What emerges when we look at the EU marine knowledge landscape? We see a growing ecosystem of citizen science projects collecting valuable data, producing new scientific knowledge, and actively involving people and communities in knowing and taking care of our ocean. However, the full potential of marine citizen science data has not been fully unlocked yet.

CS-MACH1 addresses this challenge. The EU-funded project aims to design the fastest multidisciplinary approach for marine citizen science to collaboratively reach a wide impact via data uptake, creating a much-needed marine data-oriented hub to bring citizen science closer to its full potential.

CS-MACH1 was showcased during the EMODnet open conference 2025 in Brussels, on November 25-26. EMODnet, the European Marine Observation and Data Network, is a European initiative to create a single, accessible portal for harmonized marine data and data products, and to support ocean activities by making vast, fragmented data (like bathymetry, biology, chemistry, habitats) freely available for research, policy, and blue economy development.

During the open conference in Brussels, citizen science was under the spotlight for diverse reasons. Sometimes, it is the only way to access difficult-to-collect data, for example, from the open ocean, or to get a large quantity of data in a reasonable amount of time. On the other hand, citizen science represents a way to co-create scientific knowledge and care for our ocean and future.

CS-MACH1 project mission is to make marine citizen science data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable for everyone. To do so, it will create a network for Citizen Science initiatives, cost-efficient technology providers, and data managers to interact. It will design and share free training material and best practices for a FAIR data flow. Finally, it will empower citizens to contribute to marine science using pilot cases and data platforms.

As said by Lucie Coquempot from IFREMER, one of CS-MACH1 consortium partner, after presenting the project to the marine data community, “Citizen Science has been a central topic, and everyone is eager to have access to our training materials to make the data ingestion smoother and use the full potential of citizen science”.

Discover more about CS-MACH1 and become part of the marine citizen science data network.