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Short Abstract

The paper presents insights on academia-business-society collaboration against water scarcity resulting from the implementation of citizen science initiatives and climate services in four EU countries, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece and Slovenia, within the EU-funded Acting4Water project.

Abstract

In the Anthropocene era, in which human-induced environmental degradation and climate emergency are causing unprecedented repercussions to natural and human habitats (Zalasiewicz et al., 2024), calls for immediate action taking bring to the fore the need for collective, cross-sectoral and multistakeholder collaboration (Rudebeck, 2022). It is within this context that we explore citizen science initiatives addressing water scarcity, a pressing climate-related challenge, with a focus on how these initiatives can contribute to more inclusive climate services, especially in underrepresented communities (e.g. inhabitants of Limnos island in Greece).

This contribution presents findings from a series of citizen science actions against water scarcity implemented in four EU countries, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, and Slovenia, from March to August 2025. By focusing on multistakeholder (academia-business-society) collaboration dynamics of these initiatives, the presentation will analyse:

a) Citizen participation levels, based on the Shirk et al. (2012) typology, and

b) Multistakeholder collaboration models and technologies used, and

c) Their role in society-oriented and demand-driven climate services.

By emphasizing co-production with citizens, these initiatives demonstrate how local needs, lived experiences, and diverse knowledge systems can shape climate responses. The presentation argues for embedding citizen science within the design of climate services, enabling more cross-sectoral, context-sensitive, and community-responsive approaches to climate adaptation, especially in regions such as the Mediterranean, where water scarcity intersects with social vulnerability.

The citizen science initiatives presented in this contribution are part of the EU-funded project “Acting4Water” (Tackling water scarcity by using advanced technologies in business-academia-society cooperation, 2023-2026, Project number: 2023-1-NL01-KA220-HED-000157009).

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Cròniques de la Calor engaged 439 residents across five Barcelona neighbourhoods to study urban heat. Through 48 thermal walks with sensors and surveys, participants generated a unique dataset linking microclimatic data and thermal perceptions, informing urban planning and climate adaptation.

Abstract

Cròniques de la Calor (Heat Chronicles) is a citizen science project that investigates urban heat and thermal perception across five neighbourhoods in the Barcelona metropolitan area. In collaboration with 14 non-academic partner organizations, we engaged 439 residents as co-researchers across all stages of the research process. Participants—living in areas classified as highly climate-vulnerable—identified 210 public outdoor sites of relevance in their daily activity. Sites were characterized using spatial and environmental indicators linked to climate resilience. Over the course of 48 thermal walks, residents carried portable low-cost sensors that continuously recorded air temperature, relative humidity, and geolocation, generating 296,286 processed microclimatic data points. At pre-defined sites, participants also completed surveys reporting their Thermal Sensation Votes and Thermal Comfort Votes, producing 5,169 self-reported entries. Sociodemographic data provided further context to these subjective responses. The resulting dataset enabled point-by-point analysis of thermal experience within the urban fabric. With particular attention to children and adolescents, the project identified age- and gender-dependent trends in thermal perception. Additional insights revealed significant patterns between subjective heat perception and the vegetation index and the sky view factor and highlighted key public outdoor sites—including primary care centres, public transport hubs, sports facilities, and parks—especially vulnerable to extreme heat. Thermal walks have had the capacity to deliver informed evidence-based recommendations for urban planning, public health, and climate adaptation. It demonstrates how citizen science can support multi-level decision-making, from municipalities to neighbourhood associations and schools, while amplifying the voices of those most affected by climate vulnerability.

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Thermo-staat is a bottom-up project to address indoor heat stress. We experimented with equal collaborations between citizens and journalism. By combining local knowledge, low-cost sensing, and policy dialogue, it increased awareness & shaped more inclusive strategies for climate adaptation.

Abstract

Many Dutch rental homes heat up considerably during the summer, leading to physical and mental complaints known as heat stress. These risks are often overlooked in conventional climate services, which focus on outdoor forecasts rather than indoor living conditions.

Thermo-staat is a bottom-up initiative that reimagines climate services by centring the experiences of residents, many living in social and other rented housing disproportionately affected by heat stress. In this project, residents joined forces with scientists from TU Delft, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, investigative journalists from VPRO Argos, and experts from Waag Futurelab to examine the health and environmental impacts of indoor overheating.

A hallmark of the project is its innovative, equal collaboration between the public and journalism. Journalists partially opened their investigative process, enabling residents to engage directly with research questions, identify knowledge gaps, and shape the narrative. Citizen scientists were supported in mapping indoor temperatures and humidity using low-cost sensors and contributed experiential data through a shared digital platform. This continuous interaction allowed residents to clarify findings, guide journalistic inquiries, and link data to their daily realities.

The project demonstrates how local knowledge and co-produced data can reveal inequities in vulnerability and influence adaptation strategies. By bridging lived experience, investigative reporting, and scientific research, Thermo-staat functioned as a citizen-driven climate service, empowering residents to engage with housing associations and municipalities.

This case highlights the transformative potential of co-producing climate services with citizen groups, making them more inclusive, demand-driven, and responsive to those most affected by climate change.

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The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the value of incorporating evaluation into the process of co-produced research in pursuit of climate services, whether or not evaluation is a formally required component of funding.

Abstract

We aim to spur interest in and expand the use of evaluation throughout the climate change and climate services scientific community. We use a case study from Southeast Alaska in the United States of the Ellam Yua co-production model implemented among a research center at a large public university and three leadership entities in a small remote community with a majority Alaska Native population. After describing the community of Kake, Alaska, and our climate research partnership, we describe our experiences with evaluation and share what we learned through the process of evaluation, specifically that local workforce development and healing from trauma were significant aspects of project success. This case study shows how important evaluation is for documenting, analyzing, and planning for multiple definitions of success and implementing equitably co-produced research. It also underscores the significance of expanding typical conceptions of climate services to include a more holistic view of using Indigenous priorities and values to support local capacity-building and psychological benefits. Building generalized capacities locally to respond to climate-related stressors was a key part of climate services for our team. Only through Indigenous evaluation did the Kake Climate Partnership partners realize the full transformative potential of the Ellam Yua co-produced research process – to produce climate services and to uncover new understandings of what climate services can be for communities.

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Citizen Science can empower marginalised communities in shaping Nature-Based Solutions. The Trans-Lighthouses project applies participatory methods to ensure inclusive, just, and caring governance models that strengthen community agency and diverse knowledge.

Abstract

Citizen Science (CS) creates opportunities to empower marginalised communities by placing citizens at the centre of knowledge production and decision-making. Its transformative potential, however, relies on practices that are equitable, inclusive, and sensitive to diverse local contexts. The Trans-Lighthouses project (https://trans-lighthouses.eu) addresses this challenge by embedding CS and participatory methods throughout the full lifecycle of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS): co-diagnosis, co-design, co-implementation, and co-evaluation. An ethic of care underpins this approach, emphasising respect, trust, and attentiveness to participants’ needs. Care-oriented recruitment is particularly critical, as it determines whose voices are heard and how communities are represented. Rather than treating recruitment as a one-time step, the project views it as a continuous practice of outreach and relationship-building. This involves actively engaging groups who are often excluded from environmental governance, fostering representation, and creating safe spaces where multiple forms of knowledge are recognised and valued. In the co-diagnosis stage, CS ensures that local perspectives on environmental and social challenges are brought forward. During co-design, it allows proposed NBS to align with community priorities and cultural contexts. In co-implementation, inclusive participation strengthens ownership and shared responsibility. Finally, co-evaluation integrates diverse citizen perspectives, enabling more just assessments of outcomes while reflecting on inclusivity, justice, and sustainability. By embedding ethics of care into recruitment and engagement across all stages, Trans-Lighthouses shows how CS can advance socially and ecologically just NBS. This approach not only addresses challenges of inclusivity and representation but also strengthens community agency, amplifies marginalised voices, and supports more just, equitable futures.

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School-based, co-constructive Citizen Science enables youth to actively shape the local mobility transition. Using digital geomedia and sensor tools, students in the “Mobility Transition in Essen” project generate evidence-based insights that inform urban planning and foster their civic engagement.

Abstract

Youth participation in societal decision-making—especially regarding socio-ecological transformations such as the mobility transition—is legally recognized but remains sporadic in practice. Young people, as primary users of bicycles, provide valuable expertise and innovative ideas for shaping sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions. Embedding Citizen Science approaches in schools offers opportunities to empower youth as knowledge co-producers in locally relevant contexts, strengthening their competencies, political self-efficacy, and role as active citizens. The DBU-funded project 'Mobility Transition in Essen' specifically examines how school-based, co-constructive Citizen Science can contribute to inclusive and socially grounded climate services by engaging students in the co-production of evidence-based sustainable and safe urban mobility concepts. Using digital geomedia and sensor-based tools (e.g., the developed senseBox:bike), participating students collected and analyzed data on their daily cycling routes, including traffic information (e.g., overtaking distances, road vibrations) and environmental conditions (e.g., air pollution, temperature). The results provided spatially grounded insights into everyday mobility challenges and local urban climate, which students shared with and discussed alongside policymakers and urban planners to inform and improve mobility transition strategies. The project demonstrates how integrating school-based, data-driven Citizen Science into local decision-making can bridge the gap between citizens—particularly young people—and political actors. By combining experiential knowledge with digital data and scientific methods, students became active contributors to urban transformation, making their perspectives visible in real policy contexts.

Lessons learned from this pilot project include empirically derived success factors for fostering co-production, digital participation, and collaboration across educational and political settings. Moreover, the project shows that such involvement not only supports the development of evidence-based and socially inclusive mobility solutions but also raises awareness and fosters sustained engagement of young people in socio-ecological transformation processes.

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A database of citizen science projects on air quality reveals how participatory and sensor-use models shape data quality, inclusivity and impacts. These aspects, rarely assessed together, can guide future projects to broaden their effectiveness and the use of co-produced data into climate services.

Abstract

One way to examine the gap between citizens and climate service providers is by considering relationships formed among participants in citizen science microclimate monitoring projects. We hypothesise that the forms, issues, and needs present during data collection may be closely tied to the uses citizens would make of climate services. Therefore, practices on the monitoring side can provide valuable guidance for the service side.

Our study reviews 89 CS projects on air quality and microclimate monitoring, focusing on how sensor-use schemes influence social, scientific, and environmental outcomes. Two main configurations emerge: (1) sensors purchased/built by groups involved in environmental disputes, and (2) devices loaned/distributed freely within structured project frameworks. Assuming a third, less-documented model, where individuals purchase/build sensors for personal use, we propose a different hypothesis: a free lending scheme for personal initiatives of users, which could reduce entry barriers (economic, technical, data literacy) and enhance inclusivity and participation in climate information systems. These citizen-generated air quality data can inform local adaptation strategies and climate services, supporting community resilience to environmental risks.

By comparing these configurations, we show that careful design is crucial for achieving each CS project’s goals, from fostering high-quality scientific data production to expanding policy action, while also planning inclusive and effective climate information systems. Recognising citizens as co-producers of climate knowledge, we argue for collaborative frameworks that balance participation, data consistency and social impact. These insights will inform the development of initiatives that can strategically support climate services, highlighting the need to look beyond participation, towards practical configurations shaping citizens’ involvement.

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Citizens (Indigenous Rangers, residents and farmers) are contributing critical data and information to a collaborative environmental flows project. The co-produced data are accessed via an interactive web map. Participants are surveyed to describe their learnings and experiences from the project.

Abstract

Environmental flows are implemented in many countries to mitigate the negative impacts of river regulation on river ecosystems. Environmental flows are delivered to support river, wetland, and floodplain ecosystems in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in Australia. Monitoring, evaluation, and research of environmental flows is undertaken through the Australian Government’s Flow-MER Program.

Citizen scientists (Indigenous River Rangers, local residents and farmers) are contributing critical flow data in the Mid-Murray catchment by recording water depth on static gauges in locations where there are no automated gauges. The data collected by the citizens complements depth and flow data recorded by automated hydrometric stations at other sites. The project provides information that is used by scientists, irrigators and the broader community. The co-produced data can be accessed on a user-friendly interactive web-based map, along with other monitoring data from the area.

In addition to contributing data for the evaluation of environmental flows, this collaborative and inclusive project aims to increase citizen’s knowledge of hydrology and environmental flows. Evaluation includes 1) a short questionnaire that participants are encouraged to complete multiple times over the project, and 2) qualitative interviews with a selection of participants to gather in-depth stories. Topics explored include: Did the project increase citizens knowledge? Did the citizens access and use the co-produced data? What are the key lessons regarding improving the public understanding of hydrology and environmental flows? What were the experiences of citizens from their involvement in this collaborative project?