Citizen Science
What is Citizen Science?
Citizen science refers to the involvement of the public or non-professional individuals in scientific research activities and the answering of research questions while taking social needs into account and solving problems in a changing world. One of the first means of involving external stakeholders in the research process is Open Research Agenda Setting (ORAS). ORAS makes it possible to take people’s needs into account and to draw on external knowledge and expertise when identifying and defining new research areas.
In Citizen Science projects, volunteers collaborate with professional scientists from various scientific disciplines to collect, analyse, or contribute to scientific data, observations, and experiments. These projects include, e.g. birdwatching programs, water quality monitoring, wildlife tracking, climate observations or astronomy projects.
What are the benefits for you?
- Incorporating new perspectives, ideas and voices in the research process
- Increasing the trust in science and improving the robustness of research processes
- Allowing members of the general public to actively participate in and contribute to the scientific process as well as offer them learning opportunities
- Getting access to data that might be challenging or expensive to collect, incorporating citizen scientists in your research projects
- Fostering the sense of scientific literacy and enhancing the connection between scientific research and society
Requirements
- Be aware on the social responsibility of research
- Take care on a suitable Open Research Agenda Setting and surrounding
- Assess the workload of engagement processes for researchers as well as for external stakeholders properly
- Take care on the recruitment process of external stakeholders
- Set up and maintain a pool of suitable technical equipment
Resources
- Arqus Open Research Agenda Setting Toolbox
- Arqus Recommendations on Open Research Agenda Setting
- Youtube Channel of the European Citizen Science Association (ESCA) (training and information)
- EU Citizen Science Platform (Blog, Projects, Moocs, Information; Login is required)
- SciStarter – Citizen Science Training Modules (Videos, Tutorials; Login is required)