Faciliator: Andrea Brunello
Siqing Yu – KU Leuven, Joep Crompvoets – KU Leuven, Trui Steen – KU Leuve, Abbas Rajabifard – The University of Melbourne and Jagannath Aryal –The University of Melbourne
Does the Field of Science Matter for Knowledge Co-Production in Citizen Science? Comparing Practices from Freshwater to Urban Sociology in Australia
The value of citizen science (CS) is often seen as both scientific and social, ranging from crowdsourced data collection to knowledge co-production. While CS is used in fields like environmental monitoring, astronomy, and public health, its designs and objectives vary widely. However, little is understood about how these variations influence both the scientific and social outcomes of CS.
This paper examines how the field of science impacts knowledge co-production, comparing two Australian CS projects: Merri Creek Waterwatch (freshwater) and U City Adelaide (urban sociology). By analyzing qualitative data from interviews, observations, and desk-based research, the study explores how scientific (explicit) and lay (tacit) knowledge characteristics differ between natural and social sciences. The findings highlight the varying dynamics of knowledge co-production across disciplines and contribute to knowledge management and participatory research literature.
Catriona Boyle, John Hyland and Eimear Ferguson – Teagasc
Navigating the science TV interview
Television remains one of the most trusted sources of information, with the public expressing a strong desire to hear from trustworthy sources, including scientists. However, many scientists face media fear due to lack of media training, and many also have to communicate in a non-native language. Feedback from scientists revealed they often felt unprepared for TV appearances and would pass on interview opportunities.
In response, we developed bespoke training to help scientists prepare for television appearances. Working with the producers of the show, we identified common challenges and collaborated with a trainer to create a program that empowered scientists to effectively communicate their work. The training focused on organizing ideas, using language and story to engage the audience, and building confidence. Scientists also had one-on-one sessions to refine their responses and received access to recorded sessions and additional resources. Evaluation through surveys and interviews informed future improvements to the training.
Chris Styles – IMPETUS
Small Projects can make big waves – Tales from the IMPETUS journey
IMPETUS has worked with 125 new and ongoing citizen science initiatives throughout the four-year project. At this session, we will share some of the most impressive case studies of what these projects have achieved, thanks to the help of the IMPETUS accelerator.
This will detail our three accelerator cohorts’ most impactful citizen science projects. We will share their outstanding work to include communities as active contributors in their research and how they have leveraged this to drive new policy, create real-world solutions to issues facing the community at a local, national, and international level, and show how small projects can make big waves. We will also discuss how we could potentially ride this wave further to help raise more projects in the future.
Ajay Jones, Ben Ireland and Sharon Backhouse – GeoTenerife
Citizen Science: how to mainstream climate change nature-based solutions in local communities
Citizen science is widely utilised in earth and environmental sciences, exemplified by initiatives such as SERC Ocean Travellers, where volunteers collect marine litter for analysis. The primary aim of citizen science is to outsource the labour hours of data collection and analysis to volunteers while fostering public engagement with science. The Genesis project will implement nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change-induced water supply challenges on vulnerable islands, focusing on local stakeholder engagement. How can a citizen science hub be effectively designed to engage the residents surrounding these NBS sites? Cox et al. (2015) demonstrated that citizen science projects fostered collaborative problem-solving, with high levels of engagement correlating to the “bloggability” of tasks. A successful Genesis citizen science hub will raise awareness of the Genesis project, enhance the feeling of local ownership of the NBS, and promote participation in public events.
Mhairi Stewart, Niklas Marzinek, and Nina Borchmann – Museum für Naturkunde
Land in sight – What skills do PEPs need next?
During a fruitful PE professional community workshop held in November 2024, we facilitated a ‘Skills Tree’ exercise with 40 German and international practitioners to map their existing skills and identify the critical gaps that need to be addressed in order to advance the sector and their personal career paths in PE. In this poster, we share the key findings from this exercise, shedding light on the strengths and opportunities for growth within the PE community.
The tree is far from complete, however. EUSEA conference attendees are invited to participate in this ongoing activity, by adding their own ‘leaves’ to our interactive skills tree. The valuable data and insights derived from this will inform future recommendations for capacity building and professional skills development, thereby ensuring continued personal growth and development in our field.
Esther Marín-González – Sciences/ULisboa, Sílvia Castro -University of Coimbra, João Loureiro -University of Coimbra and Cristina Luís – Sciences/ULisboa
Collaborative Environmental Compliance Assurance: citizen science and national authorities supporting pollinators’ conservation and sustainability in Portugal
Europe holds a rich diversity of pollinators that are crucial for ecosystem maintenance. However, pollinators are declining. The more4nature project aims to drive transformative change in biodiversity protection by engaging citizens and communities in collaborative Environmental Compliance Assurance. In Portugal, more4nature is collaborating with Polinização that focuses on improving knowledge and conservation of pollinators, addressing decline causes, and raising awareness at national level. POLLINIZATION will develop an Action Plan for the conservation and sustainability of pollinators through participatory workshops. More4nature supports this effort by strengthening collaboration and partnerships between citizen science initiatives, national authorities, scientific entities, and producer associations to integrate citizen-generated data and support community-led actions in the future Action Plan. Such effort will foster collaborative environmental compliance promotion, monitoring, and enforcement in Portugal. This presentation will showcase more4nature’s innovative methodology and the ongoing work with Polinização.
Saskia O’Sullivan, Emily Freeman, Ana Wallis, Nicholas Pitt, Helen Smith, Matthew Beech and Alistair Farley – University of Oxford
Crush the Bugs!
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global challenge directly related to 16 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, with severe negative implications for poverty, gender inequality, animal welfare, the environment, as well as food security. We report on work undertaken by researchers at the University of Oxford to engage with young people, teachers, farmers, and vets, to illuminate current research into new drugs for human use and alternative antibiotics for agriculture, as well as to discuss the issues to better inform further public engagement and policy-related activities. This poster will highlight three different modes of local engagement: a schools-based workshop, a study day involving a History of Science Museum, and a community consultation, sharing the outcome of these activities as well as overall learning from this work.
Dámaso Moreno Ramírez, Patricia Martínez Galisteo, Paula Pastor Andrés, Andrea Carbonell Pastor and Isabel García Soler – Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research in the Valencian Region (FISABIO), Valencia, Spain.
FISALAB-ELX: sharing experiences in implementing a health living lab to boost co-creation solutions with the whole stakeholder’s ecosystem in the health sector
FISALAB-ELX project aims at defining and implementing a living lab experience to co-create and test healthcare solutions involving all stakeholders. FISALAB-ELX is located in Elx General Hospital facilities and it is coordinated by FISABIO (Valencia, Spain), a non-profit entity that manages and promotes the R&D in the Valencia Healthcare Sector. Open Science Unit at Fisabio boosts the Citizen Science Strategy in the entity and FISALAB-ELX is one of its initiatives to promote public engagement for tackling healthcare challenges.
FISALAB-ELX is validating a methodology adjusted to health conditions to engage end users (citizens, patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals) in consolidating a participatory research and citizen science strategy to boost new co-created ideas and solutions in the healthcare sector. This is an opportunity to showcase the project and good practices in stakeholder’s involvement and effective engagement strategies in healthcare with the EUSEA congress audience