2020 – Australian Citizen Science Association

30Nov 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

ACSA Seed Grant Winners

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, CS Project

Congratulations to the recipients of ACSA's Seed Grants for 2020 - Jordan Gacutan and Karen Guymer! The Seed Grants were designed as a way of giving back and investing in our members, with two $1,000 grants available to ACSA members to seed their professional or project's growth in line with ACSA's strategic goals of Participation and Practice.With 12 high quality applications for just 2 grants, our judging panel had a tough time indeed! Congratulations to our two winners: Jordan Gacutan - UNSW / Tangaroa Blue Foundation: The Seed Grant will be used to produce a 5 part video series on scientific sampling and their utility in marine debris monitoring. The videos will consist of theory and field demonstrations, and will aim to increase the scientific skill-set of citizen scientists working with marine debris across Australia. Karen Guymer - Wingecarribee Shire Council: The…

24Nov 2020 by Libby Hepburn No Comments

UNESCO Open Science update and an invitation to comment

Collaboration & partnerships

Please note the short feedback time of November 30 for individual comments on the Community of Practice Statement discussed below. Please contact Libby for more extended conversations. Background on the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science At the 40th session of the UNESCO general conference, held in October 2019, 193 Member States charged UNESCO with developing an international standard-setting agenda for open science in the form of a legally binding Recommendation. The goal of the Recommendation is to “define shared values and principles for Open Science, and identify concrete measures on Open Access and Open Data, with proposals to bring citizens closer to science and commitments to facilitate the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge around the world.” In total, 14 input papers from organizations including the African Open Science Platform (AOSP), Committee…

18Nov 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Vote for your new Management Committee

ACSA development

Voting is now open for the election of members to the ACSA Management Committee for 2021-2022. ACSA Members are invited to cast their vote for a Secretary and a General Member. These positions received more than one nomination, meaning an election is required. There are two candidates for each position. You can find their profiles and answers to four questions about the field of citizen science, together with details relevant skills and experience, by clicking on the images below. Please use this information to help you decide which candidates to vote for. Secretary Candidates ALYSOUN BOYLE BILL FLYNN General Member Candidates LISA EVANS JOHN RAFFERTY Remember, you must be an ACSA Member to vote! Ready to vote now? Members, click here to access the ballot. To become a member and vote, visit: https://citizenscience.org.au/join-now/. Remember, ACSA membership gives you the…

26Oct 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Call for Nominations: ACSA Management Committee

ACSA development

Being on the ACSA Management Committee can be an extremely rewarding experience and bring a great deal of personal satisfaction. Management Committee Members have the opportunity to make a difference in the citizen science space by applying their skill set and showing leadership, while in turn, making new contacts and networking with peers to increase knowledge about citizen science and ACSA. We are looking for people with diverse skills and experience who can contribute at a strategic and practical level to building a strong, sustainable and dynamic Association, so that it grows into the hub for citizen science in Australia. The term is two years. ACSA is hereby calling for nominations for the ACSA Management Committee. Nominate now You must be an ACSA member to nominate or be nominated. The terms of reference and…

23Oct 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Notice of 2020 ACSA AGM

ACSA development, Meetings and Events

ACSA would like to extend you an invitation to attend the 2020 Annual General Meeting of of the Australian Citizen Science Association and elections for positions on the ACSA Management Committee. During the AGM we will provide: An overview of our achievements from the year;A summary of the 2019-20 Financial Statements, andAn opportunity for members to elect five new members to the management committee. AGENDA OpenApologies / ProxiesPresentation of Previous MinutesAssociation ReportsGuest SpeakerElection Results and endorsement of new Management Committee MembeersOther BusinessMeeting Close Enquiries regarding the ACSA AGM to be directed to Amy Slocombe, National Coordinator via coordinator@citizenscience.org.au RSVPs Please register your attendance via Humanitix here. Please note the zoom login details will be sent to you via email prior to the meeting. If you can't attend, we encourage you…

06Oct 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

#CitSciOzOnline launch – full schedule & tickets

Uncategorized

Welcome to October and #CitSciOzOnline!We are very excited to launch our month-long online celebration of citizen science on Wednesday 7th October, with fabulous speakers, interesting topics, coffee room chats, prizes and more! Read on for all the details, including the event summary, speaker bios, registration details and sponsor information. This is a free event for ACSA members, so if you've been thinking about joining us, now is the time! With thanks to our sponsors... Registration & Tickets Get your tickets here! One ticket will gain you access to the whole event, and you can attend as many sessions as you wish. All information will be sent to you via email prior to each session. This event operates on a 'pay what you can afford basis' (from $0-$20) and is FREE for for Australian Citizen Science Association members. Session…

22Sep 2020 by Jodie Valpied 2 Comments

The story of Patrick the platypus, the orange river and the ACSA Seed Grant

Blogs, Collaboration & partnerships, Engaging citizens

When the Werribee River in Bacchus Marsh turned orange from sediment in late 2018, some local community members began to ask, “Is Patrick the Platypus OK”? Patrick is the name locals had given to the platypus (or platypuses) living in that section of the river. We were worried this severe level of sediment would smother “Patrick’s” food supply – invertebrates. Platypus cannot survive where their food has been killed. The river stayed orange for eight months! Action was needed. In response, a small group of local residents came together to form the Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance. The Australian Citizen Science Association (ASCA) seed grant came at just the right time for the newly formed Alliance. It provided us with vital equipment and resources to get our citizen science activities started,…

08Sep 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

2020 ACSA Seed Grants open!

ACSA development, Communication & promotion

Does your project need a little bit of a cash boost? Could you use some extra money to help fund your professional development? In a year where times have been tough for a large part of our community, we are very pleased to announce that the ACSA Seed Grants are back and running for 2020 and we are now accepting applications! Seed Grants of $1000 each will be awarded to two ACSA members to seed their professional growth or their project’s growth in line with ACSA’s strategic goals of Participation and Practice. Applications close Friday 16 October, 2020. Full details, including how to apply for a Seed Grant 2020 and the T&Cs can be found here. We encourage all members to apply. Not a member yet? Join us!

04Sep 2020 by Erinn Fagan-Jeffries No Comments

Insect Investigators – a school-based citizen science project discovering and documenting our biodiversity

Blogs, Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Field-based citizen science, Showcasing science outcomes

By Erin Fagan-Jeffries My goal is to get the community more involved in the process of how we document and describe our biodiversity – I believe we all should be part of this process to better understand what is living in the environment that we call home. The seed grant from the Australian Citizen Science Association allowed me to top up the amount available from my broader postdoctoral funding to allow four trials of a citizen science project that connected school groups to the process of species discovery. So far, trials of a project have been underway at four school across South Australia: Macclesfield Primary School in the Adelaide Hills, Cowell Area School on the Eyre Peninsula, and Waikerie and Ramco Primary Schools in the Riverland. Each school set up…

14Aug 2020 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

ACSA partners with Minderoo

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion

Building community preparedness and awareness through citizen science ACSA is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Minderoo Foundation’s Wildfire and Disaster Resilience Program (WDRP). ACSA will collaborate with the WDRP on a program designed to use citizen science methods to empower members of the public to contribute to and co-design research projects that will increase the disaster resilience for landscapes and community at local and national scales. This partnership builds on ACSA’s commitment to build the mechanisms to enable the citizen science community to play an important role in monitoring bushfire recovery and building resilience for future events. Stay tuned for further details on this new and exciting partnership and how you can become involved. For further detail about the MDRP have a listen to Adrian Turner, CEO…

Year: 2020