ACSA Seed Grants closing tomorrow

ACSA Seed Grants closing tomorrow

Communication & promotion, Grants
Could you be the next recipient of $1000? The 2021 ACSA Seed Grants are closing tomorrow, Friday 1st October 2021! Have you got your application in yet? You can put the grant towards your citizen science project, your professional development or towards an open access publication. The quick and easy application process is open to all ACSA members. Get yours in before midnight tomorrow (Friday 1st October).  For all the details and to apply, please see our Call for Applications.
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Notice of 2021 AGM

Notice of 2021 AGM

ACSA development, Communication & promotion, Meetings and Events
The Annual General Meeting of the Australian Citizen Science Association will be held on Friday 29th October from 12pm to 12:45pm (AEDT) via Zoom. The meeting will be held in conjunction with ACSA's citizen science conference. You don't need to be a registered conference delegate to attend the AGM but you do need to be a current ACSA member to attend. During the AGM we will provide: An overview of our achievements from the year; A summary of the 2020/21 Financial Statements, and An opportunity for members to elect five new members to the management committee. AGENDA Open Apologies / Proxies Presentation of Previous Minutes Association Reports Election Results and endorsement of new Management Committee Membeers Other Business Proposed amendment to ACSA's constitution to establish a public fund with Deductible…
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“How to open up research innovation to young people?”

“How to open up research innovation to young people?”

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, International, Meetings and Events, Social research in CS
Our sister association ECSA warmly invites you to the first webinar put on by the Empowerment, Inclusiveness and Equity working group together with the YouCount EU project. “How to open up research & innovation to young people?”Friday 24th September 2021, 13:00-15:00 CESTVia ZoomAgenda and registration link are here: https://cutt.ly/sWpvxKo Please refer details below from Claudia Göbel, Co-Chair of the working group. Young people in Europe are facing many challenges with regard to social inclusion. Social participation, employment, social belonging are important examples. There is a pressing need to develop more knowledge and innovation to create more inclusive and youth-friendly societies. One way to contribute to this is Citizen Social Science with young people - Youth Citizen Social Science (Y-CSS). We organise a series of three webinars to discuss central questions…
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Seed Grants 2001 – Call for applications!

Seed Grants 2001 – Call for applications!

ACSA development, Communication & promotion, Grants
Two $1000 Grants available - apply now!ACSA is proud to launch it's 4th round of Seed Grants. Established in 2018 we have so far awarded 7 Seed Grants - worth a total of $5,500 - to ACSA members, to help give their citizen science project a boost or to advance their own professional development in the citizen science space.Applications are now open for the 2021 Seed Grants. What’s in it for you? * $1000 to seed your professional development or your project’s growth, or to pay for an open access publication of a citizen science paper. * Exposure for your project and/or organisation. * Motivation to initiate something you have always wanted to do. * Quick and easy application process (online application form). Last year, two ACSA members won ACSA…
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Complimentary registration to #CitSciOz21

Complimentary registration to #CitSciOz21

Communication & promotion, Conferences
You might be eligible! In the aim of keeping #CitSciOz21 open and accessible to all, ACSA would like to offer 3 complimentary registrations to the conference for those people who do not have organisational support to attend.  If you would like to be considered, please write to us in 150 words or less telling us why you would like to attend the conference. Successful candidates will be required to write a blog for the ACSA website expanding on what they learnt during the event.  Please submit your entry by Friday 10th September to be in the running! Submit my entry now
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Finding opportunities in the apparent chaos: citizen science and marine debris

Finding opportunities in the apparent chaos: citizen science and marine debris

Blogs, Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion
Towards a nationally focused citizen science monitoring strategy for marine debris By Jordan Gacutan, PhD Candidate | Centre for Marine Science and Innovation | UNSW, Sydney As Murphy’s law states, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong", which rings true in the events which partly derailed/delayed the production of training materials for marine debris monitoring, supported by the ACSA seed grant that we won in 2020. But just as often, and as many a PhD student will attest, opportunities arise from the chaos. Tackling marine debris through citizen science At the University of New South Wales, we are tackling the growing problem of marine debris by using citizen science data across Australia to inform practical opportunities for management. The work partners with the Tangaroa Blue Foundation and the Australian…
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ForestEye in the Spotlight during National Science Week

ForestEye in the Spotlight during National Science Week

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Meetings and Events
The Australian Citizen Science Association has partnered with the Natural Resources Commission of NSW (NRC, lead partner) and the Atlas of Life to deliver a new and exciting forest monitoring citizen science project named ForestEye. This project will be piloted on the south coast of NSW in October (dependent on Covid-19 restrictions). ForestEye will engage citizen scientists from the local community to collect seasonal data on a range of biodiversity information. They will be trained by experienced ecologists to use a variety of equipment such as remote sensor cameras to undertake data collection at select sites. The results from this project will contribute to the NRC’s decision-making, reporting and management activities to improve biodiversity outcomes. In celebration of this upcoming initiative, Cassie Thompson (Senior Advisor) from NRC together with Libby…
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Great Southern BioBlitz 2021

Great Southern BioBlitz 2021

Communication & promotion, Field-based citizen science, International
By Pete Crowcroft (@possumpete), GSB organising team This year between the 22-25th October, join Australia and 13 other countries in the largest scale citizen science biodiversity survey in the southern hemisphere! Using the iNaturalist platform, the Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB) is an annual opportunity to participate in a large, global biodiversity survey. Until recently these bioblitzes have always been centered in the northern hemisphere during their springtime, meaning that those of us south of the equator and coming into winter didn’t always have the greatest amount of biodiversity on show! So the GSB was born from the desire to have a springtime survey of biodiversity for us, down south, during a time of year we know is abounding with emerging life. Flowers are blooming, insects take wing, and birds call…
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River Health Assessments Underway in Wingecarribee thanks to ACSA Seed Grant

River Health Assessments Underway in Wingecarribee thanks to ACSA Seed Grant

Blogs, Communication & promotion
By Karen Guymer Getting to know Wingecarribee Waterways The Wingecarribee Shire, also known as the Southern Highlands, features meandering rivers, tranquil creeks and majestic waterfalls. This water supports our towns, farmlands, forests and biodiversity. Council is responsible for many thousands of kilometres of waterways within 3000ha across 38 bushland reserves within Wingecarribee Shire. Winning the ACSA Seed Grant in 2020 was fantastic as it enabled us to train council staff in the Bushcare, Natural Resources and Sustainability Services Teams in understanding more about river heath assessments and the tool used to do this, the Rapid Appraisal of Riparian Condition (RARC). The hands-on field day led by Lori Gould, Rivers of Carbon Program Manager with the Australian River Restoration Centre (ARRC), provided theoretical and practical skills and knowledge for staff. As…
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Inclusion in Citizen Science: The Conundrum of Rebranding

Inclusion in Citizen Science: The Conundrum of Rebranding

Communication & promotion, Social research in CS
Caren Cooper and her NC State University colleagues offer a perspective in the Policy Forum of Science magazine about the need for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in citizen science. Many are already aware that this need is urgent, in particular for top-down, institution-led, large-scale projects that, while 'open to all,' ultimately engage white, highly educated, affluent people.  With a range of co-authors, including those with expertise in community science, Caren et al make a case against rebranding the term citizen science with the term community science. More importantly, the article is the start of reimagining a range of diverse and inclusive practices for the participatory sciences.  You can freely access the PDF reprint of the article below: https://faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu/carencooper/research/
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