The 2024 award winners

The European Union Prize for Citizen Science – Grand Prize, worth 60,000 euros, goes to the INCREASE initiative, which is dedicated to research into the cultivation of European legumes. The aim is to create knowledge about local crops and their diversity in order to increase agricultural benefits.

The Digital Communities Award (20,000 euros) is awarded to the CoAct for Mental Health campaign, which has found ways to include include people with mental health problems in research that directly impacts their lives.

The Diversity & Collaboration Award (20,000 euros) is awarded to the SeaPaCS project, which collects data on plastic pollution in the oceans in order to be able to develop sustainable counter-strategies.

In addition, there are 27 Honorary Mentions.

Support for Citizen Science Initiatives

Citizen Science makes a significant contribution to a vibrant civil society – and this is fortunately also being perceived by an increasingly broad public. The European Commission wants to further promote this development and underline the importance of Citizen Science, not least for the sustainability of our society. The new “European Union Prize for Citizen Science”, which will be awarded for the first time in 2023, is an expression of this concern. The annual prize recognizes outstanding initiatives that put research, innovation, commitment and creativity at the service of our society, empowering us as individuals and strengthening us as a community.

What is Citizen Science?

Citizen Science describes “the general public engagement in scientific research activities when citizens actively contribute to science either with their intellectual effort or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources” (European Commission, 2014). Citizen Science projects are scientific projects that are partly or entirely driven by interested and committed laypersons or practical experts. These “Citizen Scientists” formulate research questions, report observations, carry out measurements, evaluate data or write publications – always in compliance with scientific criteria. Read the IMPETUS definition of Citizen Science to learn more about how Citizen Science is defined within the context of the European Union Prize for Citizen Science.