April, 2023
April, 2023
April is Citizen Science month! We celebrated the citizen science month in numerous dissemination activities. And it is just beginning. Read more about the most important event with ISEED participation, research from projects in Citizen Science and ISEED future plans.
Events
ISEED at Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference
‘Creatin Common Ground’
This month the greatly anticipated PCST conference ‘Creating Common Ground’ took place from 11 to 14 April in the buzzing city of Rotterdam, NL, bringing together academics from all over the world to share their expertise on public communication of science and technology. Our partners from Observa Science in Society and Universitat Pompeu Fabra attended the convention and shared ISEED experience with their peers, offering ideas and lessons learned over the project.
Following Chiara Piccolo and Giuseppe Pellergini‘s presentation on “Citizen Science: Public Involvement in Research Processes and Public Communication of Science,” Carolina Llorente together with Gema Revuelta spoke about communication in citizen science at an event called “Insight talks: Role Players in Science Communication and Public Engagement” the next day.
Research
It’s Citizen Science month!
This April, in dedication to Citizen Science Month, we highlight the work of fellow EU projects on citizen science: Step Change EU, YouCount, and EMBIMOS.
Step Change EU’s goal is to investigate the potential of citizen science, elaborate recommendations and tools for better implementation within R&I organizations, as well as modifying the researchers’ perceptions of its worth. The project consists of 5 Citizen Science Initiatives (CSIs) in the areas of environment, energy and health.
The CSIs focus on challenges such as off-grid renewable energy in agriculture in Uganda, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the UK, wildlife conservation, energy communities in Germany and infectious disease outbreak preparedness in Italy. You can read more about Step Change EU here!
How can we increase social inclusion for young people? YouCount is a project that groups young people and important stakeholders to improve young people’s social inclusion in Europe through collaboration and creation of new knowledge.
What is Youth Citizen Science? Practical citizen science gathers researchers and young collaborators creating local living labs, conducting interviews, dialogue forums and national workshops. In addition, they use an app specifically designed to collect and share everyday experiences. In the end, they can co-evaluate their collaboration on the cases. Check more about YouCount here!
EMBIMOS (EnvironMental and sustainaBility participatory InforMatiOn Systems) is an interdisciplinary research group from Spain dedicated to understanding, developing and implementing participatory information systems for decision-making in support of environmental sustainability.
EMBIMOS brings together researchers with extensive experience in citizen science, sustainability, environmental information systems, and history and communication of science. The participants of the group have been part of the consolidation of regional citizen science networks such as the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and the Ibero-American Network of Participatory Science (RICAP), to which thye give active support in their operation. You can learn more about EMBIMOS here!
Action
Future of Democracy and Deliberation
In the fall 2023, the ISEED team will run a series of National Workshops at which recommendations for the possible futures of democracy as well as citizen democratic participation in science will be co-created together with citizens, experts and policy-makers. The workshops will be organized in Poland, Italy, Spain, France, Uruguay, and Bulgaria.
Currently, empirical research results are being reviewed to identify key variables and indicators that will be used as a basis for the development of explorative scenarios for the future of democracy.
This set of speculative scenarios will be explored through conversation with stakeholders to help identify and enhance the creation of arenas of participation and spaces for discussion and deliberation. Following our workshops with stakeholders, and cross-country comparisons, final sets of recommendations will be formed.
If you are interested in participating in these workshops and you are based in one of the hosting countries, please do get in touch with us!
Text: Observa, Giuseppe Pellegrini, Magda Roszczyńska, Chiara Lovati and Sarah Santos
Edit: Sophia Efstathiou and Sarah Santos
Last updated: 27/04/2023
