Highlights from the 2nd STELLA Capacity Building Workshop

By Dimitra Fourkalidou | Head of Communications | reframe.food

On June 13, the STELLA Horizon Europe project hosted its 2nd Capacity Building Workshop, titled “Pest Prediction Tools feat. The Greek Plane Tree Forest Pilot”, welcoming researchers, policymakers, agritech innovators, and forestry experts to explore digital solutions for safeguarding Europe’s plant health and biodiversity.

This online event placed a strong focus on prediction technologies and forest biosecurity, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated responses to plant pathogens, with particular attention to Canker Stain Disease—a major threat to urban tree ecosystems across Southern Europe.

From Project Vision to Field Deployment

The Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), coordinator of STELLA, opened the session by presenting the project’s vision and its network of Use Case Pilots. The Greek Use Case Pilot was showcased as a standout example. Through early detection and response to Canker Stain of Plane Trees, this pilot aims to prevent widespread damage to urban forests by combining digital monitoring, field observation, and expert analysis.

Expert Contributions Across Europe

Keynote speaker Dr. Fryni Drizou from the Forest Research Institute of Greece delivered an in-depth overview of forest biosecurity, emphasizing the ecological and economic impacts of invasive pests and diseases.

Following this, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna presented advances in satellite-based remote sensing for pest and disease prediction, while AUA demonstrated how UAVs (drones) complement this data with high-resolution insights at the local level.

Green & Digital shared perspectives on the policy landscape in the EU, underscoring the importance of integrating research outcomes into strategic policymaking for plant health and resilience.

METOS by Pessl Instruments introduced proximal sensing technologies and the iSCOUT® Mobile App, a citizen science tool that empowers farmers and land managers to contribute to real-time pest monitoring using smartphones.

STELLA PSS and ICAERUS

The workshop also revisited the architecture and functionality of the STELLA Pest Surveillance System (PSS)—an AI-powered platform combining early warning models with multi-source data for informed pest management.

Closing the session, the Agricultural University of Athens introduced the ICAERUS project, an EU-funded initiative that aligns closely with STELLA’s goals. ICAERUS focuses on the use of UAVs and digital technologies in various agricultural applications including sustainable crop and forest protection, offering opportunities for cross-project learning and collaboration.

Building Readiness Through Knowledge Sharing

With a rich mix of technical demonstrations, expert insights, and policy context, this workshop helped equip stakeholders with practical knowledge and digital tools for improving pest surveillance and early intervention across different ecosystems.

The STELLA Horizon Europe project will continue to host capacity-building workshops throughout 2025 and 2026, ensuring the broad dissemination of field results and promoting the adoption of innovative pest detection, prediction and response technologies across Europe.

Stay connected to follow the next steps in STELLA’s journey toward resilient, digitally enabled plant health solutions.