Highlights from the Mosquito Alert International Workshop

2–4 December 2025 | UPF Campus Ciutadella, Barcelona & Online

This week, Mosquito Alert brought together international partners, public health authorities, researchers, and entomology experts for a three-day hybrid workshop titled “Advancing Open Science through Citizen-Powered Vector Surveillance.” Hosted at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) Campus Ciutadella in Barcelona, with the support of INOVEC and E4Warning,  the event combined virtual participation with dynamic in-person sessions designed to strengthen global collaboration around mosquito monitoring and open science innovation.

Day 1: Global Experiences from the field

The workshop opened on Tuesday afternoon with a welcome session led by  Frederic Bartumeus, co-director of Mosquito Alert and ICREA Researcher at CEAB-CSIC, outlining the goals of the meeting: expanding international cooperation, identifying partner needs, and shaping future directions for Mosquito Alert’s open science ecosystem.

Implementing Mosquito Alert Around the World

Session II highlighted on-the-ground experiences from emerging and endemic regions:

  • Inés Mato (Subdirector of Environmental Health Risk Control Programs, Conselleria de Sanidade, Xunta de Galicia) shared updates from Galicia, where Mosquito Alert continues to strengthen surveillance capacity through citizen participation.

  • Joining virtually from Rapa Nui, Ximena Collao (Universidad de Valparaíso) described the unique challenges and opportunities of implementing the platform on a remote island ecosystem.

  • Later, Gabriela Willat (Ministerio de Salud Pública de Uruguay) presented Uruguay’s progress and lessons learned as the system becomes integrated into national public health strategies.

The day closed with an open discussion and planning for the sessions ahead.

 

Day 2 — Deep-Dive Into Tools, Methods, and Co-Creation

Wednesday’s activities were held entirely in person due to the interactive format. Participants explored Mosquito Alert’s newest tools and co-created solutions through hands-on design exercises.

Open Science and Expert Engagement

The morning began with a presentation by Lyra Tyson, from the Mosquito Alert team, who introduced the Open Science Toolkit Concept, a resource designed to support partners in adopting transparent and collaborative vector surveillance practices.

Following this, Frederic Bartumeus led a session on strengthening the global entomology network and unveiled new features of Entolab, Mosquito Alert’s expert identification platform.

Design Thinking for Real-World Challenges

After a short break, participants engaged in a design thinking workshop facilitated by Lyra Tyson. Through a structured “why” questioning process, the teams identified stakeholder challenges, defined key problem statements, and finally explored potential solutions to address them.

The day concluded with a collective reflection, followed by a group dinner at Semproniana, where conversations continued in a more relaxed setting.

Day 3 — Synthesis, Future Directions, and Collaboration

The final day blended in-person and virtual participation.  John Palmer, Mosquito Alert codirector, outlined next steps for continued collaboration, including knowledge-sharing mechanisms, pilot projects, and future development cycles.

During the session, time was dedicated to in-depth discussions focusing on the three stakeholders that were either deemed most critical or had drawn the most attention throughout the workshop: communities and citizen scientists, public health agencies, and technologists. For each group, their specific needs, motivations, and challenges were examined. With communities and citizen scientists, ways to encourage participation, ensure accessibility, and maintain trust were explored. For public health agencies, discussions addressed data integration, policy implications, and collaboration strategies. Regarding technologists, considerations were given to the practicalities of implementing solutions, technological constraints, and opportunities for innovation. This stakeholder-focused approach allowed potential solutions to be better aligned with the real-world contexts and priorities of those most affected.

Furthermore, Session V was focused on revisiting Mosquito Alert’s scientific and technological outputs and situating them within the evolving Open Science Toolkit.

A Stronger Global Network for Citizen Science and Vector Surveillance

Across three productive days, the workshop fostered deeper connections between teams, advanced shared understanding of partner needs, and shaped concrete pathways to strengthen Mosquito Alert’s global impact.

The gathering reaffirmed the value of citizen science, open data, and international cooperation in confronting the challenges posed by invasive and disease-vector mosquitoes.

All the inputs collected throughout the workshop will be integrated, analysed, and shared with participants and partners as part of the next phase of collaboration. Mosquito Alert extends a warm thank-you to all participants, both in Barcelona and online, for contributing to this inspiring and forward-looking meeting.