SPOON Food Systems in Transition – Participatory, Open Citizen Research for Sustainable Nutrition According to recent research, food systems are responsible for up to 37% of the global greenhouse gas emissions* and if the trend is to continue their climate impact can surge to 50–90%**. Conflicts, climate shocks, and widening inequalities have weakened global food supply chains. Despite abundant food in affluent nations, income inequality results in significant food insecurity – in Europe alone about 38 million people lack access to sufficient, healthy food***. Addressing these interconnected issues requires multi-level knowledge, innovative technologies, behavioural shifts, and transformative policies that consider cultural practices influencing dietary habits. Traditional top-down approaches to food system challenges are insufficient in today’s rapidly changing landscape. The SPOON project proposes a paradigm shift by placing citizens’ local realities and operational settings at the forefront of transformation through citizen science. The latter can be placed as a powerful tool in empowering communities to contribute to knowledge generation and fostering collaboration for a more inclusive and sustainable food system. By understanding the interplay between citizen science, consumer behaviours, and data sharing, SPOON aims to enhance context-specific, cross-sector and data-driven decision-making for healthier, more sustainable diets and reduced food insecurity. In SPOON, citizens will actively participate in the research process and use innovative digital tools to collect, analyse, and interpret food data. Accordingly, in view of the background and objectives above, the project will seek to: Develop an analytical framework and increase understanding of factors influencing healthy and sustainable food consumption Implement Citizen Science Labs (CSLs) and Behaviour Change Interventions (BCI) with citizens and food stakeholders to collect, visualise and interpret data on consumers’ consumption behaviours and their local food purchasing and consumption environments Create and deploy the SPOON digital toolset that includes a multimedia questionnaire generator and a personal data wallet to enable data collection and analysis (citizen science) Establish a GDPR-compliant data governance framework focusing on privacy, data sharing, and inter-operability Produce guidelines and a capacity-building programme for citizen science and consumer behaviour change projects aiming to exploit, replicate and accelerate project learnings, insights and results Draft policy recommendations to enhance data-driven policies through better use of citizen data, digital tools, and cross-sector collaboration The CSCP will serve as overall coordinator for the SPOON project and as lead for the following tasks: Developing a deeper understanding of Europeans’ approaches—barriers and opportunities—to data sharing and participation in citizen science projects within the food sector. Mapping stakeholders and analysing actors’ operational settings in the food and related sectors (e.g., health, mobility, waste) from production to consumption across the project’s target regions: Germany, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Slovenia. Engaging citizens and food actors through Citizen Science Labs (CSLs) and Behaviour Change Initiatives (BCIs) to explore food consumption behaviours and the factors influencing the adoption of healthier and more sustainable diets. CSLs will be established in the six aforementioned countries, applying a “farm to fork and beyond” perspective. Providing training and capacity building to other European stakeholders for designing and implementing citizen science and behaviour change initiatives through the Citizen Science Academy. Supporting the socio-economic and environmental assessment and impact evaluation of the project as a whole, and specifically of the CSLs. The SPOON project is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and will run for 4 years (2024-2028). It brings together a consortium of 16 European partners. * Crippa et al., 2021 ** Oakden et al., 2021 *** IFOAM