Be Inspired
Find out the project’s current state, its updates, other insightful news and relevant articles.
The project kicked off on 28 February 2022 with an online meeting. The consortium had the opportunity to meet the other partners at the European level and discuss the overall project management. Currently, the project is in its first year, concluding the first output project. In September, the Bespoke partner will conduct a Sense-Making Session workshop to evaluate the research methodology and include these crucial insights in the analysis for the Final Report before initiating the last output led by the University of Barcelona.
Scan-Cards
(a signal of change)
Good Practices
Surveys
Latest news
Celebrating the Final Steps of the CS NOW project in Barcelona
November 2023
In the heart of Barcelona, amidst the vibrant culture and rich history, CS NOW project partners gathered for the final transnational meeting of the project. Hosted by the University of Barcelona, this event marked the culmination of dedicated efforts, collaboration, and innovation in promoting and exploring potential futures of Citizen Science.
[…]
Final Event in Spain
November 2023
The University of Barcelona (UB) recently hosted a successful citizen science training course that attracted more than 140 participants. The event aimed at stressing the importance of citizen science practices within the local community in Barcelona. UB took the opportunity in this event to share ideas generated from the Citizen Science NOW project and used some of the resources developed within the project as a strategy to disseminate the project results in Barcelona.
[…]
Citizen science as a civic duty?
October 2023
“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. […]
Activating Citizen Scientists through an empowering workshop by the University of Twente
September 2023
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. […]
CS NOW Event in Münster, Germany!
August 2023
Hacer Tercanli Tercanli, Pia Töns, and Judith Helmer from the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre were in August present at the festival “Wir Brennen Fürs Klima”, at the booth of the Erasmus+ project “Citizen Science NOW”.[…]
Empowering Citizen Science through Futures Design: Reflections and Insights from the Citizen Science NOW Project
July 2023
The Citizen Science NOW project has embraced the innovative approach of applying futures design methodology to advance knowledge and practices within its field. Marking the delivery of the Needs Assessment and Future Foresight Report for Project Result 1 (PR1), we can now offer a concise reflection and update on the application of futures design as a methodology and its potential within the context of citizen science.[…]
The essential role of data in Citizen Science projects
June 2023
Data is at the heart of citizen science projects, playing a crucial role in advancing scientific research. These projects rely on volunteers and members of the public to collect and analyse data on various topics like biodiversity, pollution, and climate change. […]
Citizen science project by the Münster University of Applied Sciences helps facilitate public dialogue on heat transition.
May 2023
Students from the Münster University of Applied Sciences are currently promoting heat transition in Saerbeck and soon want to present the first findings they co-created with the citizens. The students agree that Saerbeck can do a lot when it comes to climate protection. […]
CHARM-EU: A Challenge-driven and Research-based Universities Alliance
April 2023
University of Barcelona (one of the partners of CS_NOW) is leading the EU project called TORCH, Transforming Open Research and Innovation through CHARM. As described in their website: “TORCH is the research arm of CHARM, a university alliance that aims to explore new venues for the university of the future with a focus on pressing issues: climate change, sustainability, gender gap, inclusion and equity.” […]
The Need for Structuring Citizen Science
March 2023
Citizen science is increasing in popularity and more and more initiatives appear on the scene. It is, to many, clear what citizen science encompasses: the inclusion of citizens in the conduct of science. What is less clear, is the why question. For example, one can view citizen science from an epistemological or non-epistemological perspective. […]
Social Media in Citizen Science: Learn, Engage, and Many More
February 2023
Social media has without a doubt become a big part of our lives in this day and age. Social Media is no longer used merely as a medium of communication to stay in touch with family, friends and relatives. Nowadays, social media platforms have also been used as effective media to network, find career opportunities, and develop and promote business. Moreover, when used intelligently, social media can even be used as an instrument to bring a great positive impact on society. One example is to advance the development of science. […]
Foresight and Using The Collective Brain
January 2023
Within the Citizen Science NOW project, Bespoke’s scanning and futures research focused on exploring and understanding contemporary and future developments of Citizen Science, using the following research questions as a guideline:
+ What drivers will change the future landscape of Citizen Science?
+ What are current and emerging behaviours and technologies in Citizen Science projects and Citizen Science digital training that can inform future direction and create a better understanding of needs?
Following the previously discussed desk research, the partners came together for three sense-making workshops, an inspiring session to find patterns and articulate findings from the study. This workshop consisted of three steps. […]
Co-designing Citizen Social Science for Collective Action
December 2022
CoAct is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme coordinated by Universitat de Barcelona. CoAct proposes a new understanding of Citizen Social Science as participatory research co-designed and directly driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern, in which they become co-researchers in processes commonly dominated by academic researchers. CoAct aims to bring together and develop methods to give citizen groups an equal ‘seat at the table’ through active participation in research, from the design to the interpretation of the results and their transformation into concrete actions.
Citizen Social Science combines equal collaboration between citizen groups (co-researchers) that share a social concern and academic researchers. Such an approach enables addressing pressing social issues from the bottom up, embedded in their social contexts, with robust research methods. […]
Willkommen in Münster, Germany!
November 2022
The second transnational partner meeting of the project “Digital Citizen Science: Network, transfOrm, groW” (Citizen Science NOW) took place on 10-11 November at the premises of the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Center. Hosted by the project management team at the Münster University of Applied Sciences (MUAS), the meeting brought together the project partners representing BESPOKE- Manyone (Denmark), University of Twente (Netherlands), University of Barcelona (Spain), and Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (Germany). […]
Structuring the Organisation of Citizen Science through the NICE Framework
October 2022
The NICE (National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education) is a reference framework that individuals can use in Citizen Science to structure the organization in projects. Specifically, it structures competencies that citizens need to participate successfully in citizen science (co-researchers). This framework was created in the context of lifelong learning, as the organization that developed it recognizes that there are many people within the cyber security field, specifically our learners. It is also designed to support learners in cyber security with education, being trained to perform tasks related to the area. In a way, the role of ‘learners’ is similar to the citizens in Citizen Science. […]
South African groundwater project shows the power of citizen science
September 2022
A third of the planet’s water is underground, out of sight, and hard to access. Due to this, little information is available about the “invisible” groundwater. This problem is particularly acute in remote regions, such as the part of South Africa’s Limpopo province, where the Diamonds on the Soles of their Feet project is being implemented. The groundwater resources of two Limpopo villages, Ga-Komape and Ga-Manamela, are the subject of a collaboration between academics and residents. Nearly 74% of people depend on groundwater for their harvest and domestic water supply. Unfortunately, the amount of water available, how it recharges, and if it is clean are all unknowns to people who use this water. […]
Collaborative Future Design Methodology for Citizen Science Futures
August 2022
CoAct is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme coordinated by Universitat de Barcelona. CoAct proposes a new understanding of Citizen Social Science as participatory research co-designed and directly driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern, in which they become co-researchers in processes commonly dominated by academic researchers. CoAct aims to bring together and develop methods to give citizen groups an equal ‘seat at the table’ through active participation in research, from the design to the interpretation of the results and their transformation into concrete actions.
Citizen Social Science combines equal collaboration between citizen groups (co-researchers) that share a social concern and academic researchers. Such an approach enables addressing pressing social issues from the bottom up, embedded in their social contexts, with robust research methods. […]
FH Münster researchers present the Science-Society Toolbox, a collection of transdisciplinary methods for an impactful engagement
July 2022
Recently Dr Kerstin Kurzhals and her team publicised a toolbox that has been created as part of and in collaboration with the münster.land.leben project in a digital format. Münster.land.leben revolves around promoting health and well-being in rural areas of the Münsterland and is the biggest transdisciplinary transfer project at FH Münster University of Applied Sciences. This is achieved through 13 sub-projects that concern themselves with different facets of health through a participatory research approach. […]
