Europe encourages citizen science

The action group “Citizen Science to promote creativity, scientific literacy, and innovation throughout Europe” was launched, financially supported by the program European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). The project has the participation of more than 130 researchers from 31 countries and the Spanish node is represented by the researchers Josep Perelló from the University of Barcelona and Fermín Serrano from Ibercivis Foundation.

The main aim of this action is to bundle the capacities of all Europe to research and spread the impact of science, education, policies and civic results of citizen science with the stakeholders from all involved areas, ranging from policy makers, cultural and social organizations and researchers. The idea is to measure citizen science potential as the one easing social innovation and socio-ecological transition.

The action will provide the right tools to benefit from the citizen science potential in science and innovation. The main reason for this action comes from the growth of initiatives related to citizen science and the fact that the general public and researchers start to see opportunities in new technologies, which enable registering the surrounding environment and share and collectively understand the obtained data and knowledge.

Given the trans-disciplinarity of citizen science, this action will benefit from several contributions and perspectives from a range of disciplines and research cultures. On the other hand, the project provides ideal means for knowledge sharing and allows a better integration of independent activities at a European and international scale. In particular, Josep Perelló, leader of the research group Open Systems is in charge of the work group for the organization, among other activities, of an annual summer school on citizen science.

Further information