The Winners of the 2025 EU Prize for Citizen Science!

At a time when the grassroots, student-led civil movement in Serbia shines as a beacon against the backdrop of authoritarianism advancing across the world, recognising and celebrating the transformative power of Citizen Science projects such as HEROINES is crucial. The HEROINES project—short for Heritage of Emancipation: Empowering Roma Women through Networks of Solidarity—is a Citizen Science initiative led by the Institute of Ethnography SASA in close collaboration with two community-based partners, the Roma Women’s Center Bibija and the Successful Women of Kostolac association. The Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority and are still routinely victims of prejudice and social exclusion. The project’s primary aim is to understand the process of emancipation of Roma women in Serbia through participatory research and data collection of rarely shared oral stories and individual experiences in three urban areas, the capital, Belgrade, Kostolac, and Pirot. The project uses community mapping methodology to interpret and reflect on the data collected while recognising the importance of community voices to take control of their own development and offer new ways to shape their own future. 

The jury members were impressed by the inclusion of Roma women at all stages of the process and the deep partnerships with the Roma community-based organisations, which have decades of experience in Roma female activism. This showcased the strength, resilience, and achievements that have often been excluded from the discourse. The team have published about their methodology in Serbian and the jury would encourage them to continue publishing about their work internationally, so that their work can reach a larger audience and serve as inspiration on how research institutions can develop partnerships with community-based organizations and together co-produce new knowledge that would be difficult to obtain by other means. The community mapping methodology developed in this project represents an innovative contribution to the Citizen Science landscape. While its core principles could inspire similar efforts elsewhere, it is not easily replicable without the long-term commitment to building relationships and establishing trust within communities. This makes the project a role model—not simply for the method itself, but for the process of co-creation it embodies. The approach is particularly impactful in contexts where individuals are often socially or geographically isolated and where opportunities for collective knowledge production are limited. 

The project’s partnerships have been key to enabling a highly transformative impact, with achievements of great relevance both for the involved communities and for broader societal reflection. Importantly, the project also contributes a distinct and enriching perspective to the scientific discourse on this topic. Such efforts are especially commendable in countries where historically marginalised groups remain underrepresented or rendered invisible in public discourse. In such contexts, fostering diversity of voices and strengthening representation in knowledge production are essential. This project demonstrates how these goals can be meaningfully advanced through the combination of scientific methods and sustained, community-rooted collaboration, carried out with remarkable dedication over the long term, despite limited financial resources. 

Climate change is amplifying weather-related disasters worldwide and 19% of Europe’s population is exposed to multiple natural hazards according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The Antiquake Risk Hunter Community project is a citizen-driven initiative launched by residents of a historic and touristic Istanbul neighbourhood. The project worked with over 150 citizen scientists to conduct urban monitoring activities and to identify risks and map vulnerabilities, collecting geolocated data using open-source tools like OpenStreetMap. 

The jury highlighted the wide range of collaborators involved: residents, schools, municipal authorities, and disaster management professionals allowing *Antiquake* to foster a collaborative, bottom-up approach to risk assessment and community resilience throughout a digital space. Youth engagement played a central role, with students designing accessible emergency information materials and participating in drills. The project’s strong emphasis on capacity building, community engagement, and open data is commendable and offers a valuable model for replication in other contexts and in relation to other natural hazards. Collaborative digital technologies are central to the *Antiquake* project and demonstrate its excellence in fostering communities that can actively participate in Europe’s digital transformation. 

The jury encourages the project to serve as a model for how to responsibly handle and share sensitive geospatial information—such as mapped vulnerabilities or risk zones—that may influence perceptions, property values, or insurance. 

In the project, students, educators, and school canteen staff in Esposende, Portugal, work together to identify, measure, and reduce food waste. Activities include hands-on workshops on composting, fruit preservation, and sustainable cooking, alongside interactive games and exhibitions. The project goes beyond raising awareness by co-creating and implementing actionable strategies in collaboration with diverse stakeholders engaged in the issue. Monitoring kits, educational materials, and collected data are made publicly available. Students were empowered to take full ownership of the process, actively participating in both data collection and analysis. 

With its playful title, Museum of Food Waste draws attention to the urgent need to make food waste a thing of the past—especially in light of the growing importance of global food security. Led by Associação Rio Neiva, active in environmental education since 1989, and strongly supported by local schools, the project shows high potential for initiating networked action. The project serves as an advocacy tool to influence school boards and local policy.  

 The jury emphasised the fact that the project stands out for its strong stakeholder collaboration—from schoolchildren to food providers to policymakers, for its solid Citizen Science methodology, and for its potential to scale. The jury decision is based on the project’s commitment to participant ownership. It offers a replicable, inspiring model for addressing food security and responsible consumption across regions and borders. Its results and methods deserve wider visibility—including publication in academic journals—ideally in collaboration with scientists to further strengthen and expand future project campaigns.