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A new Program enabling Co-Use of Citizen Science Apps, the Draft Horizon Europe Work Programme, and more exciting News!

We have a big announcement: to improve long-term stability and further extend the impact and reach of Citizen Science, there is a new toolkit available for enabling multiple actors to work together in Citizen Science Apps: the Co-Use Program. You can furthermore find the monthly compile of great funding calls and exciting conferences. Read more about the extended possibilities on the SPOTTERON Platform and find the updated funding and conference list right in this newsletter...

Collaboration in Citizen Science Apps - the SPOTTERON Co-Use Program

It can be difficult for projects to secure enough funding to run and support an interactive digital-social toolkit in a project budget, especially for smaller initiatives. 

This is where the SPOTTERON Co-Use program provides a viable solution for citizen science and public engagement projects. The SPOTTERON Co-Use program currently already covers a wider range of themes, from arts and culture to social citizen science to coastal and marine observations, as well as invasive species monitoring and climate action. If your project crosses over with a co-use theme, joining an existing Citizen Science App as a partner brings you all the benefits but minimizes the costs and risks.

Multi-Language Capabilities Across Citizen Science Projects

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 international citizen science projects, which allows researchers and consortiums to access data per country and now communicate with the participants in their native languages through outreach messages and integrated pop-ups.

The 2026/2027 Horizon Europe Work Programmes - Draft Versions Publicly Available and Includes Public Engagement & Citizen Science

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. 

‍Art & Citizen Science - Seaweed Poetry

Along the art-based adventures, the COSEA App, funded by Horizon Europe and running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform, has been involved in an initiative called #FindWhereFound. The roots of this initiative lies in Ireland – where a team from University College Cork in cooperation with colleagues from Portugal and us here in Austria, developed an ocean literacy activity which involves art-based herbarium specimens of seaweeds from coastal areas of Ireland. 

‍The art-based herbarium in public venues is accompanied by an activity for the public to co-create an 11-word poem - #SeaweedPoetry. The participants are invited to make a poem guided by a self-selected seaweed herbarium specimen and a question: How do you feel when you are near an ocean or sea? The recent expo of 40 art-works took place at European Maritime Day in Cork, Ireland. Although we were not present ourselves there we loved the end results and contributed with designing postcards and posters to accompany the activity.

ArtSpots App: A Long-Running Community App on Public Art and Citizen Science

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.We have contributed our insights on Citizen Science Apps and spotlighted the potential of ArtSpots App.

The interactive ArtSpots App allows the growing user community to share public art sightings and experiences, and includes a wide range of art categories.

General Assembly 2025 of the Horizon 2020 MINAGRIS Project in Vienna

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 collaborated on the next steps in understanding the effects of plastics on our soils - a crucial topic for sustainable agriculture and research.

An essential part of the MINAGRIS outreach and citizen engagement strategy is the SoilPlastic App, developed by SPOTTERON. The App allows farmers, researchers, and citizens to record observations of plastic debris in agricultural soils directly from the field.

‍Conferences and Funding Opportunities we found

‍As we regularly come across excellent project funding opportunities and conference calls for our internal list, we’ve decided to share these updates with you in our newsletters and on our website from now on. The range of topics covers everything from Citizen Science and public engagement, as well as nature conservation, or even art calls. The list may also include interesting niche themes and opportunities, or other occasions we stumble upon. We hope this helps!

Thank you, and all the best from Vienna!

Your SPOTTERON Citizen Science Team

‍SPOTTERON Gmbh

Citizen Science Platform

Faßziehergasse 5

AT - 1070 Vienna

‍‍eMail: office@spotteron.net

phone: +43-676-5982272
web: www.spotteron.net

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