Category: Blogs

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…

By Jessie Oliver An epic adventure through the wild world of citizen science kicked off on Adelaide’s City West campus of the University of South Australia on 7 February 2018 with the start of Australia’s second national citizen science conference. The conference brought together citizen science practitioners, participants, thought leaders and decision-makers, with the aim of showcasing best practice in citizen science and sharing project outcomes from across Australia and around the world. You can find out all the information about the presentations and workshops of #CitSciOz18 here and the Book of Abstracts can be viewed here. #CitSciOz18 at a Glance There were over 125 talks, posters and workshops falling within the conference themes of #SocialResearch (8 presentations), #EngagingCitizens (20 presentations), #Education (6 presentations), #Communication (4 presentations), #EmpowerWithData (19 presentations), #FieldProjects (14…