During the Engaging Citizen Science Conference in Aarhus, Denmark, in April 2022, partners in the SensJus project had the opportunity to find out more about a distinctive case demonstrating the impact of citizen science in steering environmental regulation.

Continue reading European projects and their impact on policy – an interview with Rosa Arias, D-NOSES Coordinator at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Mapping and analysing institutional Citizen Science adoption - are there any guidelines that can be provided to Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) regarding the transformation to support Citizen Science? What are the most desirable pathways to accomplish a sustainable institutional integration of citizen science in RPOs?

Continue reading Collection of Case Studies of Institutional Adoption of Citizen Science at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Marketing and motivation studies highlighted the importance of knowing more about participants. Framing and user experience experts showed how to convert knowledge into tailored approaches that enhance engagement and retention. Other fields, including the world of commerce, have potential lessons for citizen science practitioners, especially those involved in top-down, mass participatory projects that require high levels of engagement.

Continue reading Learning from others – marketing the science and engaging the citizens at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Citizen science research has become a popular approach in youth education. Findings suggest that females are more motivated to learn from the project. Participation in the project slightly increased science interest, but not science efficacy. However, it did increase both political interest and efficacy.

Continue reading Citizen Science in Schools: Predictors and Outcomes of Participating in Voluntary Political Research at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Biodiversity citizen science projects investigate, for example, which species of plants or animals exist in an area and how many individuals of each species live in that area. Such projects involve citizen scientists in identifying and monitoring biological diversity and collecting biodiversity data. With the help of citizen scientists, researchers can collect large amounts of such data that they would not be able to collect on their own. We wanted to know how citizen scientists benefit from their participation in biodiversity citizen science projects. 

Continue reading Biodiversity citizen science projects: What are the benefits for the participants? at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Citizen science has expanded rapidly over the past decade. As a result defining citizen science and its boundaries remains a challenge, and this is reflected in the literature—for example in the proliferation of typologies and definitions. There is a need for identifying areas of agreement and disagreement within the citizen science practitioners community on what should be considered citizen science. 

Continue reading What are the boundaries of citizen science? Learning from a vignette study at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Through a case law analysis of the Formosa ruling, we explore how citizen-collected evidence influenced the judge’s ruling. Although the case has unique features, we identify lessons learned for other citizen-run monitoring initiatives, to strengthen their voice within environmental litigation. We close by suggesting future research avenues, especially in Europe, where the discussion is still in its infancy.

Continue reading The Formosa Case: A Step Forward on the Acceptance of Citizen-Collected Evidence in Environmental Litigation? at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Can knowledge foster positive attitudes toward science in CS projects? Research on the public understanding of science has found that the relationship between attitudes toward science and general knowledge of scientific content is only small. We investigated whether this relationship and its direction is stronger in CS projects because these projects address specific knowledge such as wildlife ecology. Our findings indicated that citizens’ knowledge about wildlife improved their attitudes toward science later on.

Continue reading Increased knowledge generates more positive attitudes to science by citizen science participation at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

Recent research suggests that citizen science projects see both valuable opportunities as well as deep-rooted barriers in linking their data to the SDGs.

Continue reading Using citizen science data to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals: a bottom‐up analysis at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.

A study conducted in Norwegian high schools revealed that citizen science activities have positive impacts on learning, pro-environmental and pro-science attitudes, interest in scientific and environmental-related topics.

Continue reading Exploring the impact of a Citizen Science high school project at Citizen Science | CS Track Project.