Engaging citizens – Australian Citizen Science Association

11Aug 2023 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

AI-powered photos to help predict catastrophic Australian bushfires

Blogs, CS Project, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science

The National Bushfire Resilience Network (NOBURN) is a citizen science project empowering people to use their mobile phones to collect information that will help predict bushfire hotspots and minimise their impact. The project is the culmination of two years’ research through an alliance of world-renowned researchers in artificial intelligence, forestry, human factors and science communication at the University of the Sunshine Coast and University of Adelaide’s Australian Institute for Machine Learning, in partnership with Noosa Shire Council and funded through the Federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources. NOBURN was developed in the wake of the 2019-20 bushfires that burned more than 10 million hectares of forest, destroyed 2000 homes and claimed dozens of lives. For more information, check out their 2-minute video from researcher, Dr Sam Van Holsbeeck, or…

29Jun 2023 by Lisa Evans - ACSA 3 Comments

Citizen Science in QLD Schools

Blogs, Communication & promotion, Education, Engaging citizens

In June our social media moderator, scientist, keen citizen scientist and #CitSciOz23 Conference co-convener, Michelle Neil was invited to present to over 150 Queensland primary and secondary school students and their teachers at the 2023 Sustainability and Science Schools Showcase hosted by Queensland’s Office of the Chief Scientist at Queensland Museum’s The Edge. How do you galvanise the next generation of citizen scientists into action? How do you explain citizen science in fewer than 7 slides and under 3 minutes? Introducing the tools of citizen science Have you seen our citizen scientists’ t-shirts? The pictures represent the tools of a citizen scientist. You might use one tool for your project or all of them – there really is no limit. The tools include; a computer mouse and mobile phone to…

29Jun 2023 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

Citizen science – there’s something for everyone, everywhere

Blogs, Communication & promotion, Education, Engaging citizens, Meetings and Events

ACSA-WA member Dr Tegan Douglas was thrilled to be able to present to the Lesmurdie branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A) earlier this month. True to the Noongar season of Makuru, the weather was cold and blustery, but not even hail was enough to stop this group of curious minds and life-long learners from gathering at Falls Farm in Lesmurdie to hear about how easy it is to get involved with citizen science. Photo courtesy of Heidi Pember Tegan introduced the group to ACSA, demonstrated how citizen science worked, and the benefits that science and society can get from it. Using her background in bird conservation, she drew examples of how the power of citizen science can track population trends in native and introduced bird species, and…

02Jun 2023 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

ACSA-SA and Cosmos Science collaboration launch

Blogs, Collaboration & partnerships, Engaging citizens, Meetings and Events

By Isabella Wilson and Katie Irvine of ACSA-SA To celebrate a new collaboration between the South Australian Chapter of ACSA and Cosmos Science we teamed up to hold a launch event 'How to Become a Citizen Scientist' at RiAus @ The Science Exchange, Adelaide, in May. Project coordinators displayed flyers, posters, and banners and enjoyed the nibbles and company. The event aligned with the submission date for the South Australian Government Citizen Science small grants applications - so everyone was ready to let their hair down and celebrate! Cosmos Science is now endeavouring to publish weekly Citizen Science content and is on the hunt nationally for stories for publication. Click here to submit your story Cosmos has 1.5-2 million readers each month online, a little over half of whom are…

05Dec 2022 by Jessie L Oliver No Comments

Read about ACSA Community Achievements via our Annual Report for 2021-2022

ACSA development, Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Conferences, Engaging citizens, Meetings and Events

The Australian Citizen Science Association community had diverse achievements throughout the 2021-2022 financial year, and we are delighted to share an overview of them in our ACSA Annual Report! You can read about our efforts to support our community and broaden the reach of citizen science at local, national, and international levels. Check out the suite of incredible activities our state- and territory-based Regional Chapters have been delving into. Reminisce about the inspiring online national citizen science conference - #CitSciOz21. Learn how our burgeoning consulting endeavours and broader partnerships are continuing to grow. It is evident that we have an incredible community doing a wide variety of remarkable things that empower people with science! We hope our members enjoy perusing the report! If you have feedback or questions after reading…

25Oct 2022 by Lisa Evans - ACSA No Comments

B&B Schools BioBlitz results

Collaboration & partnerships, CS Project, Education, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science, Showcasing science outcomes

Here is latest news from Planting Seeds about the B&B Schools BioBlitz, which was supported by ACSA. Planting Seeds is also a recipient of a 2022 ACSA Seed Grant. Thank you to everyone who participated! The B&B BioBlitz blitzed biodiversity! Scheduled for September’s National Biodiversity Month, schools from every State and territory engaged in citizen science, took observations in their school grounds and uploaded the images to iNaturalist and the CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia.Over 60 schools participated recording approximately 2345 observations of 635 species. Our leaderboard shows St Monica's College in Melbourne took the most observations at a grand total of 213, followed by Wahroonga Adventist School (188) and Mulgoa Public School (153).Unusual species photographed included the Two-tailed Spider and there were beautiful images of bugs and birds including the…

09Dec 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

ForestEye Pilot went LIVE in the Bega Shire Valley!

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science

By Geetha Ortac A few months ago, ACSA announced its partnership 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 was due to be piloted in October, however Covid-19 restrictions meant a 2 month delay. We are now happy to report ForestEye finally kicked-off on 1 Dec 2021 in the beautiful Bega Shire Valley! Nine enthusiastic citizen scientists from nearby local areas joined us for two days of training and fieldwork participating in the set-up of remote sensor cameras and two different types of devices that enabled acoustic recording and monitoring of bats and other wildlife. As ForestEye’s vision is to support long-term forest monitoring across New South Wales, a pilot such…

09Dec 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

The Big Bushfire Bioblitz!

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science, Meetings and Events

Grab your hat, your camera, and your moth sheet, and get ready for the Big Bushfire BioBlitz! The University of New South Wales’ Centre for Ecosystem Science, the Atlas of Living Australia, the Australian Citizen Science Association, Minderoo’s Fire and Flood Resilience Initiative, and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment are joining forces to run three bioblitzes across NSW in early 2022 to help track how our native ecosystems are recovering from the 2019-2020 bushfire season. Join us in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (Blue Mountains), Rainforests of the NSW north coast and tablelands (Washpool National Park), and Forests of the NSW south coast (Murramarang National Park) as we search for bugs, bats, birds and everything in between. We’re putting together an exciting line-up of experts…

09Dec 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

New article in The Conversation

Communication & promotion, Engaging citizens

ACSA's former Chair Erin Roger Host Representative Alice Motion have just had their article published in The Conversation and it is well worth a read: https://theconversation.com/nature-is-hiding-in-every-nook-of-australias-cities-just-look-a-little-closer-and-youll-find-it-168256 This article was written to accompany the publication of Erin and Alice's open access journal article "Citizen science in cities: an overview of projects focused on urban Australia". You can download that article here.

30Nov 2021 by Amy Slocombe No Comments

Sign up for a BioBlitz this summer

Collaboration & partnerships, Communication & promotion, Engaging citizens, Field-based citizen science

Members of the public are being invited to participate in a citizen science research program to boost existing bushfire recovery, data collection and monitoring activities for impacted wildlife. Supported through the Australian Government’s Regional Bushfire Recovery Fund, the program includes funding for a Citizen Science Coordinator position based within the Atlas of Living Australia hosted by the CSIRO to support the delivery of three bushfire recovery projects. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said citizen science projects present a unique opportunity to improve the science on bushfires, future preparations and bushfire actions. “Three projects under the program are supporting fire-affected communities to engage with nature and the science of recovery,” Minister Ley said. “The first project will see CSIRO run a series of weekend long ‘BioBlitz’ events in bushfire-affected regions…

Category: Engaging citizens