Description

This grant supports the establishment of at least three living labs in different EU Member States or Associated Countries to develop, test, and assess innovative solutions for the prevention, eradication, and management of invasive alien species (IAS). Living labs must operate in real-life settings and involve a broad spectrum of stakeholders—researchers, decision-makers, practitioners, local communities, and end-users—using co-creation and participatory approaches. Funded projects are expected to enhance governance and collaboration capacities, protect native ecosystems, and contribute to EU biodiversity targets, including the reduction of Red List species threatened by IAS and the implementation of relevant EU regulations and strategies.

Activities may include:

• Developing and testing monitoring and eradication methods (e.g., citizen science, eDNA, remote sensing, machine learning)
• Assessing effectiveness and socio-economic impacts of interventions
• Ensuring data is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable)
• Facilitating practitioner uptake and addressing scaling/transferability challenges
• Integrating social sciences and humanities for greater societal impact

Projects should cooperate with relevant EU initiatives, such as the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN), Biodiversa+, and the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, and are encouraged to consider international collaboration and the use of European research infrastructures.