Unleashing the potential of Citizen Science Data for monitoring the SDGs

Crowd4SDG Panel Discussion and Call for NSO challenges. As a Crowd4SDG project partner, UNITAR is hosting this online panel for National Statistical Offices and Systems to discuss how to leverage citizen science data using both “active” and “passive” approaches, and what quality assurance criteria to consider. The panel will present the results of the Crowd4SDG report developed with the guidance of the Advisory Group. Several National Statistical Offices and other organizations will share their experiences and work on the use of citizen science data. Following the presentation of the Crowd4SDG tools developed for citizen scientists,the event will also feature "Propose your Crowd4SDG challenge" segment in connection with a public competition to be launched later this year to develop citizen science projects that tackle climate change and gender inequality. Register in advance to receive materials! For more information, please contact: a2030@unitar.org

How to use cosmic rays in the study of geosciences and archaeology

The technology developed to study fundamental physics can be applied to the development of frameworks that may have a significant impact on society. The Atmospheric Muons have unique potential to probe structures and provide insight in a series of issues, ranging from volcano live monitoring to applications in archaeology or use for non- invasive and non-destructive control processes in the industry. Muography is an innovative technique using secondary cosmic rays produced in the atmosphere, the most energetic of which have the property to cross ordinary matter over relevant distances (from meters to kilometers). The detection of those particles after any type of target allows therefore the characterization of the distribution and the density of the matter inside the target, as it is done for instance in medical imaging with X-rays. There is a strong societal impact of this technique, which is mostly passive and therefore adapted to any field of investigation: controls, risks assessment, hazards management. In the framework of REINFORCE, citizens will be provided with open data detected with distributed networks of cosmic ray detectors and will contribute in performing inquiries at the interplay between cosmic ray research and its applications. The webinar aims to give an overview of the Cosmic Muons Images Large Scale Citizen Science demonstrator and how it will be implemented in order to engage citizens in the scientific research, showcasing the tasks that citizens will be asked to perform and how their input will be fundamental to study geological phenomena and archaeology research by using Cosmic Rays. REGISTER HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wGB-afBLR5O9qkIYDhn72Q

Monitoring groundwater in Limpopo Province through citizen science

On 2 March 2021 (11:00-12:00 CET), Jaqui Goldin, from the Centre for UNESCO Groundwater, will present the latest findings from a groundwater-monitoring citizen science project based in the Hout Catchment, Limpopo Province – one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. In this project, citizen scientists capture data on groundwater levels and rainfall, putting it onto a smartphone from where it is uploaded to the web. The data is then available to the Department of Water and Sanitation, and others, who are otherwise unable to access groundwater information in remote wells. After the presentation, Jaqui will answer questions about the project. Attendance is free, and the event will be held in English.

Discovering the unexplored deep marine environment

Deep underwater neutrino telescopes as KM3NeT measure neutrino and environmental events that constitute “noise” for the neutrino searches. These environmental events range from biological bioluminescence to acoustic signals from sea mammals. Citizens can support KM3NeTs scientists to increase the efficiency in the neutrino detection algorithms, providing input that will be crucial for two scientific tasks: the classification of noise types, and the identification of the frequency range and typical length of noise signals. The output of the citizen science activity will serve as a basis for training machine learning algorithms, which will automatically identify and classify the noise sources, thus monitoring the noise with an unprecedented detail. At the same time, citizens will have the opportunity to gain a greater insight of the unexplored deep marine environment. In the framework of REINFORCE, time sequences of the optical counting rates on the KM3NeT “eyes” will be made available to the general public in order to monitor ambient bioluminescence, and citizens will be invited to classify in a systematic way the various types of waveforms observed. Furthermore, in order to involve in this activity also visually-impaired citizen scientists, the “ears” of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope will also be exploited by utilising the time sequences of the acoustical signals detected. Both sound and visual data for the bioluminescence and the acoustic signals will be produced. The webinar aims to give an overview of the Deep Sea Hunters Large Scale Citizen Science demonstrator and how it will be implemented in order to engage citizens in the scientific research, showcasing the tasks that citizens will be asked to perform and how their input will be fundamental to explore the environment of the deep sea below 1000m depth in which humanity has little experience so far. Who should attend? Potential citizen scientists Neutrino researchers and academics Members of the physics and marine community You will learn: How citizens can play an active role in the advance of ground-breaking research How a deep underwater neutrino telescope works How REINFORCE demonstrator about Deep Sea Hunters will be developed How the project will work to include diverse and underrepresented groups in science Agenda 15:00 - 15:10: Welcome and introduction - Paschal Coyle, CPPM, Marseille 15:10 - 15:20: Neutrinos and KM3NeT - Gwenhael de Wasseige, APC, Paris 15:20 - 15:30: Deep Sea Hunters on Zooniverse - Remy Le Breton, APC, Paris 15:30 - 15:40: Bioluminescence - Severine Martini, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Marseille 15:40 - 15:50: Submarine Intelligent Listening into KM3EnT & Abyss - Herve Glotin, Computer Science & Systems Lab., CNRS, Toulon 15:50 - 16:00: Q&A and wrap-up