News release

From: The University of Queensland

From birdsong to galaxies: unleashing the potential of citizen science

Everyone could contribute dramatically more to scientific knowledge if given better recognition, administrative support and funding stability; research has found.

An international collaboration of 16 organisations used surveys and group discussions to identify key challenges, opportunities and best practices in citizen science projects.

Ecologist Dr Christopher Lawson from The University of Queensland said citizen science was often seen as a nice-to-have engagement activity, but the study showed it was capable of being scaled up to deliver stronger environmental and social outcomes.

“Citizen science brings together curiosity, community and technology like smartphones so people from all walks of life can to contribute to scientific discoveries and solutions,” Dr Lawson said.

“From monitoring coral reefs and tracking wildlife to analysing telescope images and contributing to health research, thousands of citizen scientists are transforming how knowledge is created.

“With the right support, citizen science has the potential to make science more open, collaborative and impactful.”

The project identified 10 recommendations to help governments, institutions and communities expand and improve citizen science initiatives including:

● Shared ‘super hubs’ to provide administration, data and project support across multiple groups

● Better feedback and recognition for project participants (including payment)

● Stronger partnerships with universities, schools and communities

● Clear, transparent methods to improve trust in the data

● Open data systems so results can be widely used

● Involvement of the public at every stage, from design to analysis

● Longer-term funding to keep projects running over many years

Dr Lawson said a key message was that people were central to the success of citizen science.

“People leading projects want to spend their time on the activity, not puzzling through administration so we propose a series of specialist hubs, based perhaps at universities, to provide support,” he said.

“Extending funding beyond short grant cycles would help projects develop to deliver quality, relevant data to researchers.

“People get involved in citizen science projects because they are motivated by a desire to make a difference so feedback on outcomes from their work and recognition through training, credentials or co-authorship can significantly improve engagement and participation.”

Dr Jack Nunn from Science for All said as well as contributing to scientific knowledge, citizen science builds scientific literacy and public trust in the process.

“We are seeing science being defunded, politicised and drowned out by disinformation right at a time the world is facing complex challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and public health crises, so broader public involvement in science is critical,” Dr Nunn said.

“By creating the right systems, supports and opportunities, citizen science can involve more people and play a central role in delivering more inclusive, responsive and evidence-informed solutions.

“Democracy suffers if people can’t see when policy is driven by evidence, ideology or economics.

“So, citizen science needs radical transparency: open, standardised reporting of how projects are run, who is contributing and how they’re funded.

“Democracies run on shared evidence and citizen science can keep that evidence in people’s hands – something that has never mattered more than now.

“By improving citizen science, we can all help improve society, global health, and the ecosystems on which all life depends.”

The research paper is published in PLOS One with further information in an associated STARDIT report.

Dr Christopher Lawson is in UQ’s School of the Environment. Dr Jack Nunn led the study for Science for All. The work was funded by the Australian Citizen Science Association with support from the Australian Academy of Sciences.