Nynke Blömer, a PhD student in the Agroecology group in the Department of Zoology, is a co-founder of Pollinator Ambassadors, a European charity focused on biodiversity regeneration and artistic engagement with nature. They are at the front line of engaging young people in activities for nature, with a strong focus on wild pollinators.
- Together with Biodiversity Action Europe, Pollinator Ambassadors has just secured funding for the project "Buzzing Futures: Youth Advocacy and Communication for Pollinators" from the new European Fund for Youth Action on Pollinators (managed by IUCN-SOS) worth EUR 67,300. The project focusses on youth engagement and empowerment using systems thinking and artistic tools and will take place in Austria and France in 2026-2027.
- They've started a new partnership with youth organisations from Georgia, Türkiye, Lithuania, Greece, and Romania for the project "BEEodiversity", which will be an Erasmus+ Youth Exchange supported by an Erasmus+ grant worth EUR 29,700. The Youth Exchange will take place in Georgia in 2026 and will focus on building connections between young people from the partner countries, practicing language skills, and using community science tools to learn about pollinators.
- Pollinator Ambassadors participate in the EU Young Citizens Assembly on Pollinators (2025-2026) as experts on pollinators and citizen engagement, providing insights into actions for pollinators and sharing knowledge on the drivers of decline. The next (and last) in-person session will be the first weekend of March. Nynke will be there.
Previous Pollinator Ambassadors projects include:
STING. A project funded by EU Joint Research Centre on citizens' engagement for pollinators called "Pollinating Projects". Deliverables can be seen on the EU JRC Toolkit for Citizen Engagement on Pollinators: https://cop-demos.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pollinators#text-wrapper-676,
FLOWER: Facilitating Learning and Women’s Empowerment in Pollinator Regeneration (Erasmus+ KA2 grant). This project published a zine on Systems Thinking and an amazing online exhibition of pollinator zines: https://pollinatorambassadors.org/project/flower/.
Also see https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/news/buzzing-futures-youth-led-pollinator-focussed-projects-win-funding - posted by Abigail Youngman on the Department of Zoology website, on 06/02/2026.
Photo by Elena Zakharova on Unsplash