Between 3 and 6 March 2026, Sofie Meuus and Quentin Groom took part in the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) conference in Oulu, Finland and presented OneSTOP with a poster. 

The topic of the conference, Citizen Science: Bridging Centre and Periphery, highlighted the diversity across regions and explored citizen science’s vital connections to sustainability, culture, history, political and legal systems, resources, public health and more. 

In this context, OneSTOP’s poster presented how the successful UK-based citizen science initiative PlantAlert will be expanded to four additional European countries through OneSTOP Living Labs. By integrating PlantAlert data streams into OneSTOP’s early warning and rapid response system, Living Labs can help foster long-term participant engagement, support co-design of monitoring technologies, and strengthen the interface between citizen science and biodiversity management, demonstrating how public participation can play a vital role in safeguarding Europe’s ecosystems.  

In addition, during the conference, OneSTOP participants also took part in key discussions on topics such as: 

• Diversifying citizen science by engaging communities underrepresented in research, recognising different forms of knowledge, and designing projects that are meaningful and accessible across cultures, geographies, and social contexts;

• The ways artificial intelligence is transforming citizen science through tools like AI-powered identification tools, automated monitoring, and data processing and the issues raised by these technologies;

• Structural inequalities that shape who can participate in citizen science and how they can be addressed; and

• Data sovereignty questions centered around who owns the data collected through citizen science, who benefits from it, and how to balance openness with respect for local rights, sensitivities, and governance structures.