Periodic Reporting for period 2 - OTTERS (Social Transformation for Water Stewardship through Scaling Up Citizen Science)
Período documentado: 2024-07-01 hasta 2025-06-30
The OTTERS project works to accelerate the upscaling of citizen science (CS) across Europe and neighboring countries. To achieve this, CS initiatives require standardized methods for data collection aligned with policy, scientific standards, and large-scale monitoring efforts, while also addressing institutional and ethical challenges. To create real social transformation, CS must be embedded in sustained narratives and campaigns that inspire both knowledge and emotional engagement, generating data for research and monitoring while fostering stewardship. OTTERS supports this by:
Accelerating the co-creation of standards in data collection, semantics, data quality, and data management, ensuring compliance with ethical and legal requirements.
Promoting and scaling successful water-related CS initiatives by clustering them under co-designed Spring-to-Sea campaigns to foster agency and increase ocean literacy.
Connecting citizen-generated data with EU projects and portals such as EMODnet and the European Digital Twins of the Ocean, ensuring accessibility, reuse, and adherence to FAIR principles.
Demonstrating the value of CS in participatory research, environmental monitoring, and behavior change to support water ecosystem sustainability and advance the EU Water Framework Directive and the UN Decade of Ocean goals.
Through these efforts, OTTERS contributes to Mission Ocean’s target that 20% of marine data originate from citizen science by 2025, while mobilizing citizens and embedding CS in European policy frameworks.
Accelerating the co-creation of standards in data collection, semantics, data quality, and data management, ensuring compliance with ethical and legal requirements.
Promoting and scaling successful water-related CS initiatives by clustering them under co-designed Spring-to-Sea campaigns to foster agency and increase ocean literacy.
Connecting citizen-generated data with EU projects and portals such as EMODnet and the European Digital Twins of the Ocean, ensuring accessibility, reuse, and adherence to FAIR principles.
Demonstrating the value of CS in participatory research, environmental monitoring, and behavior change to support water ecosystem sustainability and advance the EU Water Framework Directive and the UN Decade of Ocean goals.
Through these efforts, OTTERS contributes to Mission Ocean’s target that 20% of marine data originate from citizen science by 2025, while mobilizing citizens and embedding CS in European policy frameworks.
1. A series of webinars on standardisation issues, including legal and ethical considerations
2. Two white papers on standardization and the integration of citizen science in freshwater (WFD) and marine (MSFD) legislation, respectively, as well as recommendations to increase their effectiveness.
3. A publication and a handbook on developing a new methodology for using citizen science in riparian vegetation monitoring and its integration into national reporting within the EU-WFD.
4. Three Initial guidebooks created for the Changing Hearts and Minds Campaigns
5. A final toolkit for co-designing CS campaigns
6. A handbook for educators and CS practitioners on water quality monitoring in Armenia
7. Two online courses
8. Two one-week schools for educators
9. Numerous national workshops and trainings with educators
10. Founding an ECSA Working Group about Citizen Science in Aquatic Environments
11. Development of a CS Resource Hub which is connected to the EU-citizen.science platform to make relevant information and material easily accessible in one place.
12. A final conference organized for practitioners, researchers, educators and policymakers to discuss synergies, share experiences, and co-design solutions. The book of abstracts from the conference published.
13. Active participation at high level events (UNOC3, ECSA Conference, European Digital Ocean Fora, European Ocean Days, Ocean Literacy in Action) to promote best practices.
14. Collaboration with other Mission Ocean and relevant projects to scale up citizen science and promote ocean literacy.
2. Two white papers on standardization and the integration of citizen science in freshwater (WFD) and marine (MSFD) legislation, respectively, as well as recommendations to increase their effectiveness.
3. A publication and a handbook on developing a new methodology for using citizen science in riparian vegetation monitoring and its integration into national reporting within the EU-WFD.
4. Three Initial guidebooks created for the Changing Hearts and Minds Campaigns
5. A final toolkit for co-designing CS campaigns
6. A handbook for educators and CS practitioners on water quality monitoring in Armenia
7. Two online courses
8. Two one-week schools for educators
9. Numerous national workshops and trainings with educators
10. Founding an ECSA Working Group about Citizen Science in Aquatic Environments
11. Development of a CS Resource Hub which is connected to the EU-citizen.science platform to make relevant information and material easily accessible in one place.
12. A final conference organized for practitioners, researchers, educators and policymakers to discuss synergies, share experiences, and co-design solutions. The book of abstracts from the conference published.
13. Active participation at high level events (UNOC3, ECSA Conference, European Digital Ocean Fora, European Ocean Days, Ocean Literacy in Action) to promote best practices.
14. Collaboration with other Mission Ocean and relevant projects to scale up citizen science and promote ocean literacy.
Towards its goal of accelerating the co-creation of CS standards, OTTERS organised webinars to 1) showcase successful approaches from diverse citizen-engagement projects and 2) host expert discussions on standardisation challenges. Topics ranged from methodology, data sharing, and accessibility to legal and ethical issues concerning privacy, authorship, data transfer, exploitation, and the use of AI with citizen-generated data. Concerns included ownership, recognition of authorship, user notification, and ethical implications of emerging tools such as Generative AI and Digital Twins. As these evolve, continued dialogue and clear guidelines remain essential.
To evaluate CS effectiveness in research, innovation, and policy, OTTERS co-organised with Iliad a session at the Ocean Best Practices Workshop VII. Discussions explored technical and legal challenges of integrating CS data into repositories for monitoring, compliance, forecasting, commercial use, and digital twins. An in-person workshop during the ECSA Conference focused on aligning CS data with EU freshwater and marine policies and UN SDGs. Outcomes — expert feedback, recorded sessions, and project-led research — informed three papers on CS data standardisation and policy integration, now published (one pending review), offering practical recommendations to embed CS in legislation, strengthen SDG reporting, and enhance participatory decision-making.
The ECSA workshop also led to the creation of the ECSA Aquatic Ecosystems & CS Working Group, co-chaired by three consortium members, to advance collaboration on CS standardisation in aquatic ecosystems.
OTTERS embedded CS in transformative initiatives through co-design exercises and surveys with diverse stakeholders, identifying pathways to scale up CS. A repository of past and ongoing campaigns guided pilot Spring-to-Sea campaigns in Portugal, Italy, and Armenia. Tested guidebooks were consolidated into a final toolkit on water stewardship, with additional activities in the Netherlands, Greece, Ukraine, and Israel.
To promote ocean literacy, OTTERS organised European and local workshops, two summer schools (Greece 2024, Portugal 2025), and national-language trainings. Two online courses and an Armenian toolkit were produced, and Armenian schools secured a ProBleu grant. These efforts culminated in the OTTERS Waves of Change conference and published abstracts.
For long-term access, the CS Resource Hub was launched on the OTTERS and eu-citizen.science platforms. Over 30 months, OTTERS engaged at high-profile events (UNOC3, Digital Ocean Fora, European Ocean Days, CS4Water, ECSA), disseminating results, promoting best practices, and advancing Mission Ocean. Building on these foundations, partners launched new projects such as CS-MACH1 to create a marine citizen science data network.
To evaluate CS effectiveness in research, innovation, and policy, OTTERS co-organised with Iliad a session at the Ocean Best Practices Workshop VII. Discussions explored technical and legal challenges of integrating CS data into repositories for monitoring, compliance, forecasting, commercial use, and digital twins. An in-person workshop during the ECSA Conference focused on aligning CS data with EU freshwater and marine policies and UN SDGs. Outcomes — expert feedback, recorded sessions, and project-led research — informed three papers on CS data standardisation and policy integration, now published (one pending review), offering practical recommendations to embed CS in legislation, strengthen SDG reporting, and enhance participatory decision-making.
The ECSA workshop also led to the creation of the ECSA Aquatic Ecosystems & CS Working Group, co-chaired by three consortium members, to advance collaboration on CS standardisation in aquatic ecosystems.
OTTERS embedded CS in transformative initiatives through co-design exercises and surveys with diverse stakeholders, identifying pathways to scale up CS. A repository of past and ongoing campaigns guided pilot Spring-to-Sea campaigns in Portugal, Italy, and Armenia. Tested guidebooks were consolidated into a final toolkit on water stewardship, with additional activities in the Netherlands, Greece, Ukraine, and Israel.
To promote ocean literacy, OTTERS organised European and local workshops, two summer schools (Greece 2024, Portugal 2025), and national-language trainings. Two online courses and an Armenian toolkit were produced, and Armenian schools secured a ProBleu grant. These efforts culminated in the OTTERS Waves of Change conference and published abstracts.
For long-term access, the CS Resource Hub was launched on the OTTERS and eu-citizen.science platforms. Over 30 months, OTTERS engaged at high-profile events (UNOC3, Digital Ocean Fora, European Ocean Days, CS4Water, ECSA), disseminating results, promoting best practices, and advancing Mission Ocean. Building on these foundations, partners launched new projects such as CS-MACH1 to create a marine citizen science data network.