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Short Abstract

As war devastates Ukraine’s environment, hybrid citizen science (CS) emerges as a resilience practice, enabling communities to document damage and seek justice. Based on 8 student-led projects, this contribution shows how hybrid collaboration adapts CS to conflict, revealing strengths and challenges

Abstract

The ongoing war in Ukraine has inflicted severe damage on the country’s natural heritage, disrupting ecological research and amplifying risks for affected communities and ecosystems. In this context, hybrid citizen science (CS) has emerged as a resilience-driven practice, enabling communities to document environmental destruction, advocate for justice, and contribute to accountability and peacebuilding. This contribution explores how CS can adapt to conflict conditions through the lens of hybrid collaboration, defined as the interplay between face-to-face and digitally mediated participation.

Drawing on eight student-led CS actions conducted between March and June 2025 under the GROMADA Erasmus+ project, the contribution examines how hybrid modalities supported collaboration among university students in and beyond Ukraine. Using a qualitative approach and a SWOT framework, the contribution is based on research -that has been conducted by authors- to capture students’ pre- and post-project perceptions of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Findings reveal that digital tools, such as Telegram, played a pivotal role in sustaining communication, coordination, and data sharing, thereby mitigating barriers created by displacement, infrastructure damage, and safety risks.

At the same time, challenges such as unstable internet, reduced face-to-face interaction, and concerns over participant safety highlighted the fragility of such practices and the need for ethical safeguards. By situating hybrid CS in a conflict-affected context, this contribution demonstrates how innovative collaborative models can strengthen scientific inquiry, support environmental monitoring, and empower civic engagement, offering new insights into the role of CS in areas shaped by crisis and armed conflict.