Training for Development

Stakeholders in the ecological transition (non-profit and private sectors)

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-07-23T07:25:15Z

🌊"Waves of Change" Hackathon Program

Modules for Ecological Transition Stakeholders (Associative and Private Sectors)

Réunion Island, 2–6 November 2026

As part of the exceptional edition of the Participatory Science Hackathon for the SDGs on Réunion Island, several stand-alone modules are available for ecological transition professionals->https://www.training-for-development.com/En-Novembre-Hackathon-Vagues-de-changement-a-la-Reunion].

Environmental transition stakeholders, however diverse they may be, all face the same challenges: difficulties in engaging people around the ecological transition; existing data that is fragmented, incomplete, or disconnected from local realities; and decisions that often lack territorial grounding and scientific legitimacy...

To overcome these challenges, participatory science provides a powerful solution.

The "Waves of Change" Participatory Science Hackathon offers dedicated modules specifically designed to help ecological transition stakeholders address these issues.

As an ecological transition stakeholder, join these modules and leave with:
(Free participation upon mandatory registration)

Practical methods to structure and improve the reliability of local environmental data collection
Effective techniques for engaging communities over the long term in biodiversity monitoring and field observation programs
Strategies for grounding your environmental transition projects in a recognized and collaborative scientific approach
Case studies and firsthand experiences from organizations that have successfully integrated participatory science into their initiatives
A deeper understanding of current trends and best practices in citizen science applied to environmental challenges
Opportunities to connect and exchange ideas with other environmental transition stakeholders, NGOs, and local authorities
A firsthand look at the projects developed during the Hackathon during the final showcase, providing inspiration and practical models for your own initiatives

Economic actors in development

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-07-23T07:23:38Z

🌊"Waves of Change" Hackathon Programme

Modules for Economic Development Stakeholders

As part of the exceptional edition of the Participatory Science Hackathon for the SDGs on Réunion Island, several stand-alone modules are available for economic development professionals->https://www.training-for-development.com/En-Novembre-Hackathon-Vagues-de-changement-a-la-Reunion].

As environmental, social, and economic transformations reshape our territories, economic development stakeholders are facing major challenges: supporting businesses through their transitions, strengthening territorial attractiveness, anticipating changes across economic sectors, developing new skills, and fostering more resilient economic models.

Meeting these challenges requires new approaches based on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the active involvement of all stakeholders.

This is where integrating participatory science activities becomes especially valuable.

In this context, the Participatory Science Hackathon is far more than a meeting point for researchers, citizens, project leaders, and economic stakeholders: it is a space for collective exploration to identify new opportunities, share solutions, and build new synergies around impact-driven innovation.

The "Waves of Change" Participatory Science Hackathon offers dedicated modules specifically designed to help economic development stakeholders address these challenges.

As an economic development stakeholder, join these modules and leave with:
(Free participation upon mandatory registration)

Practical methods for identifying economic opportunities emerging from participatory science projects
Strategies for integrating local scientific and environmental data into your territorial development initiatives
A better understanding of emerging economic models related to the blue economy, sustainable finance, and impact-driven innovation
Case studies and feedback from project leaders who have successfully transformed scientific initiatives into economic activities
Practical guidance for supporting or financing impact projects emerging from participatory approaches
Opportunities to connect and exchange with other economic stakeholders, funders, and impact project leaders
A firsthand look at the projects developed during the Hackathon's final presentation, offering inspiration and potential investment opportunities

Tourism stakeholders (public, non-profit, and private)

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-07-23T07:23:25Z

🌊 "Waves of Change" Hackathon Programme

Modules for Tourism Stakeholders (Public, Non-profit and Private Sectors)

Réunion Island, 2–6 November 2026

As part of the exceptional edition of the Participatory Science Hackathon for the SDGs on Réunion Island, several stand-alone modules are open to tourism professionals->https://www.training-for-development.com/En-Novembre-Hackathon-Vagues-de-changement-a-la-Reunion].

Over the past few years, the tourism sector has undergone profound changes, driven by evolving traveller expectations. Increasingly, visitors are seeking experiences that are environmentally responsible, socially meaningful and respectful of the destinations they visit.

To meet these new expectations, tourism professionals face a dual challenge: diversifying their offers while contributing to the development of genuinely sustainable tourism. It is no longer enough to promote sustainability through marketing messages alone. Concrete, measurable and coherent actions are now essential to address today's sustainable development challenges and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Tour guides, tour operators and tourism organisations have a unique opportunity to play a key role in this transition. Their daily presence in the field, privileged access to natural environments (beaches, lagoons, forests, etc.) and close relationship with visitors position them as valuable contributors to the understanding and preservation of local ecosystems.

Participatory science provides a practical way to turn this potential into action.

The "Waves of Change" Participatory Science Hackathon offers dedicated modules for sustainable tourism stakeholders, specifically designed to address these challenges.

As a tourism professional, join these modules and leave with:
(Free participation upon mandatory registration)

Practical methods for integrating participatory science protocols into your tours, excursions and tourism activities
Techniques for engaging your visitors as active contributors to scientific data collection (biodiversity, oceans and natural environments)
Ideas for developing a distinctive tourism offer based on genuine and verifiable scientific contributions
Case studies and feedback from tourism operators who have already integrated participatory science into their activities
A better understanding of current visitor expectations regarding responsible and sustainable tourism
Networking opportunities with other sustainable tourism professionals and environmental conservation stakeholders
First-hand insights into the projects developed during the Hackathon through the final project presentations, providing inspiration for your own initiatives

Low-tech and participatory sciences: two complementary approaches

Admin, Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-07-23T07:22:41Z

Low-tech empowers people to do. Participatory sciences empower them to understand, document and share what they do. Together, they transform a hands-on activity into a knowledge project — structured, testable and transmissible.

🔧 What participatory sciences add to a low-tech activity

🗂️A method for moving from a "workshop" to a genuine "project"

A low-tech training can teach participants how to build a solar oven, a water filter, an irrigation system, a simple sensor, a repaired object or a lightweight housing solution.

Participatory sciences allow us to go further and invite participating audiences to contextualise their designs and take an interest in the effects they produce. Integrating a participatory sciences approach into a low-tech activity means asking:

✅ what problem do we want to solve?
✅ for which audience?
✅ how do we verify that the solution works?
✅ with what success criteria?
✅ how do we document the results?

The activity thus no longer limits itself to producing an object, but allows us to contextualise its role as well as its effects within a broader environment. By integrating participatory sciences, low-tech activities are then transformed into structured, testable and replicable projects.

🎓An expanded pedagogical stance

Technical training in the low-tech field provides both the practical expertise specific to the discipline and the learning methods specific to it.

The Participatory Sciences Step One training operates at a different level. It helps supervisors, facilitators, trainers, teachers, researchers, project leaders and advanced participants to design activities in which audiences are not merely beneficiaries, but progressively become:

✅ observers;
✅ investigators;
✅ contributors;
✅ transmitters;
✅ and sometimes even co-authors of the project.

This makes it possible to act on participant engagement and not simply offer training "for them", but to progressively build an approach "with them".
With a participatory sciences approach, the person is not merely "trained", they are recognised as a holder of useful knowledge. Combining participatory sciences and low-tech is also an opportunity to recognise the knowledge of communities, indigenous knowledge and ancestral practices as fully-fledged scientific knowledge.

🌱Skills development and participant empowerment

Low-tech activities welcome different people with different ambitions.
In a low-tech activity, some people come to discover, others to meet an immediate need, and others quickly show a desire to go further.
Participatory sciences make it possible to create differentiated pathways.

For example, among participants in a low-tech activity, some may become:

✅ workshop leads;
✅ facilitators for other groups;
✅ peer trainers;
✅ co-designers of new prototypes;
✅ links between several communities;

The practical autonomy that low-tech initially offers is complemented by participatory sciences, which organise the growing responsibility of participants.
Indeed, participatory sciences add another dimension: they enable participants to understand, explain, document and transmit.
From an individual, personal and professional standpoint, the benefits of this approach are numerous. They strengthen:

✅ self-confidence;
✅ self-image;
✅ the ability to speak up;
✅ the ability to train others;
✅ access to associative, professional or entrepreneurial opportunities.

The dimension of simple technical facilitation is transcended and transformed into a genuine capacity-building pathway.

📊A resource for producing useful data

A low-tech activity can be very concrete, yet difficult to evaluate if what it actually produces is not documented. By integrating a citizen science or participatory research dimension, low-tech workshops can become spaces for collecting data that is useful both to the organisation itself and to society at large. Integrating a "participatory sciences dimension" into one's activity allows for collectively asking concrete questions such as:

✅ what are the actual uses of the manufactured object?
✅ what is its lifespan?
✅ which materials work best?
✅ what are the actual costs?
✅ what local adaptations are needed?
✅ what are the impacts on autonomy, comfort, health, energy, water or food?

An enormous amount of useful, open-source material can emerge from combining low-tech activities with participatory sciences: improved prototypes, technical sheets, explanatory videos...
Ultimately, the improvement of low-tech can be made possible by field experience, and not solely by initial technical expertise.

🌍A link between science, technology and society

Low-tech often responds to concrete needs: water, energy, food, housing, mobility, health, material autonomy... Universal needs, often urgent ones.

The Participatory Sciences Step One training makes it possible to connect these everyday realities to broader challenges: climate adaptation, public health, territorial resilience, social inclusion, SDGs...

This goes beyond simply giving the low-tech workshop a deeper dimension; it ensures that it is not viewed merely as a technical space, but also as a venue for dialogue among citizens, organizations, local governments, researchers, engineers, funders, and institutions.
By breaking down the barriers between science, technology, and society, participatory science enables low-tech projects to emerge as as genuine impact projects.

👥A training that is equally useful for supervisors and advanced participants

The Step One training can be aimed at two levels.

First, at supervisors : facilitators; low-tech trainers; social workers; mediators; teachers; association managers; engineers; researchers; project coordinators.
It enables them to better design, facilitate, document and promote their activities.

But it can also be aimed at the most engaged participants.
For example, members of a low-tech programme or laboratory can take the Step One training in order to in turn become:

✅ links;
✅ co-facilitators;
✅ trainers;
✅ workshop coordinators;
✅ project leaders;
✅ social entrepreneurs;
✅ documentation managers;
✅ community mediators.

This is an important distinction: participatory sciences do not only serve to improve the low-tech activity; they can enable participants to become actors in its development.

✨In brief

The complementarity between low-tech and participatory sciences is therefore not merely technical. It is first and foremost methodological and pedagogical.

Low-tech poses the question: How do we do better, simpler, more sober, more repairable, more accessible?

Participatory sciences add: How do we work with the people concerned, how do we learn together, how do we produce useful knowledge, how do we document results, how do we improve over time, how do we pass it on to others?

It is this combination that creates the power of the model.
Together, they can transform a technical activity into a project of learning, autonomy, action research, inclusion and impact.

Low-tech provides concrete solutions.
Participatory sciences provide the method for testing, improving, documenting, transmitting and scaling them up with the people concerned.

Study of Trends and Best Practices in Learning Through Hands-On Impact Projects

Admin — 2026-07-14T15:36:13Z

Creation, Development, Management, Evaluation and Scaling Up

Strategic Version — 14 July 2026

Scope and Framing Assumptions

This study focuses on programmes in which people learn by effectively contributing to the creation, development or management of a project aimed at generating a positive social, environmental, educational, scientific, territorial, economic or institutional impact.

It covers in particular:

initial and continuing education;
higher education;
vocational training;
hackathons and innovation laboratories;
incubation and pre-incubation;
non-profit, scientific, entrepreneurial and citizen-led projects;
career transition programmes;
leadership and governance development programmes;
programmes led by companies, local authorities, NGOs, foundations or international organizations;
projects conducted in intercultural or multi-stakeholder contexts.

The analysis pays particular attention to possible applications within the ecosystem formed around Objectif Sciences International, Step & Go, KEMENESI, 2% for the Future, Geneva Foundation for the Future and the Global Impact Projects.

The geographical scope is international, with priority given to Europe, Switzerland, France and transnational programmes.

Participatory science and teaching

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-07-13T15:29:29Z

🌊“Waves of Change” Hackathon - Modules available specifically to teachers

Réunion Island, from 2 to 6 November 2026

As part of a partnership with the Rectorat, several modules are available individually to teachers throughout the week-long Hackathon.

In the classroom, raising awareness of scientific and environmental issues must of course succeed in providing information, but also in fostering a comprehensive understanding and lasting engagement.

In the same way, we all face the same challenges in learning more generally: to ensure that it does not take a top-down format, and thus avoid limiting the appropriation of knowledge, we all use our imagination and original techniques to capture students' involvement. The objective is for them not only to understand the concepts, but also to make them their own.

To successfully meet these everyday challenges, Participatory Science is a powerful lever.

The “Waves of Change” Participatory Science Hackathon offers modules dedicated to teachers, specifically designed to address these issues.

As a teacher, attend these modules and leave with:
(Free participation, registration required)

Methods for using Participatory Science in support of the school curriculum
Facilitation techniques and methods for managing classroom dynamics around scientific projects
Ways to integrate interdisciplinary skills (science, humanities, arts, digital technology...)
Case studies and feedback from teachers who have already carried out this type of project
Keys to understanding current issues in science education and public awareness
Practical guidance on empowering young people through Participatory Science
A network for exchanging with other teachers and stakeholders in science education
Direct access to the projects developed during the Hackathon at its final presentation, ready to use and also able to serve as models for your own initiatives.

Participatory Science: what is it ?

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-04-28T13:56:52Z

Did you know that you could involve non-scientists in real research?

Thanks to participatory science, anyone can become an actor of knowledge and contribute to projects that concretely change the world. No degree needed. Just observation, commitment, and a desire to act. Curious citizen, local resident, or passionate enthusiast: this is where you have a role to play.

Participatory science in brief

Participatory science consists of involving society as a whole in scientific production. By mobilizing diverse actors within multidisciplinary activities, it promotes collective intelligence and the complementarity of knowledge, serving the advancement of knowledge.

Each person can thus contribute to identifying research questions, collecting and analysing data, interpreting results, but also to developing new technologies or innovating methods to address complex issues. Ultimately, science as a whole is strengthened, as is individuals' ability to better understand and act in the face of complex challenges.

By involving citizens in research, participatory science is a major asset for science and for society

⚖️Democracy and justice in science

A fairer and more complete science: Participatory science opens science to knowledge that laboratories alone cannot reach. By integrating local realities and community knowledge (indigenous knowledge, traditional practices, field experience), participatory science offers more tailored and consensual responses to major challenges, often resulting in more sustainable and inclusive solutions.

🔍Amplified research capacities

A science without borders or resource limits: By mobilising thousands of citizen-observers, participatory science allows data collection and fields of study to be multiplied, where research laboratories are often limited financially and in terms of human resources. Furthermore, new practices and methodologies can complement existing ways of doing science.

With participatory science, ambitions in research are no longer constrained, it is once again possible to dream bigger.

💪The individual at the heart of the process

A science that values and empowers: Participating in a participatory science project is not about being a mere executor, it is about being a co-author. Such an experience can become a lever for empowerment and individual recognition. By offering the opportunity to be involved in a project from A to Z, participatory science gives the individual the feeling of contributing to something bigger and offers everyone the possibility of feeling fully part of the world.

📚Educational assets and lever for engagement

A science learned through practice: Far from top-down pedagogical approaches, participatory science is based on a simple philosophy: we understand better what we do ourselves. By proposing action-based learning and placing participants in concrete situations, it facilitates the appropriation of complex issues, whether climatic, ecological, or social.

Thus, direct experience, rather than discourse alone, constitutes an effective method of awareness-raising, likely to foster engagement and taking action.

Already active in Participatory Science? Come strengthen, test, and deploy your projects

Are you already leading an observatory, a protocol, a field action, a participatory research program, or a science-society initiative? This Hackathon is not only an introductory training course: it is an intensive space to consolidate your existing projects, make them more robust, more mobilizing, and easier to deploy.

✅ Clarify your scientific, educational, and operational objectives.
✅ Improve your protocols without losing accessibility for the public.
✅ Strengthen data quality and contributor motivation.
✅ Work on presentation, recognition, and participant retention.
✅ Test your project with complementary profiles: researchers, educators, local authorities, NGOs, engineers, communicators, funders.
✅ Transform a one-off action into a sustainable, transferable, and replicable program.
✅ Leave with a method derived from Objectif Sciences International's 30 years of field experience.
✅ Benefit from a concrete toolbox to design, facilitate, fund, and promote your projects.

The Step One Hackathon is also aimed at those who already know what Participatory Science is, but who want to move up a level: better structure, better facilitate, better document, better transmit, and better sustain their projects over time.

In November - Hackathon Waves of Change in La Réunion

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-03-03T12:37:28Z

🌊 Hackathon “Waves of Change”

⌚5 days of training to design your participatory science project.🚀

Are you a sports guide, tour operator, teacher, researcher, passionate about science, innovation, or the environment? 🌱 Do you want to create your project and help build a better world? 🌍
Collaborate with experts and fellow enthusiasts to turn your ideas into ambitious innovations 💡. Join the Participatory Science Hackathon “Waves of Change”, taking place from November 2 to 6 on Réunion Island.

🌊 Recap of the previous edition of the Ocean Participatory Science Hackathon

After participating in the third edition of the United Nations Ocean Conference, the Ocean Participatory Science Hackathon is now taking place on Réunion Island!
This event brought together students, professionals, and researchers from all backgrounds to co-create innovative projects for ocean protection and help them emerge in the context of an international-scale event. Together, through the Hackathon, participants actively contributed to supporting and implementing UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.”

This edition of the Hackathon is titled: “Waves of Change”.

🌟 Experience the Hackathon like never before

During five intense and inspiring days, develop team projects for a more resilient and sustainable world in your field of choice: environmental sciences, marine biology, computer science, law, finance, electronics, architecture, management, and more.
This interdisciplinary event allows you to actively contribute to global challenges while expanding your professional network. Take advantage of the presence of passionate participants and experts, and leave equipped with the tools to bring your project to life.

🔬 Building a sustainable future through participatory science

Participatory science is a powerful lever to imagine and design concrete solutions to today's major challenges. Whether it's protecting the environment, rethinking lifestyles, or exploring new forms of social and technological innovation, everyone can actively contribute to building a sustainable future through collective intelligence.

🛠 Hackathon: bring your ideas to life

On-site, after team formation, you will:
💡 Imagine an innovative solution that inspires you
🏗️ Build your project from start to finish
🎯 Tackle challenges proposed by major stakeholders
🧑‍🏫 Receive expert guidance to bring your ideas to reality
After the Hackathon, you will be able to:
🚀 Implement your project and develop your activities
🌍 Scale other impactful projects to help build a better future

In August - Participatory Science Hackathon ECLIPSE - Science, Climate and Humanity

Tiphaine Riaux — 2026-02-20T11:55:10Z

🌍 ECLIPSE Citizen Science Hackathon – Science, Climate and Humanity in Motion

⌚5 days of training to design your participatory science project.🚀

Are you a sports guide, tour operator, teacher, researcher, passionate about science, innovation, or the environment? 🌱
Would you like to create your own project and help build a better world? 🌍
Collaborate with experts and enthusiasts to turn your ideas into bold innovations 💡.
Don't miss the “ECLIPSE Citizen Science Hackathon – Science, Climate and Humanity in Motion”, taking place from August 10 to 14 in Soria, Spain 🗓️.
Take advantage of the unique occasion of the solar eclipse to travel to Soria in Spain and work with participants from around the world on a project you're passionate about.

🌟 Experience the unique adventure of the Hackathon

For five intense and inspiring days, you'll share your knowledge with other passionate participants from diverse backgrounds and develop projects in the field of your choice (astronomy, biodiversity, migration, architecture, computer science, or programming).
This interdisciplinary event will allow you to contribute actively to global and human challenges while expanding your professional network.
Take advantage of the presence of experts and enthusiasts, and leave with the key tools to bring your project to life.

🔬 In a world in motion, building a sustainable future through citizen science

Citizen science is a powerful tool for imagining and designing concrete solutions to today's major challenges.
Whether it's protecting the environment, rethinking our lifestyles, or exploring new forms of social and technological innovation, everyone can play an active role in building, together, a sustainable future through collective intelligence.

This Hackathon draws on citizen science to explore movement in all its forms — human migrations, cosmic cycles such as the solar eclipse, and ecological transformations — and to imagine innovative solutions to environmental and social challenges.

Climate change has become a pressing issue for our societies. Its effects impact all living beings, including human populations.
Today, and even more so tomorrow, climate change puts people in vulnerable situations. Forced to migrate, they often find themselves without any means to act.
This Hackathon aims to be a space for innovation to build a more resilient, united, and sustainable world by connecting the themes of environment and migration.
Through citizen science and public participation, this Hackathon seeks to provide solutions both for migrants already affected by the consequences of climate change and for communities that may one day be forced to relocate due to these disruptions.

🛠 Hackathon: bring your ideas to life

This Hackathon is a learning-by-doing experience that gives you a complete toolbox and the skills you need, while helping you turn your wildest projects into reality.

On site, once teams are formed, you will:
💡 Imagine an innovative solution that inspires you
🏗️ Build your project from A to Z
🎯 Take on challenges proposed by major organizations
🧑‍🏫 Benefit from expert advice to turn your ideas into reality

After the Hackathon, you will be able to:
🚀 Bring your project to life and expand your initiative
🌍 Scale up other impactful projects to build a better future

March in Paris - Hackathon Participatory Science for Scientific Travel

Tiphaine Riaux — 2025-12-14T07:28:00Z

💡Let's invent together the travel and science of tomorrow!

⌚5 days of training to design your participatory science project.🚀

🚀 Are you passionate about science and love to travel? 🌍 Do you want to create your own project and contribute to building a better world? 🌱
Collaborate with experts and enthusiasts to transform your ideas into ambitious innovations 💡. Don't miss the Participatory Science Hackathon for Scientific Travel, taking place in Paris from March 19 to 21, 2027🗓️!
For the upcoming 2028 edition: option with UNESCO the following week (4 half-days, for the "Project Design and Development" add-on from March 10 to 13), coinciding with the Terra Scientifica scientific travel fair! 🗓️!

🌟 Experience the unique Hackathon adventure

Over 3 intense and inspiring days—or a full week (2 duration options), develop projects that combine science and travel in your favorite fields (astronomy, geology, volcanology, biodiversity, architecture, computer science, electronics...). This interdisciplinary event will allow you to actively contribute to global challenges while expanding your professional network. Take advantage of the presence of enthusiasts and experts, and leave with key tools to bring your project to life.

🚲 Contribute to the creation of scientific travel projects

Propose extraordinary experiences that contribute to scientific research. Through the creation of immersive experiences accessible to all, combine adventure and discovery with learning and scientific research. 🔬
Bridge the gap between world exploration, data collection, and the production of scientific knowledge and solutions for planetary resilience.

Contribute to smarter, more sustainable, and environmentally respectful tourism. 🌱

🛠 Hackathon: bring your ideas to life

This Hackathon is a learning-by-doing experience that gives you a complete toolbox and the skills you need, while helping you turn your wildest projects into reality.

On site, once the teams are formed, you will:
💡 Imagine an inspiring and innovative solution
🏗️ Build your project from A to Z
🎯 Tackle challenges presented by major stakeholders
🧑‍🏫 Receive expert advice to bring your ideas to life

After the Hackathon, you will be able to:
🚀 Make your project a reality and grow your activity
🌍 Scale up other high-impact projects to help build a better future