About THRIVE

Bringing Europe’s citizen science community together

THRIVE is a three-year project, funded by the EU, that aims to bring together Europe’s fragmented citizen science community into a strong, inclusive and lasting network that supports biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring and helps inform EU environmental policies.

Our aims

What THRIVE will do

THRIVE will broaden participation by deploying tailored engagement strategies, unify the biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring communities into an inclusive, pan-European network, empower stakeholders through capacity-building and incentives, connect citizen science data with policy needs, compile best practices and interoperable tools, and implement scalable methodologies through practice cases.

Guided by nature connectedness, these efforts will not only foster stronger partnerships and inspire people to act, but also deliver a durable step change in how citizen science contributes to biodiversity and ecosystem resilience across Europe and beyond.

Broaden

BROADEN the participation landscape by identifying and engaging actors who are affected by biodiversity and climate change but are not participating in citizen science. We will map (invisible) barriers and co-design tailored engagement strategies to foster broader participation. Campaigns and outreach will foster nature connectedness and raise awareness of biodiversity and ecosystem services observation for climate action.

Unify

UNIFY the biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring actors (including citizen science initiatives, scientific experts, policy officers and citizens) into a pan-European network. We will map stakeholders across the data value chain, engage them through co-designed agendas, and coordinate with Horizon Europe projects and flagship EU initiatives. This will create long-lasting partnerships by fostering joint agency towards common goals alongside tailored events towards local agendas.

Empower

EMPOWER stakeholders through capacity-building and tailored incentives. We will assess training needs, design a capacity-building portfolio, and develop train-the-trainer modules for community champions. Incentives for sustainable engagement, such as badges and recognition schemes, will be integrated and tested in training, workshops and practice cases.

Connect

CONNECT biodiversity regulations and official indicators with citizen science data. This will enable citizen science initiatives to contribute to official policy monitoring schemes. By showing how local involvement contributes to EU goals, we strengthen the capacity of citizen science to contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring, and thus to climate adaptation and mitigation.

Compile

COMPILE an inventory of citizen science tools and best practices for data collection, analysis, sharing and usage. This inventory will promote accessible and interoperable standards validated by experts and practice cases. Identified gaps will guide the co-creation of metadata standards, data flows and learning modules focused on data handling.

Implement

IMPLEMENT methodologies for scaling systematic citizen science biodiversity observation and impact through practice cases. These will test THRIVE best practices in engagement, policy uptake, standards and data flows, and gather lessons learned for wider replication.

Our methodology

From scattered efforts to a thriving network

Across Europe, thousands of people already record the nature around them. But their efforts are often small, short-lived and hard to connect, and their data rarely reaches the people making decisions about nature. THRIVE changes that: our approach rests on one key assumption – people who feel connected to nature look after it.

01
Mapping
We find out what already exists: the tools, training, policies and communities, and where the gaps and barriers are. Everything we learn is shared openly through the European Citizen Science platform, citizenscience.eu.
02
Consolidating
We turn what we’ve learned into things people can use: practical training, harmonised tools and data flows, and workflows that connect citizen science to official monitoring.
03
Scaling
We put it all to work in 7 real-world practice cases, from tracking invasive species across Europe to restoring marine habitats, and share what works so others can follow.