2026 marks the final year for the CitiObs project but rather than slowing down, we are ramping things up by welcoming 50 new Fellow initiatives to our network. The open call for environmental citizen observatories and citizen science initiatives was officially launched in November and will remain open until January 11^th, 2026.

Over the past three years we have been working with initiatives across Europe. This time, we are particularly excited to welcome Fellow initiatives from around the world to join us. This decision was informed by the experience with the Alliance open call, where we received applications from initiatives outside of Europe and we had to regretfully tell them that we could not accept them at this time. While this decision was ultimately necessary, it led to internal discussions about how great it would be for mutual learning processes to expand the geographical and contextual scope of the network. Working with such initiatives will also give vital insights into how widely applicable the CitiObs tools can be.

The Fellow initiatives represent the third wave of initiatives joining the CitiObs project and network. The first wave was the Front Runners—a group of five Citizen Observatories from five different European countries, co-designing and testing CitiObs tools and methods. These COs were involved from the beginning of the project and are still actively engaged. Less than two years later, in 2024, we welcomed a second wave of 30 Alliance COs and initiatives from 13 different European countries. These initiatives have been working with us to further test the CitiObs tools, refine methods and contribute to robust mutual learning exchanges all together with the Front Runners.

Now the third wave of 50 initiatives, the Fellows, will be the most diverse yet, as we welcome initiatives from anywhere around the world. The opportunity for mutual learning and developing new understandings about COs here is unprecedented in the project; a wider geographic and cultural scope of initiatives means insights into the shared challenges but also, into how CitiObs tools can be adapted and implemented to fit place-based specificities.

The engagement process with the Fellows throughout 2026 will take the form of “roadshows”—frequent online workshops and webinars where we share and practice working with the CitiObs toolkits—Leave No One Behind, Participation Dynamics, Environmental Monitoring, and Citizen-Led Action. Additional CitiObs tools will also be showcased, and we will hold free space for initiatives to network, share challenges and successes aimed at helping one another achieve impact in their COs.

We eagerly await the onboarding of the new initiatives in early 2026 and warmly encourage applications!