Results and Impact

Estimated impact of the results obtained, highlighting the most significant result

The database created by the public represented the most significant result of the ECOMORE project. This result was unique in its type and scope at national level, thereby opening up new opportunities for collaboration between researchers and the public. Through the Aqua S.O.S. platform 113 contributions were received from 24 participants for 76 aquatic systems. Also, the sample collection and measurement campaign increased the database with quantitative information on the condition of 6 aquatic systems. The contributions helped to obtain an overview of the degree of water contamination in Romania. Furthermore, the project’s activities demonstrated the enormous capacity of the public to work together with researchers to contribute to the development of science.

Other impact elements include:

  • The ECOMORE project was included in the May 2022 Mutual Learning Exercise thematic report; Citizen Science Initiatives – Policy and Practice (ISBN 978-92-76-53246-0; doi: 10.2777/389967) of the European Commission. The project was included in the category of successful “citizen science” projects and, together with other projects in the European Union, formed the basis of the analysis that focused on the impact and challenges of this kind of projects.
  • Research reports containing the main results of the project were sent to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests (no. 21R/9215/31.08.2022) and the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization (no. 192229/01.09.2022).
  • The ECOMORE team was invited to the Night of Researchers, Community Talk, Parks and Wetlands, an event organized by the NGO “Bucharest Community Foundation” and Re-Connect, 24.09.2021. Along with the ECOMORE team, at the discussions participated multiple organizations and decision makers, such as the Landscape Association from Romania – the Bucharest-Ilfov branch and the District 2 City Hall representative.
  • As part of the project, a practical water quality measurement session was held at Secondary School no. 165, District 4, Bucharest. The 6th and 7th grade students participated in an introductory course on water quality and measured pH, hardness, nitrates, phosphates, dissolved oxygen on water samples they brought.
  • Two volunteers from the project presented their results at the Scientific Communication Session of the Ovidius University in Constanța. The two volunteers expanded their measurement program to spatially monitor Tăbăcărie Lake and the impact of rainwater on the lake. Also, one of the volunteers evaluated the drinking water in her hometown with the goal of including a chapter on water quality in her bachelor’s thesis. She discovered her passion for environmental protection and expressed her desire to pursue a master’s program in this field. Moreover, the volunteer encouraged 4 other colleagues to carry out water quality studies that they included in their bachelor’s theses.
  • The Aqua S.O.S. platform and the activities of the ECOMORE project were promoted on the UEFISCDI web page, in the news section and on the Facebook profile of Open Science Knowledge Hub RO, managed by UEFISCDI. Also, the nature of the project allowed the inclusion of the National R&D Institute for Optoelectronics in RO-NOSCI, the National Cloud Initiative for Open Science.
  • Publications:

E.M. Cârstea, C.L. Popa, S.I. Donțu, Citizen science for the Danube River – knowledge transfer, challenges and perspectives, The Lower Danube River Hydro-environmental Issues and Sustainability, Ed. A. Negm, L. Zaharia, G.I. Toroimac, Springer Nature, 2022, 527-554.

I.S. Donțu, C.L. Popa, E.M. Cârstea, D. Tenciu, Optoelectronic investigation for determination of plastics polymers behavior in surface water, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials, 23(11-12), 2021, 624-629.

  • Research articles submitted for publication:

S.I. Dontu, C.L. Popa, E.M. Carstea, Micro and Nanoplastics Water Pollution: A Short Review, submitted at Environmental Engineering and Management Journal.

C.L. Popa, S.I. Dontu, E.M. Carstea, I.C. Ioja, L.I. Florescu, A.C. Dumitrache, G. Vanau, A.M. Popa, M. Moldoveanu, Relationship between fluorescent dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton and zooplankton in urban lakes, submitted to Limnologica.

E.M. Carstea, C.L. Popa, S.I. Dontu, D. Savastru, Role of citizen scientists in environmental plastic litter research –  a systematic review,  Materials.

  • Participation to events:

E.M. Cârstea, C.L. Popa, S.I. Donțu, D. Tenciu, Citizen Science for water quality monitoring – a case study in Romania, Workshop Internațional Making urban nature count!, organizat de Universitatea din București, Facultatea de Geografie și Society for Urban Ecology – South Eastern Europe Chapter, 8-10 septembrie 2022. 

E.M. Cârstea, C.L. Popa, S.I. Donțu, D. Tenciu, Citizen Science în proiectul ECOMORE, Workshop Citizen Science în România, organizat de Immer Besser și UEFISCDI, 18 martie 2022, online.

E.M. Cârstea, C.L. Popa, S.I. Donțu, D. Tenciu, Project ECOMORE, 2nd Mutual Learning Exercise Meeting on Citizen Science, 14 martie 2022, online.

E.M. Cârstea, C.L. Popa, S.I. Donțu, L. Bașchir, D. Tenciu, Surface water quality monitoring -a citizen science perspective, Workshop Internațional Optoelectronics for Powerful Economy, 20-22 octombrie 2020.

  • Pages on social networks

Facebook – https://fb.me/ecomore.citizen.science;

Twitter – https://twitter.com/ECOMOREproject;

Instagram – @aqua.sos

  • Web pages:

ecomore.inoe.ro

aquasos.inoe.ro