Happy Citizen Science Day!
So what is citizen science? When was the first time you heard this term, #citizenscience? An excellent blog from ACSA member and CitSci.Asia's co-founder, Mendel Wong. “Happy Citizen Science Day!”
Citizen Scientists Unite! Back at the UN with the Citizen Science Global Partnership
ACSA member and Citizen.Science.Asia co-Founder Scott Edmunds was part of a 20-person global citizen science delegation to the 4th UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi last month. He has written a comprehensive blog about his experience which is well worth a read, you can find it here.
#CitSci2019, Raleigh, NC USA!
By Michelle Neil (ACSA Secretary and social media moderator) “We come together at this conference to learn and work together for positive, productive outcomes.” Every year ACSA sends a member of the Management Committee to a sister citizen science association conference somewhere in the world. This year I was the lucky one, so earlier this month I set off to attend the Citizen Science Association’s #CitSci2019 Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina USA. [caption id="attachment_14580" align="alignleft" width="145"] Flying into Raleigh NC. Population 464,000. Pic: Michelle Neil[/caption] After more than 30 hours of travel I flew into Raleigh at 4am on Tuesday the 12th of March, grabbed an UBER and headed to the hotel. The first day of the conference dawned cold and fine. I headed across the road to the Raleigh…
Organising a Citizen Science Road Map for Sustainable Development
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…
Martin Brocklehurst in Australia: Citizen Science advocacy and insights at a global level
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…
Building the BrushTurkey app
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…
“Are we citizen scientists ‘firing in synchrony’?”
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…
“The conference was definitely a springboard for me”
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…
“Citizen Science engagement and the great electronic age!”
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…
#ECSA2018: Gaining European Citizen Science Association inspiration!
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…