Citizen science (CS) engages people in research and monitoring and helps expand peoples' knowledge of the subject. Citizen science is often used in studies of biodiversity and the environment, in which people voluntarily collect environmental data, monitor the samples and interpret the data.
Name of Method
Brief description
Being situated at the practice-policy-science interface, national governments, research agencies and other government institutions are increasingly recognizing the value of citizen science as a promising solution to engage with science and society, and as a focal point to provide data for public policy and decision-making. Citizen science is scientific research conducted (in whole or in part) by non-professional researchers. It integrates public participation and collaboration in scientific research.
Through citizen science, people for example participate in data monitoring and collection programs. Citizen science has a potential benefit of reconnecting professional scientists and the public in new ways, as the public involved in citizen science projects contribute to the production of knowledge, and engage with public policy in various alternative ways, providing space for other types of interaction, collaboration and agency of a plurality of actors.
Type/Level of Method
Challenges
Source of information for policy-making
- This is about the mobilisation of information for policy-making. It describes the use of outputs from CS, such as data and knowledge, as inputs for the implementation and monitoring of regulation. The most simplified instantiation of this mode posits citizens as data collectors whose contributions to monitoring are shepherded by public authorities.
Object of research policy
- CS can act as a legitimate approach to conducting research. In this sense, actors build links between the publics that they aim to represent and the stakeholders that they seek to influence. Most of the time, CS actors deal with traditional engagement with policy makers. These include members of public administrations who are responsible for creating and implementing laws and other rules that regulate research, science communication, and science education.
Policy instrument
- CS as a policy instrument which can be used by policymakers to advance specific policy goals on relationships between science and society. CS can help in using cost-effective ways to address environmental regulations to the characterisation of the entrepreneurial citizen, who provides ideas and capital of increasing democracy, improving the societal mission of science. CS takes part of the landscape of disruptive innovation practices with its respective impacts and adaptation to the political context.
Socio-technical governance
- CS projects tackle societal problems directly via material prototypes, protocols, and procedures without passing through discursive and deliberative policy channels. The impact of this approach is twofold. It enacts a materialisation of governance into devices, while also decentralising governance towards a local level where it involves affected members of the public, who can directly implement changes. Yet, this should not suggest that this approach involves only action and no research. On the contrary, the participants in this mode of CS are often more deeply involved in the scientific, technical, and policy literatures than in other forms of CS.
Problem, Purpose and Needs
As a core dimension of Open Science, it opens up the opportunity for all members of society to take an active role in research, innovation and the development of evidence-based policy, at local, national and EU levels.
Citizen science projects cover a range of topics, generating new knowledge and/or understanding on those specific topics. CS necessitates the active involvement of the public in scientific research, and thus has the potential to bring together science, policymakers, and society as a whole in an impactful way.
Relevance to Climate Neutrality
Challenges
Thematic Areas
Impact Goals
Issue Complexity
Issue Polarisation
Enabling Condition
Essential Considerations for Commissioning Authorities
Public administration is called on to play a key role as a driver of innovation and social transformation through policies aimed at mobilising the local knowledge and capacities in order to respond to their local challenges. The citizen engagement process should be designed to produce actionable results such as suggestions that policymakers can use to produce better local policies for the common good.
Engagement Journey
Governance Models and Approaches
Enabling Conditions
Democratic Purpose
Spectrum of participation
Communication Channels
Actors and Stakeholder Relationships
Citizen science often involves scientists who might be interested in the data that is being collected.
If a citizen science project is condisering a co-created citizen science scheme, it's often the community that establishes a project. They then approach a group of scientists with questions/issues they want to resolve. The goals, experimental approach and analysis of samples (of the co-created citizen science project) are defined together with the community and the scientists.
Participant Numbers
Actors and Stakeholders
Participant Recruitment
Interaction between participants
Format
Social Innovation Development Stage
Scope
Time commitment
Varies a lot, some projects have lasted 2 months.
Resources and Investments
A project needs to be promoted to the public. This can be done through existing networks, postig posters in local public spaces and newspapers, and social media.
A project has to consider what kind of equipment is needed for the project and the possibility of training the participants.
Testing the protocols and possily modifying them take additional time and resources but it's important to ensure that they are viable and can be used by the participants.
Typical duration
Resources and Investments
In-house
Step by Step
Before starting
- Identify research question. Can be driven by scientists, community or policy needs.
- Clear goal and expectations, and agree on the overall aims of project.
- Consider training needs for participants and their existing skills.
- Start to build a partnership with those involved.
- Important to consider whether the project is suitable for citizen science, eg. safety of participants when collecting data.
First steps
- Establish the project team and aims.
- Identify the resources needed and target participants.
- Co-created citizen science: partnership between scientists and the community.
Development phase
- Design the protocol, consider the data requirements, and analysis. Test the protocols and possibly modify them.
- Consider the needed equipment if any for the protocol.
- It's important to note that environmental recording shouldn't be done too frequently because it may be overwhelming for the participants and can reduce their motavtion to collect data.
- It's always important to keep in mind the motivation and the time-frame for a citizen science project so that volunteers are motivated and can commit. This also entails that training and resources are sufficient for the period of the project.
Live phase
- Promote the project.
- Complete data analysis, report results and share data and take action.
Evaluation
Formative evaluation
- Done at the beginning of the project to assess the effectiveness of the delivery of the project by informing on changes to improve the project’s effectiveness.
Summative evaluation
- Completed at the end of the project to assess the effects and outcomes of the project.
- Questions to ask: Were aims met, what were the results, how did the project affect participants’ learning and attitudes?
Quality of data
Participant experience and wider policy impact
Connecting Methods
Flexibility and Adaptability
Flexibility:
- Time-frame: Short or long-term, depends on the availability and willingness of volunteers.
- Amount of participants: There can also be mass participation projects that can help get an overview of the state of something. Such mass projects can help gain traction on the news and social media.
- Site location: Better to be around where people are or are often passing through.
- Materials: May need sensors, or small amount of material/none at all.
- Types of data: The data that citizens record or observe can vary. Data can be images, sound recordings, video, measurements of something, or physical samples of water etc.
Things to remember:
- That the project partnerns with experienced practitioners to avoid common pitfalls.
- Important to note that the protocols should be easily learned and not too complex to understand.
- The project will most likely have to invest in training of volunteers.
Existing Guidelines and Best Practice
Pocock, M. J. O., Chapman, D. S., Sheppard, L. J., & Roy, H. E. (2014). Choosing and Using Citizen Science: A guide to when and how to use citizen science to monitor biodiversity and the environment. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Retrieved from https://www.ceh.ac.uk/sites/default/files/sepa_choosingandusingcitizenscience_interactive_4web_final_amended-blue1.pdf
References and Further Resources
EU Citizen Science. Frequently asked questions. Retrieved from https://eu-citizen.science/faq/
Goudeseune, L., Eggermont, H., Groom, Q., Le Roux, X., Paleco, C., Roy, H. E., & van Noordwijk, C. G. E. (2020). BiodivERsA Citizen Science Toolkit for Biodiversity Scientists. BiodivERsA, 1-44. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3979343
Pocock, M. J. O., Chapman, D. S., Sheppard, L. J., & Roy, H. E. (2014). Choosing and Using Citizen Science: A guide to when and how to use citizen science to monitor biodiversity and the environment. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Retrieved from https://www.ceh.ac.uk/sites/default/files/sepa_choosingandusingcitizenscience_interactive_4web_final_amended-blue1.pdf
Tweddle, J. C., Robinson, L. D., Pocock, M. J. O., & Roy, H. E (2012). Guide to citizen science: developing, implementing and evaluating citizen science to study biodiversity and the environment in the UK. Natural History Museum and NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology for UK-EOF. Retrieved from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmwww/take-part/Citizenscience/citizen-science-guide.pdf