Activating Citizen Scientists through an empowering workshop by the University of Twente

Even though there are many citizen science initiatives, the competencies, knowledge and skills needed by citizens, involved scientists, citizen science facilitators, and others among them have often been left unnoticed. When citizens are involved, they usually get roles assigned to them. The question is: how to get citizens proactive in involving the universities in their challenges? What competencies do they need to do this? Activating the citizen scientist! Bringing these competencies into the picture has been the goal of Citizen Science NOW.  

On October 31st 2023, the University of Twente will offer a workshop in which they will explore these questions. Based on the identified competence needs in citizen science, which empowers citizens to not only be active participants but also lead in their challenges. Moreover, what would ‘science citizenship’ mean for researchers?

The main questions are:

1. How to find the balance as researchers in working together as proactive citizen scientists and citizen activists?  
2. Which competencies do citizen scientists need to not just participate, but lead responsibly in citizen science?  
3. What are the skills and knowledge needed for successfully navigating the digital transformation? 

Outline

The workshop will be structured to maximize engagement and collaborative learning. Three interactive discussion sessions will be organized with an accompanied task each. The participants will be encouraged to form small groups and explore the balance between active citizen scientists and citizen activists and delve into the competencies needed for citizens to become active leaders in their fields as well as navigate digital transformations as citizen scientists. 

What will the participants achieve?

The participants will get to explore the competencies that are important for active citizen scientists. As many of the researchers that will participate are into citizen science projects themselves, it will create awareness. They will deepen their understanding of how they can balance working with active citizen scientists and citizen activists. It is specifically relevant for researchers involved in citizen science in the health domain since many citizens have a vast interest in dealing with health care (problems). The workshop will be a great opportunity to think about what it means to have active citizenship, to think about the future development of citizen science and the implications that democratization brings with it.

Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash