06.10.2026 –, Room 1 Sprache: English
Scaling up a citizen science initiative from one country to the European scale is not only a scientific challenge, but also a huge communication experiment. In this talk, I reflect on lessons learned from the pan-European campaign “Looking for Cowslips”, which engaged participants in 31 countries in plant observations. I provide insights into what enables and what constrains effective communication in a transboundary citizen science campaign.
Based on interviews, questionnaires and discussion groups with campaign co-organisers from all over Europe, we identified key facilitators and barriers of (i) internal communication during the coordination of the campaign as well as of (ii) external communication with public across diverse European regions. We found that communication challenges are often structural. In particular, communication and public engagement proved challenging for researchers, often much more challenging than was assumed in the beginning of the campaign. Researchers often lack time, resources or training for sustained and active communication needed in citizen science campaigns. Furthermore, despite the increasing recognition of the importance of science communication, researchers are still not strongly rewarded for communication or public engagement. On the other hand, environmental non-governmental organizations – another important group involved in the coordination of the initiative – were much better equipped for communication by having skills, knowledge, experience, platforms and network necessary to engage the public.
We also observed that in addition to the ecological characteristics of the focal species and its habitat in the different regions of Europe, the key aspects that need to be considered for planning effective communication in transboundary citizen science projects include various socio-cultural factors, such as the traditions related to citizen science in different countries as well as local knowledge systems.
In conclusion, our results highlight the critical role of collaboration, particularly between academic institutions, environmental non-governmental organisations as “communication enablers” and national co-organisers, in adapting communication strategies to local contexts. Our case study also illustrates how differences in language, institutional settings and cultural expectations affect participation, engagement and dialogue between research community and society across countries. We hope that these insights contribute to a better understanding of how pan-European initiatives can be designed to support inclusive and effective public participation, while also highlighting structural barriers that hinder effective communication between academia and wider society.
I am an ecologist and the lead of the Pollination Ecology Workgroup at the University of Tartu, Estonia. My research integrates landscape ecology, conservation genomics and citizen science to study the ecological and evolutionary consequences of habitat change for plant diversity, genetic variation and plant–pollinator interactions. I initiated and led the pan-European citizen science initiative ‘Looking for Cowslips’, developed from fundamental research questions within our group. I also collaborate with social scientists to better understand the human dimensions of land-use change and biodiversity.