Citizen Science: Citizen Science Articles / Guides / Courses
This guide provides case studies, resources and information on relevant events to support UCD staff, researchers, academics and students interested in citizen science.
Citizen Science Articles / Presentations
- Citizen Science in IrelandArticle by Joseph Roche, Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Peter Mooney, Gillian Barber, Laura Bell, and Cliodhna Ryan. Ireland has a rich history of public engagement with science and the growing number of national citizen science initiatives is in keeping with developments seen in other European countries. This paper explores several aspects of citizen science in Ireland, in order to assess its development and to better understand potential opportunities for the field.
- Citizen Science Terminology Matters: Exploring Key TermsThis article discusses and explores the wide variety of terms and expressions used to refer to the concept of ‘citizen science’ and its practitioners including crowdsourcing, community-based participatory research, public participation in science and research, volunteered geographic information, etc.
- Citizen science for monitoring the health and well-being related Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization’s Triple Billion TargetsBy Dilek Fraisl, Linda See, Diana Estevez et al
Published in Frontiers in Public Health, 09 August 2023. Achieving the health and well-being related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Triple Billion Targets depends on informed decisions that are based on concerted data collection and monitoring efforts.
....significant gaps still remain for routine surveillance to guide policies and actions...Citizen science, public participation in scientific research and knowledge production, can contribute to addressing some of these data gaps efficiently and sustainably when designed well, and ultimately, could contribute to the achievement of the health and well-being related SDGs and Triple Billion Targets. - Energy Urbanity and Active Citizen ParticipationThis paper poses the question: ‘can energy innovation initiatives in Innovation Playgrounds foster a new ‘energy urbanity’ through active citizen participation in the energy transition?’ The two case sites are: Limerick City in Ireland and Trondheim in Norway.
- Environmental Citizen ScienceThis collection of articles explores the engagement of the wider public in environmental research projects - supporting new forms of science that equip society to face long-standing and new challenges.
- Opportunities, approaches and challenges to the engagement of citizens in filling small water body data gapsby Kelly-Quinn, M., Biggs, J.N., Brooks, S. et al.
The overall aim of this paper is to propose a framework for operationalisation of citizen science targeting collection of data from small water bodies. Figure 6 describes step-by-step tasks in a Framework for Citizen Science Core Activities - Recommended open science practices with a special focus on citizen scienceThis presentation gives specific examples of citizen science projects which were undertaken at different levels of engagement / participation.
Guides
- Citizen Science Starter KitCreated by EUTOPIA European University. Are you curious about citizen science, but (relatively) new to it?
In three modules you will learn more about citizen science as a research method, how you can determine whether this method is suitable for your research and which factors are crucial in the design of a successful citizen science project. Each module contains case studies, tips for further reading and links to useful online tools or courses. - Engage your Research : An Introductory Guide to Engaging & Involving the Public in ResearchPublished by UCD Research, 2021.
This guide will introduce you to how, where, and why to engage the public in your research. - How to work with young people in Citizen Science? - Complying with privacy laws and parental consent requirements in AppsHow to work with young people in Citizen Science - an integrated solution for all CS applications on Spotteron complying with privacy laws & parental consent requires appropriate measures in place, developed by Spotteron and Horizon EU-funded YouCount Project:
https://www.youcountproject.eu/ - Developing citizen science: 5 evidence-based recommendations for policymakersThis report presents 10 policy recommendations grouped into 5 categories - these suggest ways in which CS stakeholders (such as project initiators, platform managers or funding agencies)
can help maximise the benefit of Citizen Science activities for individual citizens, the scientific community, and society at large.
Webinars and Courses
- Citizen Science and Global BiodiversityThis free course from The Open University, deals with the importance of biodiversity and explores how anyone can contribute to and be involved in identifying and recording wildlife, as a citizen scientist. It looks at what citizen science is, and how citizen science facilitates public involvement in scientific research activities as individuals learn and build skills.
- Successful strategies in applying for citizen science fundingWebinar run jointly by UNICA and EUTOPIA. The invited speakers provided the audience with interesting insights, important take-aways and useful suggestions regarding successful applications. The panel of international citizen science experts, researchers and funding body representatives shared their experiences and suggested strategies.
- Citizen Science: two institutional viewpoints from the UK and DenmarkThis LIBER webinar focused on the role of Citizen Science in research universities and libraries through two case studies.
Citizen Science and Higher Level Education
- Citizen science at universities: trends, guidelines and recommendationsThe purpose of this paper is twofold: First, it provides a set of actionable guidelines for professional scientists engaging in citizen science at universities, thus helping to ensure high quality research results of citizen science projects and encouraging efficient collaboration between professional scientists and the public. Second, based on these guidelines, this paper provides a series of policy recommendations for universities, research funding organisations and policy-making bodies to promote excellence in citizen science.
- Incorporate Citizen Science in Your Higher Ed CourseCitizenScience Org has gathered these videos which were designed to help you as you think about creating online or face-to-face learning experiences for undergraduates and offer tangible tips for incorporating citizen science into any curriculum.
- State-of-the-art report on the integration of OS (and CS) in existing HE curriculaThis report from the University of Oulu, Finland, considers how Higher Education
Institutes can integrate Open Science / Citizen Science into their curricula to design student-centred learning activities in which students can learn and address real-world challenges with peers. - Fostering OIAs at your university : guide of best practices in open innovation activitiesThis guide aims to gather lessons and best practices learnt from different use cases.
The objective is to transfer the experiences and knowledge produced during the design, implementation, and assessment of open innovation events to other type of OS activities and other contexts and fields, and to increase the transferability and impact of project results to other HEIs and research organisations. - Citizen Enhanced Open Science In Cultural Heritage: Review and analysis of practices in higher educationBy Katerina Zourou & Mariana Ziku. The study includes 25 European case studies analysing aspects such as Open Data, FAIR data, type of participation and form of civic engagement.
It discusses the following:
• How can universities act as citizen science
incubators?
• How to connect civic engagement with open
science?
• How to move towards active public
engagement models in scholarly research, all
with an application in the cultural heritage
field?
Theses
- “A Co-operation of Observers”: Crafting knowledge infrastructures for microscopyLea Beiermann's PhD thesis, Maastricht University, 2023. In the final chapter, the section Imagining Citizen Science in the Twenty-First Century discusses the arguments in favour and against citizens science and relates these to Lea's experience with the Worlds of Wonder project developed for the Zooniverse website.
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