Category: Blogs

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (#SDGs) until recently have not been something most of us have been aware of in relation to citizen science – but there’s increasing focus on these goals as they set the aspirations of sustainability; environmentally, economically and socially. The 17 global goals are designed to set a sustainable development agenda to transform our world by 2030. Local, state, and federal government personnel are now incorporating the SDGs into domestic policy, planning and reporting, so there is a real need for co-ordination, but also to define a role for citizen science to be embedded and integrated into this process. Several groups are exploring how members of the general public and non-traditional data can contribute to achieving these incredibly ambitious aims, with a number of targets…

By Libby Hepburn Martin Brocklehurst’s instructions to me were to fill his visit with as many important and influential people as possible, who might help develop citizen science in Australia – so I did. The result has been an amazing journey with global and local insights into a multitude of citizen science initiatives and a hugely positive and energised response from people across the country. It’s a great time for citizen science! Martin Brocklehurst is one of the Founders of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), Chair of the ECSA Policy working group, instigator of the Global Mosquito Alert Consortium (GMAC) and has played a key part in the formation of the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP). His illustrious career has included high level government appointments in the Environment Agency…

Matthew Hall won the "Spotteron Competition" at #CitSciOz18, and his Brushturkey app is now live Matthew Hall, PhD Candidate, Integrative Ecology Lab, The University of Sydney I’d like to start this post by saying how incredibly grateful I am to the Australian Citizen Science Association for this opportunity to engage with the citizen science community, as well as to Spotteron for the fantastic work they did in building this app. Working with Spotteron to design and roll out the BrushTurkey app has been a unique and rewarding experience for me. Throughout the process I have been impressed by Spotteron’s expertise and the potential for citizen science to contribute to the broader scientific understanding of my study species and Australian wildlife in general. [caption id="attachment_7651" align="alignleft" width="248"] Matthew and a tagged…

Scholarship winner Alan Stenhouse found the diverse range of local and international presentations at #CitSciOz18 interesting, enriching and inspiring.  Alan Stenhouse, PhD candidate, Centre for Applied Conservation Science, University of Adelaide From February 7-9 2018, I attended the Australian Citizen Science Conference that was held in my current home town of Adelaide, Australia. Thanks to the Australian Citizen Science Association’s (ACSA) generosity I managed to win a scholarship that covered my registration fee – much appreciated! We started the conference with some workshops – I attended “New Visions in Citizen Science and Public Policy in Australia”. Some of the highlights of this for me were Libby Hepburn telling us of the United Nation’s goal to get one billion Citizen Scientists in the world by 2020! Then Jo White, from the…

Masters student Hayley Bridgwood found knowledge, inspiration and useful case studies at CitSciOz18 Hayley Bridgwood from University College Dublin, Ireland Well what a fabulous few days at the CitSciOz 2018 Conference! As an MSc (Environmental Sustainability) candidate through University College Dublin I have been pursuing various areas of academic interest including ecology and genetics as they relate to conservation – all with the view to ultimately work with landholders and support them in sustainable agricultural practices. The conference has given me a much greater appreciation of the value of aggregated data and the roles that landholders might play in being part of the first line of research. I came to the Conference with a very novice understanding of citizen science and online crowdsourcing.  And I left with a very full…

The wide spread use of smart phone applications in Citizen Science projects stood out for Seamus Doherty at #CitSciOz18. Seamus Doherty, Biomedical Honour’s student, the University of South Australia I was one of the many fortunate people to attend this year’s Australian Citizen Science Association conference. Up until just last year, I had never really heard of the concept of citizen science, never mind the great association that would eventually help fund my attendance to Australia’s official citizen science event in my very own city! It’s funny though. You see in the past, I was part of many citizen science projects without even knowing it. It had always been a passion of mine to help researchers in different fields (namely environmental, biology and cosmology science to name just a few…

By Jessie Oliver, ACSA International Liaison Having never been to Europe myself, it was intriguing to see just how large those alps are, and I was immediately struck by the politeness of the people, as well as the interesting mix of historical and modern cityscape aspects.  Below are just a few reflections from my experiences attending the #ECSA2018 Conference and other pre- and post- workshops in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as a quick jaunt to England, in early June.  Progressing Global and Large-Scale Initiatives Exploring the UN Sustainable Development Goals & Citizen Science Global Partnership [caption id="attachment_7103" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Attendees of the meeting to discuss the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and citizen science at the UN Environment office in Geneva.[/caption] The day before #ECSA2018 officially started, people from some far…

James Gullison reflects on the important messages from CitSciOz18 – and how great it was to be in Adelaide! James Gullison from DuneWatch, Gold Coast I was given the opportunity to attend and present at the 2018 Australian Citizen Science Association conference in Adelaide - an opportunity that I could not pass up on for two reasons: The first was the chance to meet up with a group of people from all around Australia and different parts of the world to share ideas, experiences, knowledge, inspiration, a few good laughs and learn from one another. It was an opportunity to experience other people’s projects and where their passions lie. The second reason was quite simple to me. I had never been to Adelaide and wanted to experience its indigenous culture,…

Tina Phillips travelled from New York to attend CitSciOz18 and gleaned some top tips on how to engage the younger generation. Tina Phillips from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology After attending the Australian Citizen Science Association meeting, I can affirm that citizen science is alive and well in Australia! I really enjoyed visiting this beautiful country, and the backdrop of the amazing diversity of citizen science presented at the conference made it even more rewarding. I learnt a lot about Australia’s history; extraordinary biodiversity; and its warm and friendly people. I found the city of Adelaide to be more bustling than I expected and the surrounding countryside to be serene, but also exciting because of the prospect of spotting Australia’s famous marsupials. Although the majority of projects I heard about…