WP4 – Understanding Citizen Science

WP4: Understanding and upgrading citizen science practices

Key research questions:

What is the role of the coding community in facilitation of grassroots knowledge production?  

How to design the effective participation process in the area of citizen science?

Can participation in citizen science be taught?  

How proper data management can boost the citizen participation and awareness?

Our main research aim is to identify a potentially scalable methodological toolbox to improve participation and deliberation in Europe and byond. We will explore innovative methods of strengthening the engagement of citizens in citizen science production in the areas of: 

  1. Grassroots knowledge production in the context of climate crisis and smart city policies;
  2. Citizen science in environmental science;
  3. Citizen observatories and data cooperatives;
  4. Science clubs and educational networks.

We will achieve this by: 

  1. Conducting in-depth interviews with the ‘coding community’ aimed at gaining insight into activists’ methods and strategies;
  2. Co-designing experimental set ups to test protocols of data collection in existing citizen science programs developed by the French National Museum of Natural History in ordinary-life problem-solving situations implicating (local) decision makers and a network of contributing citizens;
  3. Compiling a survey (including existing EU open data practices) on different forms of data collection, archiving and dissemination, to analyze and assess their effectiveness in enabling public access and use of open data;
  4. Exploring and developing the ‘science clubs’ model used in Uruguay’s education system as a mode of reaching out, learning and empowering youth in the field of science education.

Leader: Anna Domaradzka
Contact Person: Magdalena Roszczynska-Kurasinska