Adapted and inclusive Citizen Science for young people –lessons learned from the InChildHealth project

From 3-6 March 2026 the ECSA Conference – the most important event of the citizen science community in Europe – was taking place in Oulu, Finland. More than 600 delegates traveled to snowy Northern Finland, to take part in this inspiring event for mutual learning and experience exchange.

In this conference, Teresa Holocher, senior researcher from ZSI, co-organised a workshop on “Adapted and inclusive citizen science for young people” together with Renata Wellencamp (Politechnic Institute of Lisbon) and Carina Vreekmann (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). She shared lessons learned from the InChildHealth project that involved more than 2.000 children in 7 European cities in citizen science activities related to indoor air quality in schools and the health of pupils. This presentation was followed by a panel discussion, where the audience was highly involved in bringing in their own experiences from working with young people in citizen science projects, but also discussing challenges that were encountered in their work. The session was visited by a lovely class of 8-years old and their teachers who left a little present before leaving (see the picture above).