Our team attended the CIG Conference in Brussels, “From Ideas to Impact: Celebrating Six Years of COST Innovators Grants.” The event was a fantastic opportunity to network with fellow researchers and reflect on the vital role of the COST Association (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) over the past six years.

As part of the program, our WP5 Leader, Kathrin Blumenstein, presented the progress and future vision of our FREE3 (IG20132) project during her presentation, “Empowering Europe's Cities for Climate-Resilient Urban Forests.”

She highlighted two major focus areas:

• We rolled out our QGIS plugin, a practical decision-support tool for municipal tree planners to identify resilient species that can withstand climate challenges and biosecurity threats.

• Our next steps to maximise impact include an upcoming Training School, a series of technical webinars, and policy briefs that bridge scientific research and urban management.

We sincerely thank the organisers and the COST Association for hosting this inspiring event, and all the colleagues who joined us to discuss the future of urban biosecurity and environmental resilience.