Recording environmental data during armed conflicts and in their aftermath is vital for the protection of people and ecosystems. However, conflicts often disrupt national monitoring programmes, where they exist, or render areas inaccessible to researchers. In response, CEOBS is exploring the potential of participatory citizen science methodologies to contribute towards data collection on environmental harm and risks in conflict and post-conflict contexts.
To date we have worked with academia to explore this conceptual framework for “civilian science”. This has reviewed where gaps in data collection exist, how data could be distributed and utilised, how it could complement remote sensing and formal environmental assessments, and how participatory community research could help empower communities affected by armed conflicts. We have also assessed different low-cost technologies and how they could be used to monitor different forms of harm.
In 2024 our first collaborative project was launched, focusing on citizen science, international law and environmental accountability in Ukraine: the GROMADA project. And in 2025 we helped establish the European Citizen Science Association’s working group on Citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts, which we co-chair.
For more information on our work, or to get involved in the working group, please contact Doug Weir (doug at ceobs.org).
Elaine Donderer reports on the first in-person event of the European Citizen Science Association’s new working group on citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts, which took place at the Association’s 2026 conference at the University of Oulu, Finland.
The European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) has launched a new working group to explore and promote the use of citizen science in areas affected by armed conflicts. Anna Berti Suman and Doug Weir explain why it has been launched and how people can contribute.
As part of the GROMADA project CEOBS developed and hosted an online hackathon to identify citizen science opportunities to track water quality issues linked to the war in Ukraine. In this post, the team report on the event and its results.
CEOBS is part of an Erasmus+ funded consortium exploring the potential for participatory environmental research in Ukraine to contribute to environmental protection, legal accountability and community engagement. In this post, Iryna Babanina introduces the project, its aims and outputs to date.
Ми запрошуємо студентів та викладачів українських та закордонних вищих навчальних закладів, а також громадських активістів, до участі в онлайн-хакатоні 13-14 листопада, на якому учасники винаходитимуть рішення у сфері громадянської науки, що стосуватимуться випадків шкоди, спричиненої бойовими діями, які вплинули на якість води в громадах України.
We are looking for Ukrainian and international university students, teaching staff and activists to participate in an online hackathon on November 13-14th 2024 to identify citizen science solutions for war-related incidents that have impacted water quality in Ukrainian communities.
Unless we know how the environment has been harmed during conflicts, planning assistance to people and ecosystems is impossible. Could low cost participatory research help plug the current data collection gap in areas affected by conflicts?
For new and ongoing conflicts across the world, the need to document their impact on civilians and the environment upon which they depend is encouraging the development of new research tools and methodologies. With civilians increasingly able to access the Internet and mobile networks, new opportunities are being created for the collection of environmental data, by experts and civilians alike.
On Friday October 24th the GROMADA project will be holding an afternoon conference in Copenhagen exploring the potential of citizen science for environmental accountability and empowerment in areas affected by armed conflict, informed by its two-year project on Ukraine.
Workshop examining the potential role of citizen science and civic monitoring as part of Ukraine’s environmental recovery.
Workshop report from our session on citizen science in areas affected by armed conflict at 2020’s European Citizen Science Association conference. This report summarises the presentations, follow-on discussions and plans for the way forward.
Paper by CEOBS, Goldsmiths University of London and King’s College London on the potential of civilian science – participatory citizen science methodologies – for environmental data collection in areas affected by armed conflicts.
