving away from fossil fuels towards the future of clean renewable energy. A teacher from the school will explain what it is has meant to the students and staff of the Palomeras Cultural Centre school in Spain. The whole café event will be an opportunity for open discussion, facilitated by Martin Brocklehurst from the AURORA PROJECT, so that you can understand how to follow the lead that has been set. Looking to the future EU Legislation has also recently changed allowing the export of surplus renewable energy from community energy schemes through the grid to be sold to users around the installation. Once enacted into National law this would allow the export of surplus energy from Schools during holiday periods to users around the school. A great idea for public swimming pools for instance seeking to heat the pool during the summer holidays when usage rates are at their highest. The future looks bright for community energy schemes. In the UK, once the Governments strange block on Power Purchase Agreements on public buildings is removed we can perhaps also follow the EU lead and recommence community energy schemes on schools buildings.

Best practices in citizen engagement and knowledge transfer in support of Mission Ocean objectives in BlueMission

Are you interested in citizen engagement in biodiversity restoration and blue economy? Join a virtual panel discussion on October 17th (2024) which may interest you 😊 We will be discussing best practices in citizen engagement and knowledge transfer in Citizens Assemblies and workshops. Looking at the example of the 2022 Irish Children and Young People's Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and the BlueMissionBANOS local arena workshops, this panel will discuss innovative methods and best practices for citizen engagement in pursuit of Mission Ocean objectives, particularly restoration and blue economy. 📅 Date: October 17th 13:00-14:30 UTC 🎤 Online, register here: https://lnkd.in/ecvEy_EX 🔴 Stream on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/e9cZJcSw More information: https://lnkd.in/e2P7bqDB

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).

​​​​'Introduction to Citizen Artist™ and Art-Based Research Methods'

In this online hybrid and experiential course, you will be introduced to Art-Based Perceptual Ecology (ABPE) research methodologies, non-conventional field-based research methods grounded in multimodal knowledge systems, sensory-based learning and framed within ecological and biological principles. The ABPE methods and tools have application to studying changes in ecological systems and addressing critical environmental issues such as biodiversity decline, habitat loss and effects from climate change. Contrary to our name, there is no need for an art background or art experience to take the course.

CoAct Final Event Week

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.

Forum on Impact Assessment in Citizen Science

On 5th July the MICS, CoAct and ACTION projects are co-hosting a forum on impact assessment in citizen science. This will be an opportunity to explore current frameworks, methods and tools for impact assessment as well as discussing what is currently missing for effective impact assessment and how we can monitor the contribution of citizen science to global societal challenges and the EU missions. You can register to take part here [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/impact-assessment-in-citizen-science-registration-325806143947]. If you have developed an approach for impact assessment in citizen science and would like to contribute to the planning of the event please contact Luigi [lceccaroni@earthwatch.org.uk].

Analyzing Citizen Science Projects using Web-based Tools

This workshop is about exploring a web-based tool (analytics workbench) that can be used to collect information about citizen science projects. It is based on current work in the European CS Track project, which seeks to increase the knowledge on CS using web-based analytics (computational analyses based on projects’ manifestations on the web and social media) and questionnaires, combined in a multi-perspective analysis. The analytics workbench can be used by the participants of the workshop to explore the landscape of online citizen science projects and to analyze projects with methods of text mining/analytics and social network analysis.

ESCAPE 1st Citizen Science Workshop

The First ESCAPE Citizen Science Workshop will feature showcases of successful citizen science projects in several research fields covered by the ESCAPE Science Partners. There will also be a series of hands-on tutorials in which you will learn how to build your own citizen science project, implement advanced statistical aggregation methods and integrate machine learning.

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.

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!

EuroBioBlitz 2021

Nature is vitally important, and nature is in trouble, but we can all help with nature’s recovery by helping fill in the gaps in what we know about the species on our doorsteps. By looking out for wildlife in your own neighbourhood, you can support vital conservation research whilst connecting with nature and enjoying the outdoors. That is why this September, researchers, school groups, citizens and wildlife enthusiasts across the continent are coming together in a race against the clock to put nature on the map, submitting photos and observations of wildlife in their neighbourhoods through the free, easy to use iNaturalist mobile phone app. Join an epic race for wildlife this September as citizens across Europe take part in the worlds’ first 48 hour continental BioBlitz!

Oxford|Berlin Summer School on Open Research 2021

Open research practices have the potential to revolutionise the way research methods and results are communicated, and to facilitate research collaborations and sharing of research outputs in an unprecedented manner. However, adopting these practices requires knowledge and skills that are not normally taught in undergraduate or graduate degrees. To close this gap, we offer a four-day summer school to guide early career researchers (PhD students and postdocs) towards an open, transparent, and reproducible research workflow. These topics will be embedded in a more general curriculum on research ethics and meta-research.