Category: Blogs

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…

After CitSciOz18, Yaela Golumbic hopes to raise the profile of citizen science in Israel. Yaela Golumbic, Israel  I will start this post, by expressing my sincere appreciation to the ACSA team and conference organizers. I know how difficult it can sometimes be, and yet, everything seemed to be so carefully planned with a calm, peaceful and respectful atmosphere. My impressions from the conference are entwined with my impression of Australia at large. Being in Australia for the first time was a wonderful and somewhat exotic experience. The beautiful scenes, the beaches, the mountains, the exotic animals (which for Australians may not even be considered exotic), all contributed to my overall excitement of citizen science in Australia. During my visit, I got the overall feeling that people in Australia care about…

Gordon Claridge was concerned he might be the only person at the 2018 Adelaide conference from a small community group - his fears were soon allayed! Gordon Claridge, President Lockyer Community Action Inc. Lockyer Community Action is a small group and a recent entrant to the field of Citizen Science - in fact we had never thought of ourselves in citizen science terms - we just got stuck into doing koala surveys as part of our battle against a motocross development.  Then so many members liked the feeling of doing something meaningful for koala conservation that we kept on, and on, and on. I guess we never looked up from what we were doing to see the wider implications.  No wonder we were surprised and delighted when our abstract was…

By Jessie Oliver Jessie Oliver is a member of ACSA and sits on the ACSA management committee. She is also a PhD student at the Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane Australia. She attended the Citizen Science Association Conference in May of 2017 with the assistance of a Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant. Reflections by Jessie Oliver (@JessieLOliver via twitter): In early 2017, I had the good fortune of meeting Alasdair Davies when he ventured to Brisbane Australia, where we both participated in a workshop about technology use for conservation. My role at the workshop was to share my knowledge of how scientists and members of the public, or citizen scientists, were working collaboratively to make innovative discoveries that have benefitted conservation efforts. While there, I shared information regarding local, national, and global efforts…

By Michelle Neil It's hard to believe that it has been nearly two months since the 2nd Australian Citizen Science Association Conference, #CitSciOz18 in Adelaide, South Australia. For six days I was constantly on the go – averaging around 3-4 hours of sleep per night. #CitSciOz18 featured international keynote speakers Dr. Caren Cooper and Amy Robinson Sterling, along with Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr. Alan Finkel and Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science 2017 co-recipient Dr. Emilie Ens.  The aim of the conference was to showcase best practice in citizen science and share project outcomes from across Australia and the world. Every continent of the world, except Antarctica was represented too. North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa were all there as well as our mates from "across the…