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. - The Critical Importance of Citizen Science DataBy Alex de Sherbinin, , Anne Bowser, Tyng-Ruey Chuang, et al. Published in Frontiers in Climate, 25 March 2021. Citizen science is an important vehicle for democratizing science and promoting the goal of universal and equitable access to scientific data and information. Data generated by citizen science groups have become an increasingly important source for scientists, applied users and those pursuing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Citizen science data are used extensively in studies of biodiversity and pollution; crowdsourced data are being used by UN operational agencies for humanitarian activities; and citizen scientists are providing data relevant to monitoring the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This article provides an International Science Council (ISC) perspective on citizen science data generating activities in support of the 2030 Agenda and on needed improvements to the citizen science community’s data stewardship practices for the benefit of science and society by presenting results of research undertaken by an ISC-sponsored Task Group.
- 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
- The problem with delineating narrow criteria for citizen scienceIn this letter published July 2019 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the authors argue against F Heigel's criteria for citizen science as set out in his paper Toward an International Definition of Citizen Science.
- 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.
- Combining Citizen Science and Official DataThe aim of the Measure Together program in The Netherlands is to support citizen science for environmental parameters such as air quality, water quality, and noise. Measure Together encourages people to do these measurements together, to build communities, connect with different stakeholders, connect with us, to exchange information, and combine data to put these in a broader context.
Guides
- Published in November 2023 by EUTOPIA European University, the Citizen Science Starter Kit shares information about what citizen science is through definitions, guidelines and tips & tricks. It consists of 4 modules: 1) Start to learn about citizen science; 2) Determine if citizen science is right for your research; 3) Crucial design factors for successful citizen science 4) Getting started with citizen science.
- 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 - 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/
- Choosing and Using Citizen Science: a guide to when and how to use citizen science to monitor biodiversity and the environmentThe aim of this guidance from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is to support people considering using a citizen science approach, especially (but not necessarily restricted to) monitoring biodiversity and the environment in the UK. It will help you decide whether citizen science is likely to be useful, and it will help you decide which broad approach to citizen science is most suitable for your question or activity.
- 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
Engaging and empowering citizens with low-cost sensors for monitoring climate change hazards
SCORE webinar held 1st March 2024
Citizen science plays a crucial role in monitoring climate change by engaging ordinary citizens in data collection and analysis, expanding the scope of climate observation and empowering communities to understand and address local climate challenges. In this webinar we explored the role of citizen science in monitoring climate change hazards using low-cost sensors and provided an overview of low-cost DIY sensor technologies. Experts from the SCORE project explained how to deploy and operate low-cost sensor networks and showcased some successful citizen science initiatives from the project so far.
Tuesday, 27th February 2024
The overall objective of the ECS (European Citizen Science) project is to increase the capacity of European society to engage the public in scientific research through citizen science.
Click here for the recording of the webinar which has been uploaded to YouTube. Summary of the presentations at this webinar:
- Data practices in citizen science, by Amalia Cardenas from CSIC
- Impact evaluation, by Teresa Schaefer from ZSI
- ECS Academy, capacity building and training by Muki Haklay by UPCité/LPI
- Policy priorities, by Marius Oesterheld from MfN
- 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.
- 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.
Doing Excellent Research with Citizen Science - Opportunities and Challenges
Prof Muki Haklay, University College London, spoke at the ENGAGED RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES organised by UCD Research on March 8th 2023 at 1pm. Click on the blue link above to download the PDF of his presentation.
Watch the seminar back on this YouTube video
Prof. Haklay is a Professor of Geographic Information Science in the Department of Geography at UCL.
His research focuses on environment and society relationships, and he is the co-director of the UCL Extreme
Citizen Science group. Prof. Haklay is renowned for the wider societal and economic impact of his
work using citizen science approaches.
Citizen Science and Higher Level Education
- Syllabus for the University Course "Citizen Science: New Approaches and Tools for Integrating Scientific Research and Society"Full content of the course created and made available by Prof. Cristina Castracani, the University of Parma, Italy
- 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.
- Citizen Science Institutional Change Through BESCPOC ImplementationsThis report presents insights and analyses from the implementation of the BESPOC model (Broad Engagement in Science, Point of Contact) across five Baltic Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The goal of the BESPOC model is to support a connection between academia and society by integrating public engagement and citizen science (CS) into university services.
- 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.
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This 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.
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This 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.
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- 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? - A New Generation of Citizen Scientists: Self-Efficacy and Skill Growth in a Voluntary Project Applied in the College Classroom SettingArticle by Kate Tillotson-Chavez and
Jennifer Weber published in Citizen science, 03/2024, Volume 9, Issue 1. Using citizen science resources and projects in university education is a burgeoning pedagogical tool that can promote real-world application of science, autonomous learning, and understanding of self-efficacy in science learning. In this case study, we examined several factors relating to self-efficacy and skill growth in STEM and nonSTEM majors in life science courses of different levels at one university.
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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