An Ecosystem of Citizen Observatories for Environmental Monitoring

Project Information

WeObserve

Grant agreement ID: 776740

DOI

10.3030/776740

Project closed

EC signature date 27 October 2017

Start date 1 December 2017

End date 31 March 2021

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 1 069 507,50

EU contribution

€ 1 069 507,50

Coordinated by

INTERNATIONALES INSTITUT FUER ANGEWANDTE SYSTEMANALYSE
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - WeObserve (An Ecosystem of Citizen Observatories for Environmental Monitoring)

Reporting period: 2019-06-01 to 2021-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The WeObserve mission was to create an ecosystem of Citizen Observatories (COs) to help move citizen science (CS) into the mainstream and demonstrate COs as a valuable component of managing environmental challenges and empowering resilient communities.

WeObserve applied several key instruments to target, connect and coordinate relevant stakeholders: fostering communities of practice (CoPs) to strengthen and consolidate the current knowledge base of COs; expanding the geographical reach to different target groups via toolkits, a Massive Open Online Course, roadshows on COs for flood risk management, hackathons, and an Open Data Challenge; and actively forging links with GEOSS, Copernicus and the UN SDG framework.

WeObserve demonstrated the great value of Coordination and Support Action projects for the consolidation of knowledge and insights as well as exploitation and amplification of Innovation Actions (IA) and Research and Innovation Actions (RIA). Furthermore, WeObserve managed to reach and engage a considerable range of communities, end-users, participants and contributors with the topic of Citizen Observatories through targeted high-quality activities. Finally, the different acts of network building within WeObserve already enabled several follow-up and expansion activities and is considered a key output with anticipated, long-lasting benefits.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The WeObserve project was highly productive. Some of WeObserve’s key outputs are:
- Lessons learnt and recommendations: CO Landscape Reports, Academic papers, Interoperability Experiment report, WeObserve innovation and research Roadmap, Policy Briefs
- Synthesis of approaches, tools and open data/software: MOOC, Toolkit, Cookbook, Knowledge base, Github repository

Three iterations of the WeObserve MOOC ‘Citizen Science Projects: How to make a difference’ were successfully delivered attracting a review rating of 4.8/5 by learners. The course attracted more than 2100 enrolments from 102 countries, more than 1400 of which were new learners on the FutureLearn platform. The course is now open for a full additional year (March 2021-Feb 2022). Additionally, the MOOC is transferred onto the EU-Citizen Science platform as one of its main training courses.

The WeObserve Open Data Challenge prepared and published previously inaccessible data from four CO projects. Over 44 teams from across the world with a total of 62 participants joined the activity. Three Roadshow events were held in Barcelona, Scotland and Slovenia with more than 100 participants in total.

The four WeObserve CoPs brought together 240+ people from 40+ countries in 70+ CoP’s meetings, including 6 CoP forums. Additionally, 25+ events/conference sessions were organised virtually and in 10+ countries. Several publications were produced with global uptake of results.

WeObserve also organised additional events to foster networking and data and knowledge exchange (CO4EO workshops, CS challenges as part of the Dubrovnik INSPIRE Hackathon, WeObserve conference, amongst others).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

WeObserve improved coordination between existing environmental COs and relevant activities at regional, European and international levels (Impact 1) through Communities of Practice, WeObserve events and conferences (CO4EO workshops, INSPIRE hackathon challenges, WeObserve Roadshows, WeObserve Conference) and other coordination activities (MOOC, Toolkit, Cookbook, Open Data Challenge, links with OGC, GEO and Copernicus, etc). Overall, the project had high public visibility presenting activities, insights and results at 40+ events (conferences, webinars and other high-level fora).

The Interop-CoP linked with OGC, and data communities; the SDGs-CoP established a working network at global level, produced scientific papers with demonstrated policy impact; the Co-design/Engage and Impact CoPs consolidated insights from COs and CS projects internationally.

WeObserve greatly expanded the geographical coverage and use of environmental CO (Impact 2) through the WeObserve MOOC (2100+ learners from 107 countries, 1000+ downloads tools), WeObserve CoPs (240+ participants in 40+ countries), the Open Data Challenge (44 registrations, 22+ countries across the globe), the CS challenges of the INSPIRE Hackathon (35 participants, 22 countries), amongst others.

The expanded use of outputs was further supported via communication channels (April 2021): 14 journal publications with 31.5k+ article accesses, 115+ citations; WeObserve Toolkit and Cookbook; 25+ policy documents, conference papers and posters, technical and other reports etc: 1,100+ unique views and 700+ downloads (WeObserve Zenodo page); WeObserve toolkit: 1000+ downloads.

Activities from the Interop-CoP and OGC Citizen Science Domain Working Group supported the wider dissemination and uptake of data management and preservation strategies (Impact 3). The 1st OGC Citizen Science Interoperability Experiment and report on the use of standards and best practices for CS data provided interoperability standards that were adopted by the Earth Challenge 2020. A 2nd report describes the adoption of standard formats and data models for improved CS dataset sharing and usability.

To increase opportunities for SMEs and business (Impact 4), WeObserve organised activities and an online marketplace. More than 80 SMEs were involved in CS challenges of the INSPIRE Hackathon, the Open Data Challenge, Copernicus pilot, the WeObserve Roadshows, CO4EO workshops and webinars. The Open Data Challenge facilitated the investigation and use of CO datasets to develop prototypes for services and downstream applications. The Copernicus pilots identified opportunities for SMEs and businesses to contribute to the Copernicus Land Use monitoring service.

WeObserve Roadshow events in Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Scotland (150+ participants) improved awareness and use of COs by environmental risk and emergency managers (Impact 5). They built on the local flooding context and showcased the effective use of a CO in flood risk management of the Brenta-Bacchiglione river basin.

Continuous attendance in GEO(SS) and OGC meetings and other activities promoted the value added of the adoption of CS into EO initiatives (Impact 6). The adoption of CS data as a requirement is under discussion for next tenders for the Copernicus Land Service.

Finally, WeObserve strengthened the leading role for Europe in the integration and uptake of CS in GEOSS and implementing the SDGs (Impact 7) via the EuroGEO 2019 Citizen Science roadmap "The Lisbon Declaration''. It provides a roadmap for the European contribution of CS and COs in GEOSS, which was highlighted in the statement of the EC to the GEO plenary for the GEO week 2020. Furthermore, WeObserve supported key activities in the field of CS through the SDGs-CoP and the creation of seminal publications on CS and the SDGs, which have reached 31k+ article accesses, 115+ citations (April 2021). Results of the SDGs-CoP mapping study were presented during the UN-SPBF 2021 and included in the official forum summary report, which informed UNEA-5, the world’s highest level decision-making body on the environment. The same results underpin efforts in Ghana to implement CS with SDG monitoring in a pilot project and SDG-CoP members contributed to the methodology development for the SDG marine litter indicator (14.1.1b) which now recommends CS as primary data source for marine litter monitoring.

WeObserve Overview