Scent has developed a programme of resources to train different groups in using the Scent Toolbox and organising data collection campaigns in their area. The materials have been created with the needs of different users in mind, such as citizens, environmental organisations scientists and researchers, policymakers and local authorities. The programmes were piloted with citizens and authorities during field campaigns in the Danube Delta and the Attica region of Greece. Read the descriptions and access the materials below. 

Scent has developed training presentations for local authorities explaining how to use Scent Campaign Manager to organise a Scent campaign and the Scent Toolbox apps to collect and manage important environmental data. The presentations were tested with agencies responsible for the environment, water management and civil protection, including the Environmental Agency of Tulcea and Flood Defence Emergy Office in Romania, and the Minitry of the Environment and directorate responsible for civil protection and development planning in the Region of Attica, Greece. 

Download the presentations here including:

• General presentation of the Scent project 
• Modelling in the case study area 
• Campaigns of data collection 
• Scent Campaign Manager 
• Scent Explore

Scent has developed training presentations for local authorities explaining how to use Scent Campaign Manager to organise a Scent campaign and the Scent Toolbox apps to collect and manage important environmental data. The presentations were tested with agencies responsible for the environment, water management and civil protection, including the Environmental Agency of Tulcea and Flood Defence Emergy Office in Romania, and the Minitry of the Environment and directorate responsible for civil protection and development planning in the Region of Attica, Greece. 

Download the presentations here including:

• General presentation of the Scent project 
• Modelling in the case study area 
• Campaigns of data collection 
• Scent Campaign Manager 
• Scent Explore

The Scent Cookbook was developed as a guide for organising your own Scent citizen science campaign. Based on the findings and experience from the Scent pilot campaigns organised in Romania and Greece, the Cookbook provides guidance on issues covering recruiting volunteers, planning logistics, setting up the Scent Toolbox and utilising the data. The Cookbook will be made available soon. 

ScentVR (Scent VR Training) is the winning app developed by Riccardo Bandera of Curtel Games during the SCENT Appathon to help citizens and environmental users to master their technique of capturing data using Scent Explore. ScentVR is a virtual reality mobile app providing a test suite consisting of three scenarios, through which a user can practice their technique in capturing videos. The application checks if the user is following all the data collection guidelines, corrects them when they are not, and provides them with informative messages to improve technique. 

Download ScentVR for android here. 

The resources above have been especially developed to help all types of users organise a campaign and collect crowdsourced data. Scent has also produced a number of other resources which support the Scent Training Programme, and are also valuable resources for people interested in organising their own citizen science initiative. 

• Scent has published scientific publications in academic journals reporting the technical breakthroughs and results of the Scent project. Read the publications here. 
• In cooperation with its sister projects LandSense, GroundTruth 2.0, GROW Observatory and WeObserve, Scent has produced a policy brief entitled ‘Citizen Observatories: A voice for citizens in environmental monitoring’ providing recommendations for policymakers for supporting citizen science invitiatves. Click here to read the policy brief. 
• Scent has created an Education Programme targeting school children between the ages of 11 and 12 to educate them about the importance of citizen science and environmental monitoring in their local environment through a dynamic lesson plan. Download the teacher’s guide and lesson plans here.  

Welcome Session

The Showcase was opened on 20 June by Eleni Velgaki, Director within the Region of Attica; Angelos Amditis, Scent Project Coordinator; and Izabela Freytag, EASME Project Advisor at the European Commission, who commended the project for making science and data accessible for all and for harnessing citizen science to make a positive different for the future. 

Smart Technologies for Citizen-Driven Flood Monitoring and Management

“The data collected by citizens must be easy to find and accessible to support its future use”, said Valantis Tsiaskos, Scent Project Manager. The panel, also including Stefano Tamascelli, XTeam Solutions; Joseph Shtok, IBM Research; Ioana Popescu, IHE-Delft; and Valantis Tsiakos, ICCS, discussed how the Scent Toolbox technologies engage citizens in collecting information about the environment, and use machine-learning to transform this data into flood models and standardised resources. 

Interactive Demonstration: The Scent Toolbox

Daniele Miorandi, U-Hopper, shared  how the Scent Toolbox helps to gather citizen-generated data and translates it into resources to help policymakers make better decisions. Throughout the Interactive Demonstration, people could test out tools such as Scent Measure. Citizens use portable sensors together with Scent Measure to record and measure changes in soil conditions. Other Scent Toolbox components on display included Scent Campaign Manager, Scent Map Segmentation and Delineation, and Learn with Scent.

Roundtable: Challenges and Enables of Citizen Science in Flood Monitoring and Management 

Panellists discussed challenges and enablers of citizen science in flood monitoring and management. THe panel included researchers and policymakers from Greece and Romania, each bringing a new perspective to why people engage in citizen science and how to sustain that engagement. They were all in agreement that people need to see they are having an impact and can help by contributing to something greater. Izabel Freytag, from the European Commission, affirmed “There are many solutions and good examples. We can learn from other citizen science initiatives and educate people, starting with existing communities.”

Citizen Science Success Stories and Lessons Learned from Upscaling Such Initiatives

This discussion led into a session focused on success stories and lessons learned from other citizen science initiatives. Partners from LandSense, WeObserve Ecosystem, GROW Observatory, SMURBS, and HRTA from Scent each shared about how their projects have engaged citizens to become citizen scientists. Panelists were clear that data sharing is key to future developments in the field.

Field Trip to the Kifisos River Basin

On 21 June, participants were brought on a field trip to the Kifisos river basin, where participants were able to test the new Scent apps in a live Scent citizen science campaign. Participants were guided along the river bank where they used Scent Explore to gather data, such as land-use/land-cover images, water velocity measurements and river parameter measurements. Using the Scent Measure app and a portable sensor, the participants took measurements of soil moisture and air temperature at points of environmental interest. The information they gathered helps to create flood models for the river basin. 

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Presentations 

Technical Posters

Scent is looking for enthusiastic developers to take part in the Scent Appathon and to compete in the rapid development of a new smartphone application. Participants will be tasked to build an app that can train citizen scientists how to better use the Scent Explore app. Scent Explore is a fun, new mobile gaming app developed by the Scent project, to incentivise citizens to explore nature and report changes in their local environment. Citizens use Scent Explore to capture hidden Scent creatures and collect valuable information about water velocity by taking short videos of objects floating down rivers. You can download Scent Explore here.

Participants are requested to develop an app that can teach citizens the best technique for capturing these videos. The app should allow users to practice their technique and provide feedback, tips and corrections on how to improve their skills. By improving citizens’ video technique, the winning app will support the collection of higher-quality data that is used by the Scent researchers to create models for the management and prevention of flooding!

You can view the presentation from our webinars here.

If you have any questions, you can also email appathon@scent-project.eu.