Citizen science as a civic duty?

“Should citizen science be considered a civic duty in the future?” This was one of the thought-provoking questions raised during the Multiplier Event on October 6th, which sparked conversations among the participants. As part of our project, each partner facilitated an event, and Bespoke Manyone invited people to an afternoon of inspiration on the Futures of Citizen Science NOW, in partnership with Speciale Festivalen.

Our objective was to provide insight into the Future of Digital Citizen Science: Network Transform Grow and inspire participants from relevant target groups to learn more about the potential of citizen science and understand ways in which they can be involved or initiate citizen science projects through the CS Now resources. We also shared some of the pilot projects running with partners at the University of Barcelona (SP), Münster University of Applied Sciences (DE), and the University of Twente (NL), which aim to empower citizen-led environmental projects and facilitate “co-creation challenges” to address community needs. Finally, we aimed to spark conversations about what the future of citizen science could and should be.

The turnout was great, with over 50 participants taking part in open discussion rounds following the presentations, networking opportunities during the exhibit, and direct conversations about what inspired them most or what perceptions had changed from engaging with the event.

Citizen science can be a great way to involve people in challenges they are facing and equip communities to influence their futures. However, owning and shaping your future is often an issue of equity. For certain people in certain neighbourhoods in cities, particularly less privileged communities, it is already difficult to make ends meet, let alone think about the future. From our point of view, the event met its objectives in inspiring participants from relevant target groups to learn more about citizen science and start to understand ways in which they can be involved or initiate citizen science projects.

However, due to the research being very dense and the learning outcomes still being in development, it was hard for some of the participants to understand concrete next steps for putting resources from the Citizen Science NOW project into action. So, please stay tuned for further updates!