Lisa Evans – ACSA – Page 3 – Australian Citizen Science Association

17Mar 2023 by Lisa Evans - ACSA 2 Comments

New insect species discovered by high school citizen scientists!

This is an exciting story you may have seen in the news lately. Beerwah State High School students in Queensland have recently announced the discovery of a new insect species, which was found by Year 8 students participating in the Insect Investigators project. This makes Beerwah SHS the latest out of 8 schools who have discovered previously unidentified insects since this project began. They announced the discovery on their Facebook page: After almost 12 months, the DNA tests and study by University of Adelaide (@uniofadelaide) taxonomists Mollie-Rosae Slater-Baker (a PhD candidate) and Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, show that we have discovered a new species of wasp.It is a tiny parasitic wasp in the genus Mirax which lay eggs in caterpillars which then eat the caterpillar from the inside-out!Beerwah SHS Facebook page…

31Oct 2022 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

Notice of the 2022 ACSA AGM

Meetings and Events

This notice is to advise members of the Australian Citizen Science Association Inc. (ACSA) of the upcoming Annual General Meeting. The details of this meeting are as follows: Date:21 November 2022Time:AGM will commence at 12:00 AEDT (following a presentation by Hugh Possingham scheduled 20 minutes beforehand) Place:Online via Zoom teleconference softwareRSVP:Please submit this online form ASAP to help us ensure we meet quorum requirements Linked here are the following documents for review and download: an agenda for this meeting minutes of the last annual general meetinga form you can download and email to appoint a proxy to attend on your behalf (signature required)an online form where you can:RSVP to attend the online ACSA AGMindicate your intent to appoint a proxy to attend the AGM on your behalf (also see proxy appointment details below),…

25Oct 2022 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

B&B Schools BioBlitz results

Collaboration & partnerships, CS Project, Education, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science, Showcasing science outcomes

Here is latest news from Planting Seeds about the B&B Schools BioBlitz, which was supported by ACSA. Planting Seeds is also a recipient of a 2022 ACSA Seed Grant. Thank you to everyone who participated! The B&B BioBlitz blitzed biodiversity! Scheduled for September’s National Biodiversity Month, schools from every State and territory engaged in citizen science, took observations in their school grounds and uploaded the images to iNaturalist and the CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia.Over 60 schools participated recording approximately 2345 observations of 635 species. Our leaderboard shows St Monica's College in Melbourne took the most observations at a grand total of 213, followed by Wahroonga Adventist School (188) and Mulgoa Public School (153).Unusual species photographed included the Two-tailed Spider and there were beautiful images of bugs and birds including the…

18Oct 2022 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

2022 ACSA Management Committee nominations now OPEN!

ACSA development

Do you think it’s important to ensure everyone in the community can play a part in answering big questions and solving big problems using science? Are you interested in supporting the growth of a national not-for-profit that’s making this happen? If you answered yes to these questions, consider nominating yourself to join the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA) Management Committee! Joining the Management Committee is a great opportunity to offer your expertise in shaping the future of ACSA and the citizen science community. It also provides unique networking and learning opportunities about citizen science and ACSA. Management Committee positions are voluntary and are 2-year terms from November 2022 to November 2024. You can choose to self-nominate for one of five positions that are open in this year’s election: The Vice ChairThe TreasurerThe SecretaryTwo General…

07Oct 2022 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

International and Open Science updates

Collaboration & partnerships, Data management, International

ACSA international representative Libby Hepburn appointed to Vice-Chair of the Citizen Science Global Partnership On 3 October 2022, citizen science networks and practitioners from around the world welcomed the formation of the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP), a newly established association which seeks to promote and advance Citizen Science for a sustainable world. The partnership’s mission is to coordinate the collaboration of existing citizen science practitioners with international organizations and governments, and support the use of citizen science data and tools as key contributor to the global effort towards sustainable development.). It will establish diverse and inclusive partnerships across geographies, cultures, and research domains, promoting citizen science as a unifying, enabling and multiplying force for change. At the partnership’s core is a network-of-networks of six citizen science associations that cover…

20Sep 2022 by Lisa Evans - ACSA 2 Comments

2022 ACSA Seed Grant winners

CS Project, Education, Field-based citizen science, Grants, Social research in CS

We are very pleased to announce that two great projects have been selected to receive our $1,000 seed grants. Ferox AustralisDr Larissa Braz SouzaLarissa’s grant will be put towards the costs of publishing a paper in the open-access journal Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. It will explore and publish the outcomes of the Great Southern Bioblitz, a co-created citizen science initiative.From their application:The Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB) is a co-created citizen science initiative to observe as many species as possible over spring in the Southern Hemisphere. As GSB is reaching its third year, we have identified the need to analyse its development and implementation, and assess challenges and opportunities to reach new areas. Thus, we propose using quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the GSB framework, outcomes and future directions resulting…

Author: Lisa Evans - ACSA