The critical role of Citizen Science in the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity

In this virtual session of the Fifth Science-Policy Forum for Biodiversity, representatives from leading scientific agencies, natural history museums from around the world, and other global experts and engaged citizens will exchange experiences on citizen science, reflect on its contributions in support of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and discuss collaboration opportunities to scale up its impact. The outcomes of this event will be reported at COP15.

Engaging Citizen Science Conference 2022

The Engaging Citizen Science Conference will take place at Aarhus University, Denmark, April 25-26, 2022 and will promote knowledge sharing among the citizen science community. The aim of the conference is to engage citizen science researchers, practitioners, and citizens in sharing research, ideas, and innovations in order to make the field thrive and expand. The conference will be interdisciplinary in scope, inviting workshops, dialogue roundtables, posters, and demos from all main areas of research (natural and technical sciences, life and health sciences, and social sciences and humanities). The main conference language will be English, meaning that keynotes and main track sessions will be in English. Language of individual workshop sessions, dialogue roundtables, posters and demos are at the discretion of the session/roundtable/poster/demo organizer(s) and must be either Danish or English.

Online networking meeting for Young Science & Citizen Science contact persons

The OeAD Center for Citizen Science and OeAD Young Science regularly invite to network meetings for contact persons at Austrian research institutions. The network meeting offers space for getting to know each other and exchanging experiences. In terms of content, the focus of this meeting is on our annual topic “Eurobarometer survey and science skepticism in Austria”. The employees of the OeAD Center for Citizen Science will also give an overview of the planned activities and offers for 2022. The network meeting is aimed exclusively at Young Science contact persons and Citizen Science contact persons. If your institution would also like to appoint a contact person, please contact the staff of the OeAD Center for Citizen Science at citizenscience@oead.at

High-Level Roundtable and Interactive Workshop: Opening Research Infrastructures - How citizens can play an active role in the advance of ground-breaking research?

Europe is home of major world class research infrastructures which are crucial enablers of research and technological innovation and drivers of multidisciplinary and data-intensive science. Such research infrastructures can also play a key role in eliminating anti-intellectual beliefs in society and providing citizens with the intellectual ammunition needed to become critical consumers of scientific knowledge. This can be done by creating a well-functioning ecosystem that allows new forms of co-creation between professional researchers and citizen scientists by empowering the latter not only with access to research outputs but also to take part in the process of scientific discovery producing high-quality data and adding to the scientific knowledge. In that regard, it is of utmost important to rethink policies to make research infrastructures a key player in citizen science through a consistent involvement of citizens making a genuine and valued contribution to managing the data avalanche.

Stories about Women in Citizen Science

ECSA is celebrating the 2022 International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is promoted every year by UNESCO. Together with the ECSA Storytelling and Other Arts Working Group, we will share stories from many people (from all genders) from our community, who are particularly engaged in this field. One day a year is not enough to achieve equal opportunities for all, however even these symbolic moments are inspiring and need our strong support. The webinar and the stories will be broadcasted on the ECSA YouTube channel, so join us there from 11am on 11th February 2022: https://www.youtube.com/c/ecsaeuropeancitizenscienceassociation

The Role of Citizens in EU Missions Implementation

The TIME4CS consortium is delighted to invite you at the 1st Citizen Science Helix Event on The Role of Citizens in EU Missions Implementation - Tuesday, the 8th of February. EU Missions are a novelty of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. They are a new way to bring concrete solutions to some of our greatest challenges. With ambitious goals, they will deliver impact by putting research and innovation into a new role, combined with new forms of governance and collaboration, as well as by engaging citizens. Missions will engage with citizens to boost societal uptake of new solutions and approaches. But what exactly will the role of citizens in the EU Missions implementation be? And how can we best integrate Citizen Science not only in the 5 areas of the Missions but also in our organisations? This event is aimed at anyone interested in Citizen Science and in participating in a project targeting one of the forthcoming Mission Calls. This event will also touch on the institutionalisation of Citizen Science and will have a dedicated pitch sessions (short presentations from participants searching for partners) for the upcoming Mission Calls. Speakers include: Neville Reeve - Head of Mission sector, European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Policy & Programming Centre, Missions & Partnerships; Gabriella Leo - Seconded National Expert - Open Science policy - Science and Society, European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, ERA & Innovation, Open Science; Muki Haklay - Professor of GIScience, University College London.

Citizen Science: Two Institutional Viewpoints from the UK and Denmark

In this webinar, LIBER’s Citizen Science Working Group will focus on the role of Citizen Science in research universities and libraries by exploring two case studies: the UCL office for Open Science and Scholarship, and Citizen Science Knowledge Center at the University of Southern Denmark. After this webinar you will be able to: • Achieve a greater understanding of the role of Citizen Science in research-led universities; • Be able to identify practical ways to implement Citizen Science to include citizens as partners in research; • Know where to find the resources and skills needed to deliver Citizen Science practice. Who should attend? Anyone interested in learning about how to bring Citizen Science to a university/research library environment.

Incontro Nazionale di Citizen Science Italia

Con grande piacere comunichiamo che l’11-12 novembre 2021 presso il Museo di Storia Naturale della Maremma (Grosseto) si terrà un incontro Nazionale di Citizen Science organizzato in collaborazione con EU-Citizen.Science e Action. Sarà l'occasione per aggiornare la comunità italiana di CS sulle principali novità dei progetti italiani e internazionali. Gli interventi per la presentazione dei progetti saranno strutturati come "speed-talk" di pochi minuti, oltre alle domande. Verrà fatto circolare più avanti un template per le presentazioni. Stiamo lavorando per organizzare l'evento in presenza, nel rispetto della vigente normativa anti-Covid. L'incontro sarà in ogni caso fruibile anche in streaming sulla pagina Fb di CSI e sul sito del museo. Tuttavia vi invitiamo, se possibile, a intervenire di persona (soprattutto se avete un progetto da illustrare). Siete pregati di comunicarci la vostra adesione il prima possibile, tramite il seguente modulo [ https://forms.gle/hWVD13zHRDQjzmoa9 ], entro e non oltre il 10 ottobre. Il programma di massima prevede una prima giornata (11 novembre) dedicata alla presentazione dei progetti. Il secondo giorno (12 Novembre) ci saranno due sessioni parallele: una come prosecuzione della presentazione dei progetti del giorno precedente, l’altra, a numero chiuso e su invito, una policy masterclass dedicata ai policy makers organizzata da Action. Il pomeriggio del secondo giorno sarà dedicato a individuare una soluzione che possa formalizzare la realtà di CSI, iniziando a valutare concretamente l'opportunità di fondare una Associazione Italiana di Citizen Science. Vi invitiamo a fornire anticipatamente contributi in questo senso. Maggiori informazioni prossimamente qui https://www.facebook.com/citizenscienceitalia https://www.facebook.com/museostorianaturalemaremma https://www.museonaturalemaremma.it/ With great pleasure, we announce that the National Citizen Science meeting organized in collaboration with EU-Citizen.Science and Action will be held on 11-12 November 2021 at the Maremma Natural History Museum (Grosseto, Italy). We are working to organize the event in presence, in accordance with the current anti-Covid legislation. In any case, the meeting will also be available in streaming on the CSI Fb page and on the museum website. The general program includes a first day (11th of November) dedicated to the presentation of the projects. On the second day (12th of November) there will be two parallel sessions: one as a continuation of the presentation of the projects, the other, by invitation, a policy masterclass dedicated to policymakers organized by Action. On the afternoon of the second day, we will evaluate the opportunity to found an Italian Association of Citizen Science. More information soon here https://www.facebook.com/citizenscienceitalia https://www.facebook.com/museostorianaturalemaremma https://www.museonaturalemaremma.it/

Citizen Science for the Oceans: From observation to information - towards digital twins of the ocean

In this webinar you will learn about citizen science activities related to the oceans. We will use the case of jelly fish as an example, start with the observations done by citizens using mobile apps. Then you learn how the data can be integrated in systems, including the use of standards making the data, in this case biological data, interoperable. You will also learn how to approach making the apps themselves. As NextGEOSS already has citizen science data catalogued on the data hub, you will now learn how we will expand this with the help from among others Earthwatch through their contribution to the ILIAD project. This webinar aims to reach Earth observation professionals and students, Citizen science public and private organisations, App makers, ocean advocates, marine environmentalist, oceanographers, ecologists.

Citizen engagement TRANSFORMing regional R&I policymaking

Citizen engagement can strengthen trust between institutions and citizens. In the TRANSFORM project (funded under Horizon 2020) citizen science, co-design and co-creation have been applied to regional R&I decision-making in Lombardy, Catalonia, and Brussels-Capital. Through sharing of experiences and promising outcomes of citizen engagement in regional R&I policies, this participatory lab will provide examples and suggestions on how to create more open, transparent and inclusive regional R&I governance processes. Join us in an interactive session and learn more about the benefits of citizen engagement, get your questions answered by experts, share your experiences and suggestions for further applications in regional decision making. Registration opens on 30 August!

EuroBioBlitz 2021

Nature is vitally important, and nature is in trouble, but we can all help with nature’s recovery by helping fill in the gaps in what we know about the species on our doorsteps. By looking out for wildlife in your own neighbourhood, you can support vital conservation research whilst connecting with nature and enjoying the outdoors. That is why this September, researchers, school groups, citizens and wildlife enthusiasts across the continent are coming together in a race against the clock to put nature on the map, submitting photos and observations of wildlife in their neighbourhoods through the free, easy to use iNaturalist mobile phone app. Join an epic race for wildlife this September as citizens across Europe take part in the worlds’ first 48 hour continental BioBlitz!

The right to contribute to environmental information, a year later: lessons from the SensJus project

The SensJus project would like to invite you all to a hybrid workshop to be held at LocHal, the beautiful Tilburg Public Library, NL, titled ‘The right to contribute to environmental information, a year later: lessons from the SensJus project’ which will take place on July 8, 15:00-17:00 CEST. Find the detailed program at https://sensingforjustice.webnode.it/l/sensjus-nnhrr-workshop/. The event is organized by SensJus and supported by the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research. Speakers will be there at the library with a limited number of ‘distanced’ audience. If you are interested in joining physically in Tilburg, please let me know as places are limited. For everyone else, the livestream and recording will be accessible at https://www.youtube.com/user/BBLTHK. Audience will be able to submit questions in advance to us and we will address them during the event. For registration and submitting questions, please reply to this email. In alternative, audience will be able to post questions and comments live in the YouTube chat. PROGRAM 15:00-15:30: roundtable, what is a right, what is environmental information in a word/drawing/action 15:30-16:00: the concept of a ‘right to contribute to environmental information’ a year after, lessons from the SensJus project 16:00-16:30: experts from environmental justice, social movements and data activism join the debate 16:30-16:45: performance break, ‘the civic sentinel on stage’, performed by theatre actor 16:45-17:00: active drawing on the right to contribute, collective commenting 17:00-17:30: concerned citizens share their viewpoints from local instances to global 17:30-18:00: launching the vignette-based story of civic monitoring in Basilicata There will be drawing, performing, beyond the inspiring pitches from experts and member of communities. This way, we will make sure to ‘engage’ with the space of the library and with the virtual audience! During the workshop, we will present a graphic novel recounting the story of a civic sentinel that we recently realized. Free e-download here: https://sensingforjustice.webnode.it/l/fumetto/.