GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Proposals should:

• Develop and test early detection strategies by exploiting digital technologies, e.g., networks of sensors and remote sensing, to improve the surveillance efforts and the delimitation of affected areas by regulated pests allowing a regular and rapid monitoring of large areas that might be difficult to reach;
• Enhance and optimize the use of insect traps in a network setting for an IoT approach;
• Develop user-friendly and accessible tools or methods, including through the use of robotics to monitor a suite of known stress-processes in plants (chlorosis, changes in fluorescence, loss of transportation, etc.) that can be used in plant pest detection and/or to monitor occurrence of pests;
• Contribute to disentangle biotic and abiotic stresses, enabling the early detection of pests, by pushing further the current (and the new generation of satellite missions, e.g., FLEX) capabilities of remote sensing (measurements taken by hand-held, towers, drones, and satellite data), AI, and other digital strategies;
• Collect standardised and comprehensive data (e.g., field observations, laboratory measurements, remotely sensed data, etc.) that contribute to monitor plant health and pests and to develop an early warning surveillance system;
• Assess the cost-benefits of the proposed methods;
• Integrate citizen science as a tool to monitor pests, developing robust methods to use its data for systematic analysis, and increasing public and stakeholder engagement.