ERC award for participatory forest research

Katalin Csilléry receives the ERC Public Engagement with Research Award 2026 of the European Research Council for her project “MyGardenOfTrees”. The project creates a pan-European network of foresters who collaborate with scientists to investigate how genetic origin and local forest conditions jointly shape the regeneration and growth of forest trees. By establishing and monitoring hundreds of experimental micro-gardens across 23 countries, participants become active contributors to research, generating new knowledge to inform climate-adaptive forest management. 

The European Research Council (ERC) awards recognise outstanding science communicators among the grantees who successfully engage audiences outside their domain. The purpose of the award is also to show good practice in science communication and to encourage more ERC-funded researchers to develop public engagement activities.