Written by: Tigran Keryan, BOKU

Biodiversity is all around us, even in the heart of our cities. As part of the ICA Biodiversity Challenge 2026, members of the EcoServ project (Ecosystem Services Assessment through a Participatory Approach for Sustainable Water Resources Management in Armenia) recently visited BOKU University in Vienna and joined colleagues to explore the diversity of life on the Türkenschanze campus.

The ICA Biodiversity Challenge brings together European life science universities in a friendly competition to record as many species as possible on their campuses. Through guided excursions and individual observations, participants contribute to a growing database of biodiversity records while learning from experts across disciplines.

Guided by experts from the BOKU Biodiversity Cluster, including Laura Niederfriniger, participants took part in a species observation walk, discovering the wide variety of plants and insects that thrive within the university’s urban green spaces. The activity highlighted how university campuses can serve as valuable habitats for biodiversity, while also functioning as living laboratories for research, education, and public engagement.

The activity also reflects the approach of the ᴇNᴀBʟS Austrian Landscapes4Future Living Lab, which actively uses the BOKU campus and the urban landscapes of Vienna as settings for connecting research, teaching, and practical experience. By bringing people together to explore biodiversity and ecosystem services, the Living Lab creates opportunities to learn from urban green spaces themselves and to consider how Nature-Based Solutions can contribute to climate change adaptation and human well-being.

For the EcoServ team, the visit offered an opportunity to exchange experiences across countries and disciplines and to see first-hand how biodiversity observation can become part of learning and collaborative exploration. Activities like the Biodiversity Challenge show how Living Labs can create opportunities for people to come together, share knowledge, and engage with the natural environment around them.