Since the Scent Education Programme pilot campaigns began in December 2018, they have proven to be an enormous success in introducing 11-12 year old school students to the importance of environmental monitoring.
The primary focus of the Scent Education Programme is to educate young people about the role that they can play in protecting the environment, developing their capacity as citizen scientists and their knowledge of local, national and international environmental issues.
The Programme equips students with the necessary skills to observe, monitor and take action in their own environments and the feedback thus far has been undeniably positive from both students and teachers alike.
The Scent Education Programme is compatible with current curricula and can be implemented seamlessly in schools, with teachers who participated in our pilots reporting that the content was engaging for their students, easy to organise and age appropriate.
Please feel free to access the Scent Education Programme materials here.
|
Newsletter #7 – Summer 2019
/0 Comments/in Newsletters /by webmasterDear Reader,
Welcome to the seventh issue of the Scent newsletter. Summer has arrived once more and we are excited to share with you all of our updates on the Scent project since the last edition.
Since our last newsletter we have conducted three additional pilot campaigns of the Scent Toolbox in the Danube Delta, Romania and the Kifisos river basin in Athens, Greece. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be organising our final campaigns. Please scroll down to read more about our recent pilots, as well as for information on how to get involved in our upcoming campaigns.
We are pleased to announce that the Scent Showcase will take place in Athens, 20 – 21 June 2019. It will serve as an opportunity for you to experience the Scent Toolbox for yourself with a hands-on exhibition and field visit to the Kifisos river basin. We will also be holding two additional pilot campaigns of the Scent Toolbox apps on the Danube Delta in Romania from 24 – 26 May and 31 May – 2 June, in the run-up to World Environmental Day on 5 June 2019. Our final campaign in the Kifisos river basin is scheduled for 22 – 23 June 2019. We look forward to seeing you at one of our campaigns!
This edition of the Scent newsletter includes results from our recent pilot campaigns in both Romania and Greece which were carried out between February and May 2019. In addition, we have updates on the Scent Education Programme which has already been rolled out as a successful pilot scheme to students in both Romania and Greece. The Scent Education Programme is another element in how Scent is encouraging the development of citizen science and environmental awareness among members of the public.
The Scent newsletter delivers regular updates on project progress, key developments, relevant events and ways to get involved, straight to your inbox. Remember to check out our website, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel and connect with us on our LinkedIn page.
Scent is a three-year project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and remember to join the Scent movement!
The Scent team
The Scent consortium cordially invites you to its Scent Showcase, that will take place in Athens, Greece on 20 – 21 June 2019. This is your chance to experience the latest smart technology on the cutting edge of environmental monitoring, the Scent Toolbox!
On 20 June, join experts and policymakers from around the world to discuss the impact citizens can have on environmental policy with the aid of smart technologies. You can discover the Scent Toolbox and its fun applications, including Scent Explore, Scent Measure, Scent Collaborate and Scent Campaign Manager during our interactive exhibition.
On 21 June, join us for our special Scent citizen science campaign in the Kifisos river basin outside Athens where volunteers can explore the local ecosystem and put the Scent Toolbox to the test.
Please find here the official invitation text. A final agenda will be published soon but registrations are now open. Visit the Scent Showcase website for more information and be sure to register here.
We are looking for eager volunteers to participate in our upcoming pilot campaigns on the Danube Delta from 24 – 26 May and 31 May – 2 June, with one more pilot campaign due to take place in Athens 22 – 23 June 2019.
As always, these pilots are guaranteed to be a fun, engaging and interactive opportunity for budding citizen scientists to get hands-on with our Scent Explore and Scent Measure gaming apps.
Registration for these campaigns will launch soon, in the meantime visit our website for more information.
Please scroll down to read reports of our recent pilot campaigns.
Scent’s third pilot campaign on the Kifisos river took place in Attica 13 – 14 February 2019 and proved to be an enjoyable experience for all in attendance.
Participants used our Scent Explore augmented reality gaming app to explore the river basin, gaining reward points by finding hidden Scent creatures and observing urban obstacles at different points of the river along the way.
Scent also organised a workshop to present the new tools and applications of the Scent Toolbox to local authorities in the region. The crowd-sourced data collected through Scent’s apps will be invaluable to local authorities in the years to come when developing new flood models and more accurate land-use/cover maps.
Scent Measure is triggered by the Scent Explore app in areas designated as important by researchers, prompting users of the Scent Toolbox to place a small portable sensor into the soil, where results are measured and displayed to the user via their smartphones and tablets.
The latest Scent pilot campaign took place 2 – 5 May on the Danube Delta in Romania. Volunteers which included local university students and IT professionals made base camp at Partizani village and ventured for each of the four days to different sites along the Danube Delta.
A friendly competition using our Scent Explore app arose among volunteers who competed for points and who also collected river data by running small boats along the channels of the Danube Delta.
The primary focus of the Scent Education Programme is to educate young people about the role that they can play in protecting the environment, developing their capacity as citizen scientists and their knowledge of local, national and international environmental issues.
The Programme equips students with the necessary skills to observe, monitor and take action in their own environments and the feedback thus far has been undeniably positive from both students and teachers alike.
The Scent Education Programme is compatible with current curricula and can be implemented seamlessly in schools, with teachers who participated in our pilots reporting that the content was engaging for their students, easy to organise and age appropriate.
Please feel free to access the Scent Education Programme materials here.
You can now access project deliverables through the Scent website. You will be able to download full-text versions of public deliverables and executive summaries of confidential deliverables here:
https://scent-project.eu/project-deliverables
Upcoming Events
Scent Showcase
Scent Showcase
20 – 21 June 2019
Athens, Greece
ECSEE
European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment
9 – 10 July 2019
Brighton, UK
Interested in H2020 projects on citizens’ observatories? Have a look at what our fellow H2020 citizens’ observatories projects GROW, LandSense and GT2.0 are up to.
Scent Charter
/0 Comments/in About Scent, News, Project News /by Linda HenrikssonScent Showcase Gathers Policy and Industry Experts in Athens, Greece
/0 Comments/in News, Project News /by Linda HenrikssonPolicymakers, academics and industry experts gathered in Athens on 20 – 21 June 2019 to take part the Scent Showcase – a one-of-a-kind two-day event showcasing brand new innovations in environmental monitoring and the results of the Scent project. Participants had the chance to experience the Scent Toolbox and learn how its applications support citizen […]
Results from the Romanian Education Programme Pilots
/0 Comments/in News, Project News /by Linda HenrikssonBetween December 2018 and January 2019, Scent piloted its new Education Programme in schools in Romania. Take a look below at below at our new infographic detailing the results of the Education Programme pilots in Romania. Read more →
Press Release: Call For Volunteers to Take Part in Citizen Science Test in Athens
/0 Comments/in Project News /by Linda Henriksson· Scientists and researchers across Europe have developed new citizen science technology
· The apps – named ‘Scent Explore’ and ‘Scent Measure’ enable and encourage citizens to monitor their local environments – helping improve the accuracy of land use/land cover maps and flood models.
· Scent researchers are looking for people in Greece to volunteer and help them test these new apps in Kifisos river basin, in Athens, Greece from April 11th – 14th2019
· Scent is a European Union research project funded under the Horizon 2020 programme Read more →
Newsletter #6 – Spring 2019
/0 Comments/in Newsletters /by webmasterNewsletter #
Dear reader,
Welcome to the sixth issue of our Scent newsletter, we are excited to share with you all our updates since the last edition.
Since our pilots launched in August we have organised five pilot campaigns in the Danube Delta, Romania and Attica, Greece. We are delighted to already share with you some of the results from these first campaigns. Scroll down for details, as well as for information on how you can get involved in our upcoming campaigns.
Scent has also launched two major events which you can take part in. The Scent Showcase will take place on 20 and 21 June 2019 in Athens, Greece. This will be an opportunity for you to experience the Scent Toolbox and to try it on during a field campaign in the Kifisos river basin. If you are a developer you may be interested in taking part in the Scent Appathon – a fun competition to develop a new app to promote environmental monitoring. We are organising two webinars on 13 and 23 March to answer any questions you may have about the Appathon. You can read more about these events and how to register below.
The Scent newsletter delivers regular updates on project progress, key developments, relevant events and ways to get involved, straight to your inbox. Remember to check out our website, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel and connect with us on our new LinkedIn page.
Scent is a three-year project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and remember to join the Scent movement!
The Scent team
The piloting of the Scent Toolbox is well and truly underway and we are excited to share with you some of the results from our first campaigns in Attica, Greece and the Danube Delta, Romania. More than 10,000 pieces of valuable environmental data were collected by 261 Scent volunteers during four pilot campaigns in 2018. The volunteer ‘citizen scientists’ were among the first to play the new Scent Explore and Scent Measure gaming apps and used them to collect valuable information concerning river parameters, soil moisture, air temperature and land use/land cover.
The citizen scientists were guided around the pilot areas by the Scent team, and used the apps to capture hidden Scent creatures by taking photos or collecting important information when prompted. The data collected is extremely valuable to the Scent scientists as it helps to create more accurate models for the prevention and management of floods. You can check out our new infographic below with statistics from our 2018 campaigns.
Scent already held its first campaign of 2019, in Attica in February. You can keep up to date with our upcoming pilot campaigns for 2019 and learn how to join by visiting scent-project.eu/scent-pilot-campaigns.
Save the date for the Scent Showcase!
We are proud to announce that the Scent project will be hosting the Scent Showcase on 20 – 21 June 2019, in Athens, Greece. This is your opportunity to experience the Scent Toolbox and the wonderful new applications developed by the project for environmental monitoring and flood management and prevention.
During the Scent Showcase, you will be able to take part in exhibitions, presentations and demonstrations. You will also have the chance to put the applications to the test in a field campaign at the Kifisos river basin.
On display will be fun, new gaming apps, and state-of-the-art data management and analysis tools for environmental mapping.
Registrations will be opening soon. For now save the date, and share our poster with your friends and colleagues.
Scent is looking for developers to take part in the newly launched Scent Appathon – a competition to build the best app to train citizen scientists in environmental monitoring. The challenge is to create a new smartphone app that will teach citizens how to better use Scent Explore when taking videos of water velocity.
Participants are asked to submit their ideas for an app that will allow users to practice their video technique and provide them with feedback and pointers on how they can improve.
The winning app will be included as part of the new Scent Toolbox where it will receive international promotion and be tested during our Romanian and Greek pilot campaigns. In addition, the winner will be invited to present and demo their app at our Scent Showcase in Athens on 20 and 21 June.
To participate, all you need to do is send a short description of your idea to appathon@scent-project.eu by 29 March 2019.
You can find out more information about our Appathon by visiting scent-project.eu/appathon or taking part in one of our upcoming webinars at 11am CET on 13 and 23 March.
Have you checked out our new animation about the Scent project?
The animation is a short two minute video which introduces the project, its aims and results. In particular, the animation shows how anybody can become a citizen scientist by joining the Scent movement and helping to collect valuable environmental data using the Scent Toolbox. You can now watch the animation here, and check out versions with Greek subtitles here, and Romanian subtitles here.
Are you interested in finding out more about the different aspects of Scent and the results and achievements?
You can now access project deliverables through the Scent website. You will be able to download full-text versions of public deliverables and executive summaries of confidential deliverables here:
https://scent-project.eu/project-deliverables
Upcoming Events
CSA Conference
Citizen Science Conference
13-17 March 2019
Raleigh, United States
ECSA General Assembly
European Citizen Science Association General Assembly
02 April 2019
Brussels, Belgium
Scent Showcase
Scent Showcase
20-21 June 2019
Athens, Greece
Interested in H2020 projects on citizens’ observatories? Have a look at what our fellow H2020 citizens’ observatories projects GROW, LandSense and GT2.0 are up to.
Registration Now Open for the Scent Showcase
/0 Comments/in Project News /by Linda HenrikssonRegistration is now open for the Scent Showcase taking place in Athens, Greece on 20 – 21 June 2019. You can register for free by clicking here. Read more →
Take Part in the Scent Appathon
/0 Comments/in News, Project News /by Linda HenrikssonScent has launched the Scent Appathon – a competition for developers to build a new smartphone app to train citizen scientists in environmental monitoring. You can take part and be in with the chance of winning a trip to Athens to present your app at the Scent Showcase. Read more →
“We Were Surprised to See How Much Water Levels Had Changed in Just a Few Weeks” – Kinga Cîmpan, Ecologist at SOR
/0 Comments/in Project News /by Linda HenrikssonEcologist with the Romanian Ornithological Society, Kinga Cîmpan shares her experiences of organising and taking part in the Scent citizen science pilot campaigns on the Danube Delta in Romania. Read more →
Save the Date for the Scent Showcase
/0 Comments/in News, Project News /by Linda HenrikssonOn 20-21 June 2019, the Scent project will host the Scent Showcase in Athens, Greece. This is an opportunity for you to experience the new innovations in environmental monitoring. Read more →