On 9th and 10th of July 2025, the historic city of Lecce in Italy welcomed marine science experts,  citizen science actors, and technology developers for the official kick-off meeting of the European  project CS-MACH1, held at the headquarters of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change  (CMCC).  

CS-MACH1 (MArine Citizen science data Horizon) is a 30-month project funded by the EU’s Horizon  Europe programme. It aims to create a robust marine citizen science data network that will speed up collaboration and data flow among different players, such as researchers, citizen science project  managers, cost-effective sensor developers and data managers.  

The inspiration for the project’s name comes from the speed of sound, highlighting the final  objective of ensuring rapid, structured, and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and  Reusable) data flows from marine citizen science initiatives to end users of the data, maximising  societal benefits.  

Giovanni Coppini, Principal Scientist and Director of the Strategic Program “Global Coasts as a  New Frontier” at CMCC, emphasised the project's strategic vision: “Citizen science is increasingly mportant for building global coastal ocean observation and prediction systems. CS-MACH1  demonstrates how society can be actively engaged in tackling climate and ocean challenges.”  

In a world where the impacts of climate change are increasingly visible, the involvement of local  communities in ocean, sea, and coastal monitoring is essential and must be valued. Local  monitoring can supply data on a larger temporal and spatial scale than traditional research  campaigns, adding precious data to the data pool. Through citizen science, we can all contribute to  building scientific knowledge, monitor the environment, and support climate change mitigation  strategies.  

The project will foster collaboration between marine citizen science initiatives leaders, data  management experts, low-cost technology providers, and marine researchers. It will also promote  active societal engagement in ocean observation and climate action, in line with the EU Mission:  Restore our Ocean and Waters, and the UN Ocean Decade programme CoastPredict.  

Silvia Vaghi, Project Advisor for the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive  Agency (CINEA), joined the meeting alongside CS-MACH1 consortium, counting 14 core partner  organisations and 1 associated partner: CMCC Foundation (Italy – Coordinator), the Swedish  Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (Sweden), ETT S.p.A. (Italy), MARIS B.V. (Netherlands), OutBe Società Benefit (Italy), the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER, France),  (Belgium), the Spanish National Research Council CSIC (Spain), the National Oceanography Centre NOC (UK), the American University of Armenia Foundation AUA (Armenia), the European Citizen Science Association ECSA (Germany), the Flanders Marine Institute VLIZ (Belgium), the University of Malta (Malta), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers France Section IEEE (France).  

The project will not only focus on coastal observations but also extend its reach to the open ocean.  It will also integrate citizen science observations with modelling systems for enhanced  environmental understanding and decision-making.  

CS-MACH1 will unlock the full potential of marine citizen science, transforming data collection  into impactful, trusted, and usable knowledge that serves both science and society, addressing the  urgent climate and ocean challenges ahead.