10 Steps Universities Leaders Can Take to Embrace Citizen Science

Researchers working on the €1.4 million EU-funded TIME4CS project have developed a framework to accelerate the adoption of citizen science in universities and research-performing organisations.

The TIME4CS project's methodology and recommendations offer an entry point for institutions that are considering the possibility of embracing citizen science.

The benefits of adopting Citizen Science are not only scientific but also societal. It empowers citizens to become active participants in the scientific process and fosters a sense of ownership over the knowledge generated.

Moreover, citizen science enhances transparency and accountability in research and aligns with h the principles of open science and data sharing.

Participation in citizen science projects has been shown to facilitate greater societal acceptance of innovations and new technologies, a significant benefit considering the complex global challenges we are currently facing.

Successful implementation of citizen science requires institutions to change and adapt structures, procedures and governance policies.

To help introduce citizen science, the TIME4CS team listed 10 recommendations institutions should consider.

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Explain the benefits of citizen science ‍

Researchers need to know that opportunities to become involved or lead citizen science projects exist and that those opportunities are relevant to them.

To communicate the benefits of citizen science the Università Vita-Salute San-Raffaele (UniSR) launched a monthly newsletter, entitled ‘Bits of Citizen Science’, targeting researchers and administrative staff.

The newsletter introduced key concepts of citizen science, and presented a cycle of seminars (‘Science and Society’) for students, researchers, and physicians. Elements of CS were inserted in the syllabi of several courses for PhD and Master’s students. UniSR also promoted online events to discuss how CS can be employed as a groundbreaking research methodology

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Find the best way to collect feedback and opinions from researchers‍

Circulate surveys among staff and researchers to understand their awareness of citizen science and to get a feel for their level of interest, needs and doubts.

Hold individual conversations with staff, as well as with students and support staff to gain a deeper understanding. Host internal information seminars or training events.

Remember, sometimes a personal e-mail or a personal invitation can be especially effective!

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Choose your audience

You might get more traction if you focus your initial attention on PhD students and early career researchers.

They are usually very enthusiastic and eager to learn new methodologies. Another idea might be to involve former PhD students who have moved into diverse careers as citizen scientists.

University College London, for example, runs a full graduate-level course on citizen science which is also available freely online on the remote learning platform.

Its first postgraduate programme on citizen science was launched in 2022, while elements of citizen science were also included in a PhD course.

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Learn by doing

Start with an issue that both citizens and researchers care about. You can do this by developing a pitch for a citizen science project by answering simple questions like; Why does the project matter? How much does it matter? What do you wish to achieve? Do you need specific skills or any other resources?

Know who you would like to have participating and develop ways to reach them. Advertise, co-create with interested citizens and allow them to make decisions.

Plan your citizen science project, develop tasks that appeal to different motivations, and act to drive changes.

Provide regular feedback to the participants to let them know their time is well spent. Talk to them to find out if they want to change their role or participate in an alternative task. It is also important to give participants opportunities to interact with each other.

Finally, be ready for their feedback, learn from it, and adapt or change the project as a result.

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Start with small projects

There is no need to start with complex co-designed projects. In fact, if you are at the beginning of your citizen science journey it is better to start with projects that are easier to deploy.

Start small, talk to other researchers, students and local communities, and try to enrich already ongoing activities with a citizen science methodology first.

Look around in your institutions for participatory projects, including interdisciplinary ones.

Aim for projects that ask participants for a very specific action or completion of a specific task.

This way, the organisational, technical, and societal aspects can be explored and adapted to the needs of the organisation and the participants. New opportunities will progressively arise thereafter.

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Find and liaise with CS champions in the institution or its network

UCL developed many citizen science champions by placing an emphasis on promoting and funding Public Engagement in research.

This provided an arena for citizen science champions to grow and multiply their efforts with the students and citizen scientists.After developing a number of citizen science projects, people might emerge as citizen science champions in your institution.

This is something that takes time, but identifying and nurturing citizen science champions, both at the management and researcher/student levels, can encourage others to engage.

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Take advantage of the existing network of practitioners to provide inspiring examples‍

Join the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) or your national citizen science association, or at least be aware of their resources and activities.

There is also a Global Citizen Science Partnership. Visit existing platforms that feature all kinds of existing projects such as Zooniverse. Try to make connections between existing networks by joining the Citizen Science Helix on Crowdhelix’s open innovation platform.

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Make your citizen science initiative inclusive‍

Depending on your field of research, engage a variety of actors through local campaigns and dialogue. Work with authorities, schools, and associations.

Citizen Science is a powerful way to involve underrepresented groups but this also requires time careful consideration and trust-building with those groups. A good way to approach this is the organisation of local workshops led by citizens themselves.

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Organise roundtables, debates, and interviews with top scientists to promote citizen science‍

Build appealing events that people are willing to attend and reach out to the public with attractive and clear material utilising different types of media and communication channels.

Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania organised a roundtable on ‘Citizen science and institutional changes’ that brought together researchers representing several flagship initiatives promoting citizen science.

Discussions focussed on why universities would need citizen science projects, the benefits of engaging with society, and how top scientists can be more involved in citizen science.

The roundtables also covered data quality and research ethics challenges related to citizen science.

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Think about reward mechanisms for doing citizen science‍

As the current criteria for the evaluation of researchers are based mainly on traditional bibliometric indicators why not consider establishing institutional grants?

Or like the Università Vita Salute San Raffaele in Itlay, include citizen science activities as part of researchers’ evaluations.You could also offer formal and informal recognition through newsletters, events, and promoting the visibility of researchers and citizens within projects.

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The Time4CS team have published 10 webinars presenting best practices on institutional adoption of citizen science are available on the TIME4CS website, as well as on the EU-citizen science platform.

As part of the project, the team also developed a free online course encompassing four training modules.

Muki Haklay, Professor at University College London, believes that the TIME4CS statement demonstrates strong structural, transformative power at various levels of research and innovative processes.

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“Integrating Citizen Science into Research Performing Organisations can take time, which is why our statement is dedicated to providing guidance on how organisations can seamlessly integrate CS and how this integration can accelerate growth, such as, funding opportunities.”

“The roadmap is tailor-made for specific requirements, ensuring it is adaptable to a range of different audiences, including researchers, support and administrative staff as well as students.”

“Accessibility is a crucial point. If training resources are not accessible, they cannot be used and reused. We have ensured that the TIME4CS Statement is openly available and will remain so after the project ends”.

"The TIME4CS project demonstrates that with modest resources, Citizen Science can serve as a catalyst of Open Science implementation in universities and research organisations”.

“By taking the lessons and scaling them across the European Research Area, European institutions can cement their position as leaders in deep public engagement in research”.

Launched in January 2021, the TIME4CS project has developed a suite of resources and tools to accelerate the integration of citizen science.

Although the project concluded in December 2023, one of its key outcomes, the Citizen Science Helix hosted on Crowdhelix’s open innovation platform, provides research organisations with a platform to collaborate on future projects that aim to enable the continued integration of citizen science within research institutions.

The Citizen Science Helix is home to nearly 1,000 experts from over 300 international organisations that seek to promote the dissemination of research into citizen science.

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The TIME4CS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101006201