In Austria, as well as in many other parts of the world, we are currently experiencing what is probably the driest summer since measurements began. An unusually high number of hot days, forest fires, extremely low river levels, or even completely dried-up bodies of water – research data shows: such extreme periods of drought and heat as we have exp...

In Austria, we can truly enjoy some great opportunities when it comes to Citizen Science! The Sparkling Science calls for proposals by the OeAD are definitely one of them — and the third edition is just around the corner! On September 1, 2026, the third call for proposals of the research funding programme Sparkling Science 2.0 will officially open....

Trees are essential living beings of our cities and communities. They provide shade, improve air quality, increase biodiversity, and contribute significantly to a higher quality of life. In collaboration with SPOTTERON, BUND (Nature Conservation in Bavaria e.V.) developed the mobile and interactive App Mein Baum (My Tree) to support the p...

By stepping over the ten-year mark, SPOTTERON extends its capabilities and introduces a Co-Use Program. For the European Citizen Science Association Conference 2026, our design team crafted a poster to bring insights of the new Co-Use Program and the respective Citizen Science Apps running on the Platform.   Download PDF File Here Si...

This year's InsectAI COST Action annual meeting took place at the Science and Technology Park in Niš, Serbia, on 22nd-25th April. The conference opened with a very warm welcome from the conference organizers of InsectAI and the hosts at the Science and Technology Park. As a large university city in south Serbia, Niš has a particularly strong footho...

On the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform, several initiatives are related to Citizen Science projects tackling problems related to marine and freshwater environments. As part of this blog, various aquatic-themed Citizen Science Apps running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform will be spotlighted. A special section will be dedicated t...

This year's ECSA Conference 2026 has concluded. We spent two full days traveling across half of Europe—by train, bus, and ferry—to reach northern Finland, more precisely the beautifully snow-covered city of Oulu. There, we experienced just how white snow can be and perhaps also why Finns—surrounded by forests, clean air, the frozen Baltic...

The EU Soil Strategy for 2030 describes the layer of soil as this 'magic carpet' which takes thousands of years to be produced. [pane] App running on the SPOTTERON Platform has been recently released to explore this important resource and investigate the soil health across farmlands, grasslands and gardens. The [pane] project led by the Techni...

The year 2025 is coming to a close, and as a tradition, to say a big "Thank you" from the SPOTTERON team, we have designed a special hand-crafted Holiday Card for you just before the winter holidays. For this year's theme of our Holiday Card, we are diving into the microcosmos and reflecting on how atoms join together to create the molecules, from ...

Under the title "Integrated Pest Management of the invasive Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica", a Horizon 2020 project took place from 2020 to 2024, looking at the impact of invasive beetle species on the plant health. Although the project has successfully been concluded, the results are still actively disseminated, and now also available in a vis...

The 2026-2027 Horizon Europe Work Programme has recently been adopted by the European Commission and is the last Work Programme of the 2021 - 2027 period. Although many calls will open for submission only early next year, several opportunities of Info Days are available and we have listed those under our Conference & Funding section, here. The ...

From October 1st to October 3rd, the MINAGRIS General Assembly was held at the Head Office of AGES in Vienna, Austria, bringing together researchers, partners, and people who worked together on the project from all over Europe. Over the course of three days, participants exchanged project updates, talked about major discoveries, and collaborat...

When one project calendar year is turning to the end soon, another is on the horizon! The Horizon Europe Work Programmes for 2026-2027 are in the making and for the first time the draft versions are publicly available. We took a look at the recent draft documents which are available under the European Commission's Comitology Register. In this short...

Recently SPOTTERON took part in contributing to a book chapter entitled: "Connecting People and the Ocean Through Street Art and Citizen Science". The chapter was published in a book "Blue Kinships: An Exploration of Society & the Ocean" edited by Chiara Certoma. In this blog, we will introduce the journey of the book chapter as well as spotlig...

Since the release of the SPOTTERON Platform Version 4.0, citizen science & public engagement projects running on the Platform support multiple image upload per data submission. In practice, multiple image upload features are applied by projects for multiple reasons, for example, bringing more attention to the detail (e.g. for particul...

Imagine that all the little things you observe on a daily basis - your daily commute to work, the trees in your street, or the way rain collects on the road - could contribute to bettering your neighbourhood. That's exactly what communiMap - a new Citizen Science project running on the SPOTTERON Plaform aims to do. Led by the University of Glasgow'...

Multi-language capabilities have been extended on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform. From multiple translations of Project Apps, the platform also supports direct multi-language communication by sending direct messages to all participating citizens. Extended language capabilities have also been integrated in the platform's toolkit for inte...

A few months ago, we at SPOTTERON created beside the COSEA Citizen Science App a new Project Design for TRANSEATION, a marine science project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme. The main goal of the TRANSEATION project is to show how man-made structures can effectively protect the health of marine ecosystems. These...

At SPOTTERON we strongly believe that Citizen Science Apps can serve as a space for interactive collaboration in reaching positive change. Multi-level engagement, participatory processes and transdisciplinary approach are also principles shared by the New European Bauhaus which aims to reimagine sustainable living in Europe by bringing various acto...

As Citizen Scientists, we explore a wide range of species and observe all kinds of perceivable phenomena. These explorations lead to meaningful experiences—experiences that can inspire and shape artistic expression: Art & (Citizen) Science? The connection between experience and art is at the heart of a theory proposed by philosop...