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Bridging Distances: The ISOSCAN Team Meets in Stockholm

After a successful pilot campaign around Tromsø last season, the team got their heads back together this fall for our annual meeting, got ‘locked up’ in a converted prison hotel in Stockholm to complete the necessary mid-term reporting and plan the coming field season.
We kicked off the meeting with a creative icebreaker: using LEGO bricks to represent each other’s work packages. Each construction sparked discussions about how our different tasks interconnect — and reminded us that some crucial roles, like admin and project management, may not always be visible but are essential for keeping the project running smoothly.

lego assembly — Following the arrows, starting with a pile of Lego to construct different parts of the project the hydrological cycle, data and literature, laboratory, citizen science, snow and water sampling

group photo — The ISOSCAN team ‘imprisoned’ in Stockholm

While online meetings keep us connected, meeting in person remains invaluable for deeper discussions, better coordination, and strengthening our sense of team spirit. Most of all, it’s simply enjoyable to spend time together and get to know the people behind the research.
We are now preparing sampling kits and scaling up the campaign for the upcoming season. There will be sampling campaigns involving a Finnish school, science institutes in SE Norway and citizen sampling in and around Tromsø.
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Text: Benjamin Fischer, Costijn Zwart, Harald Sodemann
Photo credit: Benjamin Fischer, Costijn Zwart

ISOSCAN team received the MacGyver award at CS4water conference !

Even though the project has a strong winter focus, there was plenty of activity this summer. Beside growing our dataset, Cos and Benjamin attended the CS4Water Conference in Delft, a global gathering dedicated to advancing citizen science for water research and management. Alongside learning from experts from around the world, they proudly presented the ISOSCAN project in the conference’s poster session — sharing insights into how our team combines citizen science with isotope hydrology to better understand water processes across Fennoscandia including the isotope sampling kit our citizen scientist used to collect snow.

The conference offered a great opportunity to exchange ideas on best practices, common challenges, and innovative developments in citizen science. Just as valuable was the chance to meet and connect with the inspiring and welcoming citizen science community.

As the perfect ending to an already exciting event, the ISOSCAN team was honored with the MacGyver Award for DIY Brilliance 🎉 — celebrating our creative, hands-on approach to scientific problem-solving!

Text: Benjamin Fischer, Costijn Zwart

Costijn & Benjamin presenting ISOSCAN poster at the conference (photo: Costijn)

Welcome our new team member, Marie Curtet !

Marie Curtet is a master’s student in Sustainability at the University of Bergen, Norway. Marie is currently pursuing her master’s thesis in collaboration with the ISOSCAN team, under the supervision of Harald Sodemann, leader of the ISOSCAN project, and Rose Trappes, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bergen. Her master’s thesis focuses on Citizen Science and hydroclimatic extremes. In particular, she is looking into what motivates people to participate in Citizen Science projects and how they experience their participation in the ISOSCAN project.