On World Bee Day 2025, the INSECTOPIA Online Ceremony brought together nine partner universities of the EU GREEN Alliance to highlight the vital role of pollinators and biodiversity in sustaining ecosystems. This celebratory and action-oriented event showcased the collaborative spirit, creativity, and environmental leadership of the alliance’s members.
Organized by the University of Extremadura, the ceremony featured over 50 participants and served as a milestone in the development of INSECTOPIA, a flagship initiative under the EU GREEN Alliance that promotes pollinator conservation, ecological education, and sustainable campus development across Europe.
The event opened with remarks from Antonio Román Casas, INSECTOPIA coordinator, who welcomed participants and honored the global recognition of World Bee Day as championed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He was joined by Raquel Pérez-Aloe Valverde and Professor José María Maya Manzano, who underlined the scientific and community-driven aims of the initiative.
Key insights were provided by Professor Diana Cupșa of the University of Oradea, who presented the EU’s biodiversity strategies, including the Nature Restoration Law and the Pollinator Information Hive, underscoring the importance of science-based, cross-border action to halt pollinator decline.
Each of the nine universities—members of the EU GREEN (European University Alliance for Sustainability, Responsible Growth, and Inclusive Education)—presented the winning student and staff-led proposals from their internal INSECTOPIA competitions. These creative, interdisciplinary projects ranged from pollinator hotels and gardens to modular, sensory, and educational installations, each tailored to local campus environments:
This unique collaboration exemplifies the EU GREEN Alliance’s mission to connect higher education institutions around sustainable development goals, applied research, and challenge-based learning.
Looking ahead, participants are preparing for the upcoming INSECTOPIA Festival in Jarandilla de la Vera, Spain, where selected teams will join a collaborative hackathon to build and implement their ideas on-site. The festival will also feature citizen science workshops, artistic installations, and expert-led sessions on insect habitats and biodiversity education.
INSECTOPIA demonstrates the power of aligned academic institutions to mobilize action for biodiversity and climate resilience, setting a model for systemic, science-informed, and community-engaged environmental transformation.
