Air quality still poses a challenge to health, ecosystems and climate in Europe, despite decades of positive developments. Since the adoption of the first EU legislation on ambient air, process knowledge has increased, remote and in situ observing technologies have undergone major developments, and new powerful ICT infrastructures have emerged. Low-cost sensing technologies have enabled a paradigm shift in air quality monitoring, triggering new research needs and opportunities to underpin the new capabilities. The EU-funded VIDIS project will develop a strategic partnership between the VINCA Institute (Serbia) and leading international counterparts known for research on low-cost sensing – ENEA (Italy), NILU (Norway), QUT(Australia) – with the aim of generating knowledge and approaches for meaningful uptake of new technologies.