From Local Knowledge to Climate Action: Reflections on the 1st ScienceUs Info Day
The ScienceUs Info Day Series officially began with the successful implementation of its 1st Info Day, titled “Citizen Science for Climate Adaptation: Local Knowledge, Education & Community Empowerment.” This inaugural event marked an important milestone for the ScienceUs project, bringing together researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers, and citizen science initiatives working at the intersection of climate adaptation and community engagement.
As climate change impacts increasingly manifest at the local level, effective adaptation requires more than scientific data alone. It requires climate literacy, community participation, and the meaningful integration of local knowledge. The first ScienceUs Info Day was designed to explore exactly these dimensions.
Citizen Science as a Driver for Climate Literacy and Local Adaptation
The Info Day opened with a keynote contribution by Nikos Arslanoglou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ScienceUs), who introduced citizen science as a powerful driver of climate literacy and local adaptation.
The presentation highlighted how participatory approaches enable citizens to better understand climate risks in their own environments and transform observation into informed action. By engaging communities directly in data collection and interpretation, citizen science helps translate complex climate information into knowledge that is locally relevant and actionable.
📄 Presentation: Citizen Science as a Driver for Climate Literacy and Local Adaptation
🔗 Presentation
Education and Empowerment Through Participatory Approaches
The second session focused on education, empowerment, and climate literacy, showcasing how learning processes can support climate adaptation.
Jacqueline Goldin (University of the Western Cape, South Africa) reflected on participatory education as a means of empowering communities to engage critically with climate challenges. Her contribution emphasized the role of inclusive, transdisciplinary learning in building long-term capacity and agency.
This was complemented by insights from the Master’s Programme in Transdisciplinary Studies of Climate, Environment and Energy (TRACEE), which presented educational approaches that integrate scientific knowledge with social, environmental, and governance perspectives.
📄 Presentations:
- Education, Empowerment & Climate Literacy – Jacqueline Goldin
🔗 Presentation - Education for Climate Action: The TRACEE Programme
🔗 Website
Local Knowledge for Adaptation: Communities Co-Creating Solutions
A central theme of the Info Day was the role of local knowledge in shaping effective adaptation strategies.
Marina Mattera (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change – CMCC, Adaptation AGORA project) presented concrete examples of community co-creation, illustrating how local actors contribute essential insights to adaptation planning.
The presentation demonstrated how citizen science initiatives can capture fine-scale climate impacts, support dialogue between communities and institutions, and foster solutions that are both scientifically robust and socially relevant.
📄 Presentation: Local Knowledge for Adaptation: Communities Co-Creating Solutions
🔗 Presentation
From Citizen Science to Policy and Resilience
The final thematic session addressed one of the key challenges in citizen science: ensuring that community-generated knowledge informs policy and resilience planning.
Julià Vicens (Eurecat – Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya, CLIMAS project) explored pathways through which citizen science data can support climate services, policy processes, and resilience strategies. The contribution highlighted the importance of trust, data legitimacy, and collaboration between citizens, researchers, and decision-makers.
📄 Presentation: From Citizen Science to Policy and Resilience
🔗 Presentation
Strengthening the ScienceUs Mission
The 1st Info Day clearly reflected the core mission of ScienceUs: to strengthen citizen science initiatives, enhance climate literacy, and support the integration of local knowledge into climate adaptation processes at local, regional, and European levels.
By fostering dialogue across disciplines and sectors, the event reinforced the role of ScienceUs as a connector between communities, research, and policy, helping ensure that citizen science contributes to meaningful climate action.
What’s Next: The ScienceUs Info Day Series Continues
The first Info Day marked the beginning of a broader conversation that will continue throughout the ScienceUs Info Day Series (2025–2026):
- 30 January 2026
Citizen Science in Action: Recruiting, Motivating & Sustaining Volunteers - 23 February 2026
Citizen Science for Climate Justice and Policy Influence - 18 March 2026
Inclusion, Trust & Data Legitimacy in Citizen Science
Together, these events aim to strengthen the European citizen science ecosystem and support more inclusive, credible, and impactful climate adaptation efforts.
🌍 The journey continues.
ScienceUs remains committed to empowering communities, scaling citizen science initiatives, and transforming local knowledge into climate action.
🔗 Learn more about ScienceUs and upcoming events: https://scienceus-project.eu/scienceus-info-day-series-2025-2026/
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”