Citizen science – engagement and empowerment
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CORDIScovery podcast- Episode #22 - Citizen science – engagement and empowerment
This is an AI transcription.
00:00:10:05 - 00:00:16:02
Abigail Acton
This is CORDIScovery.
00:00:16:04 - 00:00:38:01
Abigail Acton
Hello. Welcome to this episode of CORDIScovery with me, Abigail. Action. Are you a stargazer? Maybe you're a beachcomber. Well, perhaps you care about traffic pollution in your neighborhood. Enthusiasts, people with hobbies and spare time. Or concerned about their environment. You and me, all of us are potential collectors of data and information that can add a dimension to research projects.
00:00:38:07 - 00:01:10:02
Abigail Acton
With over 2.5 million volunteers using the Zooniverse Citizen Science app, the movement is clearly gaining momentum. Why involve the general public in data collection research? How do you get them on board and keep them motivated? Does participation empower people and can projects gain their own momentum carrying on after the funding ends? If you are into the idea of counting killer whales around the Aleutian Islands from the comfort of your living room, or if you're a scientist keen to make the most of the resource a network of motivated volunteers can bring.
00:01:10:04 - 00:01:38:10
Abigail Acton
Listen on. These feet to discuss citizen science, engagement and empowerment are our three guests whose work has been funded under the EU Horizon 2020 program. Xavier Basagaña is associate professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Xavier has a background in biostatistics. His research covers the health effects of environmental exposure with a special focus on air pollution. Welcome, Xavier, Professor of Environmental History at the University of Stavanger in Norway.
00:01:38:10 - 00:01:49:15
Abigail Acton
Finn Arne Jørgensen studies the evolution of human relationships with nature over time and place. He is particularly interested in how technology enables and mediates these relationships. Hello, Finn Arne.
00:01:49:17 - 00:01:51:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Hey, Abigail. Good to be here.
00:01:51:03 - 00:02:09:03
Abigail Acton
Nice to have you. Kris Vanherle is the transport policy researcher working at Transport and Mobility Leuven, a spin off at the University of Leuven in Belgium. Kris is interested in citizen science in the context of transport policy. He started the toll ramp project and co-founded Rear Window. Hello, Kris.
00:02:09:05 - 00:02:11:13
Kris Vanherle
Hey, Abigail. Hi all.
00:02:11:15 - 00:02:32:14
Abigail Acton
Xavier I'm going to turn to you first. CitieS-Health Project is interested in evaluating the health impacts of urban living. Your project wanted to encourage collaboration between researchers and citizens to generate solid, unbiased scientific evidence. Sounds like a nice ambition. There've been quite a few projects that have set out to measure the impact of urban living on people's health.
00:02:32:16 - 00:02:35:16
Abigail Acton
What gaps were you seeking to fill through your project?
00:02:35:18 - 00:03:03:21
Xavier Basagaña
Well, actually, it's true that if we're restricted to citizen science projects, there have been several projects in which citizens measure air pollution with different devices. But actually, there are not many that also measured health outcome and tried to make the connection, the relationship between air pollution and health. So I think in this sense, cities have less a quite normal in the citizen science world.
00:03:04:02 - 00:03:28:14
Xavier Basagaña
And I think this is important because, for example, many times we don't perceive that air pollution is affecting us individually. And once we do this kind of studies where we start collecting and gathering data from many citizens, then some patterns emerge and we see that those living in the most polluted areas are on the days with more air pollution.
00:03:28:14 - 00:03:41:18
Xavier Basagaña
We we see worse and worse health outcomes. So to me, it was important that citizens were able to to see that even if they don't perceive that air pollution is affecting them, it might be affecting them.
00:03:41:20 - 00:03:45:24
Abigail Acton
Interesting. So it's also raising awareness amongst the population of the possible impacts as well.
00:03:46:04 - 00:03:55:05
Xavier Basagaña
Yes. And I think just because many people ask, okay, how do you do this? How how big a note that this air pollution that that is affecting health.
00:03:55:11 - 00:03:56:19
Abigail Acton
Yeah. How do you make the link?
00:03:56:19 - 00:04:22:05
Xavier Basagaña
Yes. Yes. So, for example, the citizens in Barcelona decided to study if air pollution affected their ability to concentrate. But this is affected by many other things like how you slept that day. Or maybe you have something else that was worrying you. So citizens were raising all these points and providing feedback, and then we was trying to incorporate and to control that in our study.
00:04:22:09 - 00:04:37:14
Abigail Acton
But that sounds absolutely fascinating. I love that example. That's a really interesting example of your right, because there's so many different things that could be mediating on that. So how exactly did you measure that? What what did the citizens do in order to record the correlation between the pollution and their ability to concentrate?
00:04:37:18 - 00:05:05:16
Xavier Basagaña
So we asked participants to participate during the two weeks and every day they were answering a survey in a phone. But interestingly, when we were preparing the study, citizens were concerned that actually using questionnaires is too subjective. And they felt that if we just use questionnaires, the results would not be valid or there could be bias. So they insisted a lot on that.
00:05:05:16 - 00:05:26:06
Xavier Basagaña
So and that's why one of the reasons why we included cognitive tests as well, which is a more validated tool. And they were Indian. And answering this cognitive test scores every day during two weeks. And we were comparing if on the days with more air pollution, the results were worse than on the cleaner.
00:05:26:18 - 00:05:27:07
Abigail Acton
and were they?
00:05:27:10 - 00:05:47:10
Xavier Basagaña
Yes, they were. So in the end, we just published the results of the study and we showed that on the mobility days, citizens perform 5% worse than on the more clean days. And they also reported more stress during during the high-protein days.
00:05:47:10 - 00:05:59:00
Abigail Acton
So that's very interesting. And and how many people were taking part in that particular element, because I know your project looked at other dimensions and you were active in other places as well. But this particular case study, how many how many people did you have involved?
00:05:59:01 - 00:06:19:15
Xavier Basagaña
Well, we had different phases and we had a different number of people involved in the different phases. Some collaborated in the design, some were just both in the research question. So there were a thousand citizens in both. But then in the actual study, there were 300 that provided these answers every day for two weeks.
00:06:19:16 - 00:06:36:06
Abigail Acton
Right. But I mean, I think that's really impressive. You've got a thousand people motivated to take part in this one case study. You had other case studies ongoing as well. And you had 300 people who were prepared to take part on it in a daily activity. So that leads me very nicely onto the next question, which I think is the one that comes to everybody's minds listening to this.
00:06:36:08 - 00:06:41:20
Abigail Acton
How do you get people involved at that level and how do you keep them motivated? Because those numbers are good numbers.
00:06:41:23 - 00:07:12:11
Xavier Basagaña
Well, we did this workshops with citizens where I think that we're very happy to contribute to the design of the study. Then we had a strong communication campaign as well. We had a newsletter. We have a casual language and trying to explain interesting things about the project in a very short way as well. And then I think one of the things that also work is providing participants some physical think.
00:07:12:13 - 00:07:39:15
Xavier Basagaña
So for example, we were sending them a box with our research kit, and I think just receiving a box attracts their attention. And then they had a tube to measure and to look at with instructions, a reminder that don't forget your chip today. So I think these kind of things also contribute to it, that the people get more excited about the project that.
00:07:39:20 - 00:07:53:10
Abigail Acton
Really is bringing out the inner child almost as it's like a Christmas present, you know, And you used to get a sort of science kit when you were a kid, maybe at Christmas or something. That sounds great. How did you find the people in the first place? I mean, how did you recruit? Did you just start advertising in local newspapers?
00:07:53:10 - 00:07:55:14
Abigail Acton
How did you get out there in the first place?
00:07:55:20 - 00:08:17:21
Xavier Basagaña
We did several things. We did some, for example, we started with a pop up intervention in the ten districts of the city. We were in the streets. We were actually, giving strawberry plants to people as a way. Well, we use that also to measure air pollution, but it was basically an opportunity to talk about the project and to get some, publicity.
00:08:17:21 - 00:08:29:20
Xavier Basagaña
We were in the media then we ran this online campaign also with videos and yeah, just to publicize the project and get the interests of the citizens.
00:08:29:22 - 00:08:51:08
Abigail Acton
get people to enroll. I like the idea of the strawberry plants. It's again, it's something very real. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much for telling us about that. I know your project was involved with other case studies as well, but I think it's nice to have one concrete little case study where we can see actually how it how it panned out with aiming this podcast episode at people who are curious about taking part in citizen science projects, but also at research who are interested in setting them up.
00:08:51:10 - 00:09:09:01
Abigail Acton
So if you had one takeaway for a researcher who was listening to this and thinking, That sounds like a good way to access a lot of accurate, personalized data, How would you what would you say would be the one thing that they need to take on board when they're designing this approach?
00:09:09:06 - 00:09:33:08
Xavier Basagaña
I think that the time, availability of the of the people is a very important factor. We were discussing that with citizens when we designed the study and they insisted, okay, let's design something that I just need to spend five or 10 minutes per day on this. I can afford it. And I think that many people will be also able to participate.
00:09:33:10 - 00:09:46:11
Xavier Basagaña
Many times we want citizens to do a lot of things, but I think that that the time is the issue. Even the more motivated ones, sometimes they don't have the time to contribute with all the things that they would like to.
00:09:46:13 - 00:10:05:17
Abigail Acton
Yeah, So I think expectation, realistic expectation. So it sounds like what you're saying is a quirky publicity approach. The notion of something solid in someone's hands that they have to open and unwrap and figure out the strawberry plant concept is quite a good one, too, I think. And then, as you say, keeping keeping your expectations realistic. Thank you very, very much, Sylvia.
00:10:05:17 - 00:10:26:01
Abigail Acton
That was fascinating. Okay. I'm going to turn to Finn Arne. The citizen part of the phrase citizen science was the focus of the EnviroCitizen project. So now on your project, wanted to understand the ways in which citizen science projects can be used to cultivate new ways of thinking and acting in all aspects of life and to promote environmental sustainability.
00:10:26:07 - 00:10:37:06
Abigail Acton
You were interested, I think, in seeing if people participating actively with their environment would change the way that they think about it. So how did you test that idea? Can you tell us a little bit about how the project worked?
00:10:37:08 - 00:11:12:24
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Sure, I can do that. I mean, I guess the first thing to point out is that being interested in the role of the citizen and how how people participate in citizen science projects about how that influences their way of being. It builds on the project team's background in humanities and social science research. Mostly we have some people in education as well, so we come into this with this angle, trying to understand well the cultural aspect, the community aspect of this too.
00:11:13:01 - 00:11:40:01
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And in that process, also understanding in some ways where citizen science as a practice comes from. So that's in a way where we started and it's a thing that's kind of challenging to test empirically and especially in this hard science way. So what we did is, I mean, we knew we wanted to look at this idea of citizenship and there were many cases we could have done it through.
00:11:40:03 - 00:12:06:12
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And we we went through a couple of different ideas in these initial stages of developing the project. And we ended up with birds and bird watching for several reasons. I mean, one is that this is one of the oldest large citizen science practices business where some of these practices started, even though the idea of who was a citizen who counted was very different than beginning ornithology.
00:12:06:14 - 00:12:34:17
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And then you can use this example of bird watching to try to trace the development over time. You can also I mean, this is what our partners wanted, really fascinating things is the way bird watching as a practice can be found anywhere. No birds are anywhere in Europe. They are in the cities, in the countryside. You have some of the same birds that either just exist in the same places or you have migrating birds.
00:12:34:17 - 00:12:51:24
Finn Arne Jørgensen
You go between different places in Europe. So we have in our project done with seven European partners, we spread all over Europe. So north, south, east, west. Looking at the birds and how people engage with birds around Europe.
00:12:52:01 - 00:13:00:14
Abigail Acton
Okay. And how people get engaged with birds around Europe being also a kind of barometer with how they engage with the natural world more widely, I suppose.
00:13:00:16 - 00:13:26:14
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah. I mean, so one of the things that we we've found is that being actively engaged in bird watching, it's kind of this there's this latter, right, because it's a very low threshold activity to get into and a lot of people did during COVID as well when during the lockdowns bird watching saw this huge boom, both like in person, bird watching, but also bird showing, bird watching and so on.
00:13:26:16 - 00:13:50:18
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So what we saw then is through participation, through gaining knowledge and observing birds and particularly thinking about birds over time. I mean, birds shift across the seasons, but if you engage in bird watching over longer times, you actually see that there are less of some birds and there are more of the birds. So we see that people start questioning why is this?
00:13:50:20 - 00:14:19:21
Finn Arne Jørgensen
What are the relationships and the developments in society that lead to changes in bird populations and what can we do about it? So this idea of care has actually ended up being very central in our product as one way of understanding nature values. This idea we can and should care for nature in particular very concrete ways. It's not a abstract care, but it's very specific, and I think that is powerful.
00:14:19:23 - 00:14:20:01
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah.
00:14:20:02 - 00:14:39:16
Abigail Acton
So why aren't there more thrushes in my back garden? Where have my thrushes gone? Yeah, I get that. But what I'm curious to know is, was it not possible that your cohort was self-selecting? In other words, I mean, was it not possible that the subjects were already people who are keen birders? What did you do to try and bring in people who'd never thought of birdwatching as a pastime that could interest them at all?
00:14:39:18 - 00:15:19:02
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So one of the things we did was to do a lot of interviews. So we have it again in our seven countries. Very hard teams working day have joined birdwatching tours. So, you know, we become part of these communities that we are studying also and through those met people into you to make sure that we got a very good distribution from the people who have been doing birdwatching for 50 years back to very hardcore twitchers to sit there with their phone and they get the message when there's this rare bird and they all run out to cars to go see the two people who just took it off because, this sounded interesting.
00:15:19:04 - 00:15:37:20
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So. So that's one. Of course, I see your point about this self-selecting. Of course. You want to get people to to not watch birds this way. So one of the other things we did was we've been working with schoolchildren through teachers in particular. I mean, it's it's a bit challenging to work directly with schoolchildren also for privacy reasons as well.
00:15:37:20 - 00:16:11:12
Finn Arne Jørgensen
The very strict rules about that. And I get that. So we've been working with teachers as well then to reach kids and or to see them in bird watching in these activities around watching and counting and thinking about birds. There are so many ways to engage with these larger goals in natural curricula for school. You know that the kinds of knowledge and values and skills that that we want children to develop in school and many of these children do not have particular relationship with birds.
00:16:11:14 - 00:16:37:07
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I guess another thing we saw was, I mean, it's not uncommon for children to be interested in birds, to notice birds and to think about them and talk about them. But there's something that happens when they come into the teenage years where they're less interested. Some of these people come back when they get older, but not all. So it's also one of those areas or places in life we identify where here it might actually be possible to design some interventions.
00:16:37:09 - 00:16:47:07
Finn Arne Jørgensen
How can you keep the teenagers interested in birds? I guess also, what is it about those teenagers who remain interested in birds? What is it that keeps them interested?
00:16:47:11 - 00:17:06:04
Abigail Acton
Yeah, and yes, what can you learn from that? Maybe applied to the ones who are becoming disengaged. Okay, that's super. There's a clear benefit to the participants in terms of awareness of the natural environment and getting outdoors and so on. But I think you are also interested in the benefit to nature of this kind of activity. Did you notice any change just with how people interacted with the environment?
00:17:06:04 - 00:17:07:19
Abigail Acton
Was it more respectful?
00:17:07:21 - 00:17:13:08
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah, you know, former colleagues are sort of respectful. Is this it's kind of a different.
00:17:13:10 - 00:17:14:14
Abigail Acton
Aware maybe?
00:17:14:16 - 00:17:40:23
Finn Arne Jørgensen
We're certainly and there is again, this development of care which shows I mean, we tied this to this idea of citizenship or environmental citizenship is a term that's gaining increasing traction. And we have it from one of another. EU funded costs network. This European project that developed this term, which looks at both rights and responsibilities that people have in relation to nature.
00:17:40:23 - 00:18:16:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And we are also moving away from this idea of citizenship as something connected to 20 states, nations membership in some particular groups, that way to being citizens of the planet with this particular kind of relationship. And and one of the things we see is that developing environmental citizenship is something that is transformative. It is not just, you have you accumulate a little bit more knowledge, but in this process, something happens that some change in the way you relate to and care about the planet.
00:18:16:01 - 00:18:27:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
But we are measuring this impact on people and their values, not on the environment itself. Of course, some of these effects you won't see until nine years down the line.
00:18:27:02 - 00:18:40:15
Abigail Acton
Well, of.Course, because it's the people's behavior towards their environment that will cause the environment to benefit. And that does take time to unfold. But it is a win win for both. Does anyone have any comments at all for Finn on any observations?
00:18:40:17 - 00:19:09:19
Kris Vanherle
I have one thing on the bird watching myself, so be prepared to do it. To hear this song. I was curious, is that citizen science observation, Are they useful for doing species population estimates or is selection bias an issue I can consider Birds of prey and watch, which is so you might see some issues. I'm curious.
00:19:09:21 - 00:19:37:05
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah, I mean, and that’s one of the really interesting things that come with this, this lower threshold that it’s very easy for people to get into this first level. And part of that is done because of the development of this platform. So you have apps where you register bird observations and many of these can just be very common birds. You have the backyard bird count that you do across Europe in January where you just basically register what kind of birds are in your garden. They are super common bird stories in a way, in and of themselves, not particularly exciting or interesting as observations.
00:19:37:05 - 00:20:03:12
Finn Arne Jørgensen
But in this being such a widespread and popular activity, you can then trace actually larger parties across Europe. And then, I mean, the more into these apps, people are, you do get a lot of registration. So there's a lot of data about what kinds of birds are in there active in particular area. So there is of course a lot of knowledge good science generated through these activities as well.
00:20:03:17 - 00:20:13:02
Abigail Acton
Well, so it's public engagement. I mean, it's like a gateway activity to have something something bigger at another time. Xavier you have a question.
00:20:13:08 - 00:20:13:19
Xavier Basagaña
So.
00:20:13:21 - 00:20:39:16
Xavier Basagaña
I was wondering if you're interested, interested in really getting people that will get into bird watching like from now on, or we have some sporadic users also that they just tried that for, for some time and then they live it. But maybe still it's a benefit to know how this thing works.
00:20:39:18 - 00:21:04:23
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I think that's one of the beauty beauties of Bird as a practice in that it works at so many of these different levels. And I mean, there are kind of like this plateaus where you can gain knowledge to begin with really quickly, but then it takes a bit to get to the next level because I mean, there are some people who are incredibly dedicated.
00:21:05:00 - 00:21:29:21
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I mean, and their knowledge of birds is like almost magical in that they can see like, you know, this tail sticking out as ambitious up there and know exactly what kind of bird it is. But most people will never reach that level because it requires so much time and effort. That's not why people are doing it. Whereas for other people, of course, spending this time and effort is precisely why they're doing it, because it is it's so rewarding to them.
00:21:30:10 - 00:21:45:24
Abigail Acton
Excellent. So I think you hit on a really good sort of I'm trying to find the right word, really a good means of opening up a range of possibilities for people to engage in. You're right. I mean, everyone can do it and everyone can do it either a little or everyone can do it a lot depending on what they actually feel motivated to do.
00:21:46:04 - 00:22:10:09
Abigail Acton
Excellent. Thank you very much. That's fascinating. Kris I'm going to turn to you. WeCount wanted to give people the tools they needed to monitor traffic, to co-design solutions to tackle a variety of road transport challenges. You were particularly interested in empowering people to collect the data they needed to approach the local authorities. So we talked about engagement a little bit just now, and now I'm turning to the notion of empowerment a little as well.
00:22:10:15 - 00:22:18:16
Abigail Acton
You combined your experience as a transport policy researcher and consultant with your interest in citizen science. So what did you hope to achieve?
00:22:18:18 - 00:22:22:21
Kris Vanherle
Yeah. Excellent. Okay. Where to start?
00:22:22:23 - 00:22:24:11
Abigail Acton
That’s a.Good sign.
00:22:24:13 - 00:22:49:20
Kris Vanherle
Well, to start off. And so I'm an excellent policy specialist. Data is my food, so we need a lot of data to to do this analysis. Typically, we buy discounting accounting data. I wouldn't call it a point constant, whatever. But at the same time, I mean, this data expensive. And so traffic counting data typically is just hugely expensive.
00:22:50:01 - 00:23:17:20
Kris Vanherle
If you want implementing tubes, you're very quickly in orders of magnitude of either juegos or something for just one. So I could just very expensive and at the same time as a as a as a policy specialist, we also engage with citizens of sometimes and and we could see that people were counting manually and sometimes counting manually. And actually this information was useful for Nelson But the skeptics, it's just one not so I'm a citizen seismologist myself.
00:23:17:20 - 00:23:38:20
Kris Vanherle
So I see what what the what the potential unintended insights volunteer. So I have this evidence and I was thinking let's let's try this concept for definitions. So let's try to give a citizen a tool so they can generate the data which is actually being used. So let's give them something where they can generate data which is useful for effort, for difficulty.
00:23:38:22 - 00:23:41:22
Kris Vanherle
And then basically also spoke was this go for WeCount.
00:23:42:02 - 00:23:48:18
Abigail Acton
Okay, I get that. So let's start from the beginning. How did I'm curious again, how did you reach out and enroll people? How did you get people on board?
00:23:48:21 - 00:24:16:06
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, well, it works within an open call. Basically, we use local communication channels. We also don't be confined to difficult areas. We got five cases lived in Belgium and Barcelona, Madrid, Cardiff, Dublin. And Ljubljana So we use to the local communication channels to tap into a decent zone. Do you want to come traffic? You can join this project and you'll get a sense of who's really nice and and that in itself is enough.
00:24:16:08 - 00:24:31:20
Kris Vanherle
So we had more than enough volunteers who were willing to host the center, because that's the commitment that this time had to do at the very least, you have to install the sensor in your place, do a bit of effort, but then you are collecting and counting traffic on on your specific location.
00:24:31:22 - 00:24:48:09
Abigail Acton
So I guess again, and that's quite interesting because we're going back a bit to the Xavier’s idea of receiving a box through the post and having something solid in your hand that that makes you feel that you've got something to contribute. So that's an interesting overlap that the both of both of you have come across there. Okay. And so you had more people volunteering than you needed.
00:24:48:09 - 00:25:06:23
Abigail Acton
I mean, you had as many as you needed, I guess also, you were touching you were pressing a button a bit because a lot of people are concerned, rather like Xavier's project on pollution. People are concerned about traffic in their environment. So I guess they were quite hungry to participate. Okay. And so you sent them, you sent them equipment.
00:25:07:00 - 00:25:10:02
Abigail Acton
What equipment did you send and what did you ask them to do with it, Please.
00:25:10:07 - 00:25:32:10
Kris Vanherle
Yeah. So it's it's a low cost traffic sensor, basically. Basically, it's Raspberry Pi based system. So that's a common microcomputer in the and large volumes we tweaked it and we made a bit of software so it would count or it could be pointed towards the IT and collect that accounting data and the commitments so much. But this happens is to self install this thing.
00:25:32:10 - 00:25:53:19
Kris Vanherle
So that's where it competes or how it stands off compared to different technologies. So implementing due to high camera systems have to be solved in situ by technicians. Expensive again. But while if you go for something simple, your citizens become your technician and they will do it for free. Because they are committed, they want to not have to get in their seats.
00:25:53:19 - 00:26:08:11
Kris Vanherle
So this is the quick call it say so and Citizen makes a bit of an effort for generating or setting up the sensor because it takes a bit of time. It's a bit technical, but they will get just accounting data for this because of this as well.
00:26:08:13 - 00:26:19:00
Abigail Acton
Okay. And how did they report back or did the sensor automatically I guess the sensor automatically reported the data back to you. Did they have to do as my question ready? Did they have to do anything beyond installing the sensor? What else did they have to do?
00:26:19:01 - 00:26:46:04
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, this is where it becomes interesting because again, when I started the project was my first citizen science to set up and my only if I want to have this data, I want to have it so I can do my analysis, which is the system which is otherwise way too expensive. But then the beautiful thing comes by. So this the citizens who have the sensor and they're super engaged and so they're super curious about what this data that they're generating is meaningful them.
00:26:46:06 - 00:27:08:06
Kris Vanherle
They start to do their own analysis, they start to find insights into the accounting data, which you wouldn't even see yourself. And there's this beautiful example which has been used a million times. I was analyzing data once and I saw a big spike in traffic, on bike traffic on 11am and which makes no sense that you see in bikes in the morning, in the evening.
00:27:08:08 - 00:27:29:11
Kris Vanherle
And then when I was in the workshop and somebody explained, well, there's a group of cyclists, a club, we always think the same with the same time, so only they can explain this type of phenomenon and that's the nice thing. And so I give these tools to a citizens and they will analyze and find insights for you as an expert and not even have fun.
00:27:29:13 - 00:27:47:08
Abigail Acton
Excellent. That sounds fascinating. And I'm thinking about empowerment. I mean, you were giving them the tools they needed in order to get hard data. Did you find that they then themselves wanted to go further with that, maybe approach policymakers or maybe raise questions amongst the, you know, to local councilors or. Yeah, tell me.
00:27:47:10 - 00:28:09:03
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, for sure. And like you said, traffic is hot topic and local traffic is a hot topic, so we actually have a selection bias in our participants as you have people who are very committed and very engaged to traffic issues who often already have some kind of line of communication open with the local policy level. There's been speeding in my in my street or one way street is not being expected to destruct.
00:28:09:09 - 00:28:32:10
Kris Vanherle
One shouldn't be anyone here. So apart from the pure hardcore data, we also tried to give them some tools how to start engaging in a discussion with the local authority. And I think that's that's where we tend to make a difference with with allowance. The technology is trying to make this big, make this bridge that the data is objective and I mean, both the policymakers, the local authority and the citizen have to agree on the data.
00:28:32:10 - 00:28:52:04
Kris Vanherle
This is a global it's it's a fact. It's a fact. Exactly. And again, issues which are typically antagonistic like which can be very divisive and then start opening up a conversation around the data which is being generated by the citizen. So, yeah, you have to try to make this make this bridge, I think, between the policy level and citizen.
00:28:52:08 - 00:29:10:24
Abigail Acton
Absolutely. And I guess that that whole point about the antagonism, I mean, that really I that kind of divisive conversation I can imagine does take place all the time. But when you've actually got hard data but the facts speak for themselves, I guess you take a lot of the heat out of the conversation because it this is what it is and nobody can try and pretend it isn't.
00:29:11:01 - 00:29:33:05
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. We've actually seen both issues since. We have U.S. citizens who are very activist joining the project, have very strong opinions about an issue in their street. Data shows that it's maybe not that big of an issue and it's just across the street, let's say, is having a major issue. So it helps calm down these I would say three vocal citizens.
00:29:33:11 - 00:29:50:11
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, but vice versa as well. And so you might emerge issues which you didn't know were there and then you might create an issue. So it's not always that easy for local authorities to mean not always super eager to open up this Pandora's box because it might backlash for them as well.
00:29:50:13 - 00:29:59:00
Abigail Acton
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's absolutely fascinating. I'm really enjoying this. This is such a great conversation. Does anybody have anything that they want to ask Kris or any points or observation Xavier,Yes, please.
00:29:59:02 - 00:30:22:04
Xavier Basagaña
I think well, traffic is very related to the pollution, so this has to be a similar issues. And what is basically where you're measuring it is very important where you measure, for example, with air pollution, we have artificial, monitoring stations that they are located in some places, but there may be citizens that live in some of the places where the concentrations are much higher.
00:30:22:06 - 00:30:32:23
Xavier Basagaña
So I wonder if it happens. The same with, with traffic. And in your data you find things that were not in the official data.
00:30:33:00 - 00:30:54:23
Kris Vanherle
Yes, I would position that. Would we count as a complimentary to AI traffic counting technique. So you will not want to measure high end roads like the big ones because you will have I mean it's worth paying money. Dash to apply in technology, but it's in these small residential areas which are often forgotten, which are then also very often the victim of this test.
00:30:55:00 - 00:30:59:01
Kris Vanherle
So it's complimentary. So we actually filling a blind spot there.
00:30:59:01 - 00:31:02:20
Abigail Acton
So yeah, it's like missing pieces of the jigsaw. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:02:22 - 00:31:04:04
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, exactly.
00:31:04:06 - 00:31:12:15
Abigail Acton
And you guys have both got projects ongoing in Barcelona, so you should stay in touch. So that's the overlap scenario. Finn You had a question. What was your question?
00:31:12:18 - 00:31:33:19
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah, I think this is one breadth really addresses all of us because of passive birds, traffic and pollution. I mean, there were found everywhere where people are. So I mean there are also very good cases for engagement, engagement in studying people. But of course people are can be quite difficult to relate to. We've used terms like data sense.
00:31:33:19 - 00:32:02:23
Finn Arne Jørgensen
We use terms like I mean, policymakers are also people. Stakeholders is another one and also communities of people. And then there's us who are mean. We are scientists, we researchers, we are studying them in a particular way. So so I guess this question of both of you, I mean, what has your relationship to those people you are studying have been have there been like, well, negotiations of authority and trust in that process?
00:32:03:00 - 00:32:05:14
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Did you have to work hard to make people trust you?
00:32:05:16 - 00:32:09:03
Abigail Acton
Xavier I'm going to ask you to answer that. And then Kris afterwards.
00:32:09:08 - 00:32:44:06
Xavier Basagaña
Chris Well, I must say we were working on that topic that already has a lot of people that are concerned, and we know that our participants where basically people who already care about air pollution and they were worried about that. So in that sense they were very happy to, to participate in the study and to have this connection with citizens because then they felt scientist sorry, because then they felt that someone was, was helping them or was trying to improve this particular problem.
00:32:44:08 - 00:32:56:13
Abigail Acton
And Chris, you, you were involved with with sort of communicating with different members of the community. So perhaps your question, the fan on his question is maybe a little bit more relevant for you. Did you have trust issues? How did you how did you navigate that?
00:32:56:14 - 00:33:24:13
Kris Vanherle
That's a super quick question. The way I have come to understand a new center in science ecosystem, let's say, is that you need some anchor points within the local community as your local champion that same way, your conveyance of trust. If you you should invest time to with this relationship. But if you have made clear that what you're talking is helping everybody, then they will sell your solution towards the volunteers in the end.
00:33:24:15 - 00:33:43:15
Kris Vanherle
So I think this type of course, to say, look, we as a science have a very big gulf and influence in intense communication with a few local heroes. And we went to all of and then have a whole bunch of underlying volunteers who basically put their trust in the median level. Then that works for us at least.
00:33:43:17 - 00:33:59:14
Abigail Acton
Can I add and add a question to all of you, really? Have you noticed that since the pandemic, I'm suddenly thinking of this myself. I have a wonderful Streets WhatsApp group. I mean, I know that some people, streets, WhatsApp group can be problematic. This is just lovely. I have to say. It's a really good community. Have you noticed that since the pandemic?
00:33:59:14 - 00:34:10:09
Abigail Acton
Because people started to communicate with their neighbors through WhatsApp to to to just get through the whole situation, that that has opened up a new channel for for reaching people or might it be going forward?
00:34:10:11 - 00:34:30:15
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, I'd like answer first, if I can, to go. Yes, it was right in the middle of the pandemic. So my first case study was right in the middle of the pandemic. So we had to complete your healing and engagement and we had a meeting and workshops and face to face, but we had to move something online. And it's been an issue because I think you lose people if they're not.
00:34:30:15 - 00:34:49:11
Kris Vanherle
If you don't, that's a physical anguish. But then so they're not they're not that engaged. But your reach is bigger. I mean, you can you have digital heat which so you can you can get to more people to maybe before we're in a digitally active and then had to become because of the pandemic and then you can reach people who you would otherwise not have been reaching.
00:34:49:11 - 00:34:54:15
Kris Vanherle
So it's I think it's got to two sides of the same lines.
00:34:54:20 - 00:35:13:21
Abigail Acton
I've just thought of a third as well. I mean, because people became more digitally active, perhaps they were less frightened, if I can say that in inverted commas, about the idea of trying to install a Raspberry Pi because computers became part of everyday life. And so somebody says, Could you set up this little mini computer? It's like, you know, that becomes perhaps more aware that they can sit on it.
00:35:13:23 - 00:35:34:14
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I mean, our experience is I mean, it's been very under digital in that sense because, I mean, our project started April 2020. I mean, it was the worst possible timing, but at the same time, we had designed a project well, because the first part of the project was we were going to design in a way where this practice came from the historical background.
00:35:34:17 - 00:36:02:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So that worked pretty fine for the first time then. But then when we started up doing like participant observation, working with communities, it also worked well because, you know, people went outside to do birdwatching. So outside walks to, to do then guided walks to the birdwatching continued throughout the pandemic. So that part was, I mean, undisturbed, mostly even got more popular because people were interested in getting out.
00:36:02:02 - 00:36:09:18
Finn Arne Jørgensen
But you did see also a big boost in this area is birding apps. People them and started using them.
00:36:09:21 - 00:36:14:19
Abigail Acton
Yeah. Looking for alternative sort of areas of stimulation because their normal areas were taken away from them, I guess.
00:36:14:21 - 00:36:27:19
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Exactly. I can't say much about WhatsApp and if it's being used we do not have a street WhatsApp, there's a neighborhood Facebook group. It is like, I found a lost bike here, have you seen my cat? And that's it's very that.
00:36:27:21 - 00:36:50:10
Abigail Acton
We I was sitting in the garden about six months ago and a macaw I'm in Brighton in the UK a macaw flew I mean touching distance above my head. I thought okay, where am I, What country am I actually in? And it was being mobbed by seagulls and they were really giving it a hard time and it was through the streets WhatsApp group that we discovered someone had lost a macaw and it was returned.
00:36:50:10 - 00:36:57:00
Abigail Acton
So, you know, birdwatching really made dynamic. Okay. Yes, please. One more question from Sabio observation, please, of you.
00:36:57:03 - 00:37:26:16
Xavier Basagaña
Also that our project was also in the middle of. Yeah, but apart from the from the electronic channels to connect with the citizens. I think one other thing that that changed at least, in Barcelona is that, people were more used to having things delivered at home. So for example, in the past you would say, okay, you can pick your research kit here in our institute and they have to come and they have to find a time to come.
00:37:26:16 - 00:37:37:18
Xavier Basagaña
But now what we designed a strategy where we deliver the kids with bike messengers. And yeah, since people were more used to it to receive many things.
00:37:37:20 - 00:37:40:06
Abigail Acton
We got a little lazier in some ways.
00:37:40:08 - 00:37:45:09
Xavier Basagaña
But that I think also may help. Yeah. And some of the new studies.
00:37:45:13 - 00:37:56:15
Abigail Acton
Absolutely. Because it's you know, it's a bit of a turnoff to think, I could have track all the way down there and get the stuff and it just arrives at the door. It's like a gift. Fantastic. okay. Listen, thank you very much. The three of you. I really, really enjoyed.
00:37:56:15 - 00:38:03:20
ALL
That has been a pleasure. Thanks for that. Thanks for having us. Thanks. Yeah, you're very welcome. Bye bye. Take care.
00:38:04:00 - 00:38:26:09
Abigail Acton
Bye. If you are interested in seeing what the EU is doing to promote citizen science, take a look at the EU dash Citizen science platform which gathers projects together. It gives anyone interested in setting up a project involving the public ideas on how to make the whole thing work. To see what other EU funded projects are doing to involve citizens in their work, visit the Cordis website.
00:38:26:10 - 00:38:46:04
Abigail Acton
This will give you an insight into the results of projects funded by the Horizon 2020 program that are working in this area. The website has articles and interviews that explore the results. Research being conducted in a very broad range of domains and subjects from stars to starfish. There's something there for you. Maybe you're involved in a project or would like to apply for funding.
00:38:46:05 - 00:39:04:11
Abigail Acton
Take a look at what others are doing in your domain. So come and check out the research that's revealing what makes our world tick. We're always happy to hear from you. Drop us a line. Editorial at CORDIS Dot Europa dot EU. Until next time.
This is an AI transcription.
00:00:10:05 - 00:00:16:02
Abigail Acton
This is CORDIScovery.
00:00:16:04 - 00:00:38:01
Abigail Acton
Hello. Welcome to this episode of CORDIScovery with me, Abigail. Action. Are you a stargazer? Maybe you're a beachcomber. Well, perhaps you care about traffic pollution in your neighborhood. Enthusiasts, people with hobbies and spare time. Or concerned about their environment. You and me, all of us are potential collectors of data and information that can add a dimension to research projects.
00:00:38:07 - 00:01:10:02
Abigail Acton
With over 2.5 million volunteers using the Zooniverse Citizen Science app, the movement is clearly gaining momentum. Why involve the general public in data collection research? How do you get them on board and keep them motivated? Does participation empower people and can projects gain their own momentum carrying on after the funding ends? If you are into the idea of counting killer whales around the Aleutian Islands from the comfort of your living room, or if you're a scientist keen to make the most of the resource a network of motivated volunteers can bring.
00:01:10:04 - 00:01:38:10
Abigail Acton
Listen on. These feet to discuss citizen science, engagement and empowerment are our three guests whose work has been funded under the EU Horizon 2020 program. Xavier Basagaña is associate professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Xavier has a background in biostatistics. His research covers the health effects of environmental exposure with a special focus on air pollution. Welcome, Xavier, Professor of Environmental History at the University of Stavanger in Norway.
00:01:38:10 - 00:01:49:15
Abigail Acton
Finn Arne Jørgensen studies the evolution of human relationships with nature over time and place. He is particularly interested in how technology enables and mediates these relationships. Hello, Finn Arne.
00:01:49:17 - 00:01:51:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Hey, Abigail. Good to be here.
00:01:51:03 - 00:02:09:03
Abigail Acton
Nice to have you. Kris Vanherle is the transport policy researcher working at Transport and Mobility Leuven, a spin off at the University of Leuven in Belgium. Kris is interested in citizen science in the context of transport policy. He started the toll ramp project and co-founded Rear Window. Hello, Kris.
00:02:09:05 - 00:02:11:13
Kris Vanherle
Hey, Abigail. Hi all.
00:02:11:15 - 00:02:32:14
Abigail Acton
Xavier I'm going to turn to you first. CitieS-Health Project is interested in evaluating the health impacts of urban living. Your project wanted to encourage collaboration between researchers and citizens to generate solid, unbiased scientific evidence. Sounds like a nice ambition. There've been quite a few projects that have set out to measure the impact of urban living on people's health.
00:02:32:16 - 00:02:35:16
Abigail Acton
What gaps were you seeking to fill through your project?
00:02:35:18 - 00:03:03:21
Xavier Basagaña
Well, actually, it's true that if we're restricted to citizen science projects, there have been several projects in which citizens measure air pollution with different devices. But actually, there are not many that also measured health outcome and tried to make the connection, the relationship between air pollution and health. So I think in this sense, cities have less a quite normal in the citizen science world.
00:03:04:02 - 00:03:28:14
Xavier Basagaña
And I think this is important because, for example, many times we don't perceive that air pollution is affecting us individually. And once we do this kind of studies where we start collecting and gathering data from many citizens, then some patterns emerge and we see that those living in the most polluted areas are on the days with more air pollution.
00:03:28:14 - 00:03:41:18
Xavier Basagaña
We we see worse and worse health outcomes. So to me, it was important that citizens were able to to see that even if they don't perceive that air pollution is affecting them, it might be affecting them.
00:03:41:20 - 00:03:45:24
Abigail Acton
Interesting. So it's also raising awareness amongst the population of the possible impacts as well.
00:03:46:04 - 00:03:55:05
Xavier Basagaña
Yes. And I think just because many people ask, okay, how do you do this? How how big a note that this air pollution that that is affecting health.
00:03:55:11 - 00:03:56:19
Abigail Acton
Yeah. How do you make the link?
00:03:56:19 - 00:04:22:05
Xavier Basagaña
Yes. Yes. So, for example, the citizens in Barcelona decided to study if air pollution affected their ability to concentrate. But this is affected by many other things like how you slept that day. Or maybe you have something else that was worrying you. So citizens were raising all these points and providing feedback, and then we was trying to incorporate and to control that in our study.
00:04:22:09 - 00:04:37:14
Abigail Acton
But that sounds absolutely fascinating. I love that example. That's a really interesting example of your right, because there's so many different things that could be mediating on that. So how exactly did you measure that? What what did the citizens do in order to record the correlation between the pollution and their ability to concentrate?
00:04:37:18 - 00:05:05:16
Xavier Basagaña
So we asked participants to participate during the two weeks and every day they were answering a survey in a phone. But interestingly, when we were preparing the study, citizens were concerned that actually using questionnaires is too subjective. And they felt that if we just use questionnaires, the results would not be valid or there could be bias. So they insisted a lot on that.
00:05:05:16 - 00:05:26:06
Xavier Basagaña
So and that's why one of the reasons why we included cognitive tests as well, which is a more validated tool. And they were Indian. And answering this cognitive test scores every day during two weeks. And we were comparing if on the days with more air pollution, the results were worse than on the cleaner.
00:05:26:18 - 00:05:27:07
Abigail Acton
and were they?
00:05:27:10 - 00:05:47:10
Xavier Basagaña
Yes, they were. So in the end, we just published the results of the study and we showed that on the mobility days, citizens perform 5% worse than on the more clean days. And they also reported more stress during during the high-protein days.
00:05:47:10 - 00:05:59:00
Abigail Acton
So that's very interesting. And and how many people were taking part in that particular element, because I know your project looked at other dimensions and you were active in other places as well. But this particular case study, how many how many people did you have involved?
00:05:59:01 - 00:06:19:15
Xavier Basagaña
Well, we had different phases and we had a different number of people involved in the different phases. Some collaborated in the design, some were just both in the research question. So there were a thousand citizens in both. But then in the actual study, there were 300 that provided these answers every day for two weeks.
00:06:19:16 - 00:06:36:06
Abigail Acton
Right. But I mean, I think that's really impressive. You've got a thousand people motivated to take part in this one case study. You had other case studies ongoing as well. And you had 300 people who were prepared to take part on it in a daily activity. So that leads me very nicely onto the next question, which I think is the one that comes to everybody's minds listening to this.
00:06:36:08 - 00:06:41:20
Abigail Acton
How do you get people involved at that level and how do you keep them motivated? Because those numbers are good numbers.
00:06:41:23 - 00:07:12:11
Xavier Basagaña
Well, we did this workshops with citizens where I think that we're very happy to contribute to the design of the study. Then we had a strong communication campaign as well. We had a newsletter. We have a casual language and trying to explain interesting things about the project in a very short way as well. And then I think one of the things that also work is providing participants some physical think.
00:07:12:13 - 00:07:39:15
Xavier Basagaña
So for example, we were sending them a box with our research kit, and I think just receiving a box attracts their attention. And then they had a tube to measure and to look at with instructions, a reminder that don't forget your chip today. So I think these kind of things also contribute to it, that the people get more excited about the project that.
00:07:39:20 - 00:07:53:10
Abigail Acton
Really is bringing out the inner child almost as it's like a Christmas present, you know, And you used to get a sort of science kit when you were a kid, maybe at Christmas or something. That sounds great. How did you find the people in the first place? I mean, how did you recruit? Did you just start advertising in local newspapers?
00:07:53:10 - 00:07:55:14
Abigail Acton
How did you get out there in the first place?
00:07:55:20 - 00:08:17:21
Xavier Basagaña
We did several things. We did some, for example, we started with a pop up intervention in the ten districts of the city. We were in the streets. We were actually, giving strawberry plants to people as a way. Well, we use that also to measure air pollution, but it was basically an opportunity to talk about the project and to get some, publicity.
00:08:17:21 - 00:08:29:20
Xavier Basagaña
We were in the media then we ran this online campaign also with videos and yeah, just to publicize the project and get the interests of the citizens.
00:08:29:22 - 00:08:51:08
Abigail Acton
get people to enroll. I like the idea of the strawberry plants. It's again, it's something very real. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much for telling us about that. I know your project was involved with other case studies as well, but I think it's nice to have one concrete little case study where we can see actually how it how it panned out with aiming this podcast episode at people who are curious about taking part in citizen science projects, but also at research who are interested in setting them up.
00:08:51:10 - 00:09:09:01
Abigail Acton
So if you had one takeaway for a researcher who was listening to this and thinking, That sounds like a good way to access a lot of accurate, personalized data, How would you what would you say would be the one thing that they need to take on board when they're designing this approach?
00:09:09:06 - 00:09:33:08
Xavier Basagaña
I think that the time, availability of the of the people is a very important factor. We were discussing that with citizens when we designed the study and they insisted, okay, let's design something that I just need to spend five or 10 minutes per day on this. I can afford it. And I think that many people will be also able to participate.
00:09:33:10 - 00:09:46:11
Xavier Basagaña
Many times we want citizens to do a lot of things, but I think that that the time is the issue. Even the more motivated ones, sometimes they don't have the time to contribute with all the things that they would like to.
00:09:46:13 - 00:10:05:17
Abigail Acton
Yeah, So I think expectation, realistic expectation. So it sounds like what you're saying is a quirky publicity approach. The notion of something solid in someone's hands that they have to open and unwrap and figure out the strawberry plant concept is quite a good one, too, I think. And then, as you say, keeping keeping your expectations realistic. Thank you very, very much, Sylvia.
00:10:05:17 - 00:10:26:01
Abigail Acton
That was fascinating. Okay. I'm going to turn to Finn Arne. The citizen part of the phrase citizen science was the focus of the EnviroCitizen project. So now on your project, wanted to understand the ways in which citizen science projects can be used to cultivate new ways of thinking and acting in all aspects of life and to promote environmental sustainability.
00:10:26:07 - 00:10:37:06
Abigail Acton
You were interested, I think, in seeing if people participating actively with their environment would change the way that they think about it. So how did you test that idea? Can you tell us a little bit about how the project worked?
00:10:37:08 - 00:11:12:24
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Sure, I can do that. I mean, I guess the first thing to point out is that being interested in the role of the citizen and how how people participate in citizen science projects about how that influences their way of being. It builds on the project team's background in humanities and social science research. Mostly we have some people in education as well, so we come into this with this angle, trying to understand well the cultural aspect, the community aspect of this too.
00:11:13:01 - 00:11:40:01
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And in that process, also understanding in some ways where citizen science as a practice comes from. So that's in a way where we started and it's a thing that's kind of challenging to test empirically and especially in this hard science way. So what we did is, I mean, we knew we wanted to look at this idea of citizenship and there were many cases we could have done it through.
00:11:40:03 - 00:12:06:12
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And we we went through a couple of different ideas in these initial stages of developing the project. And we ended up with birds and bird watching for several reasons. I mean, one is that this is one of the oldest large citizen science practices business where some of these practices started, even though the idea of who was a citizen who counted was very different than beginning ornithology.
00:12:06:14 - 00:12:34:17
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And then you can use this example of bird watching to try to trace the development over time. You can also I mean, this is what our partners wanted, really fascinating things is the way bird watching as a practice can be found anywhere. No birds are anywhere in Europe. They are in the cities, in the countryside. You have some of the same birds that either just exist in the same places or you have migrating birds.
00:12:34:17 - 00:12:51:24
Finn Arne Jørgensen
You go between different places in Europe. So we have in our project done with seven European partners, we spread all over Europe. So north, south, east, west. Looking at the birds and how people engage with birds around Europe.
00:12:52:01 - 00:13:00:14
Abigail Acton
Okay. And how people get engaged with birds around Europe being also a kind of barometer with how they engage with the natural world more widely, I suppose.
00:13:00:16 - 00:13:26:14
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah. I mean, so one of the things that we we've found is that being actively engaged in bird watching, it's kind of this there's this latter, right, because it's a very low threshold activity to get into and a lot of people did during COVID as well when during the lockdowns bird watching saw this huge boom, both like in person, bird watching, but also bird showing, bird watching and so on.
00:13:26:16 - 00:13:50:18
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So what we saw then is through participation, through gaining knowledge and observing birds and particularly thinking about birds over time. I mean, birds shift across the seasons, but if you engage in bird watching over longer times, you actually see that there are less of some birds and there are more of the birds. So we see that people start questioning why is this?
00:13:50:20 - 00:14:19:21
Finn Arne Jørgensen
What are the relationships and the developments in society that lead to changes in bird populations and what can we do about it? So this idea of care has actually ended up being very central in our product as one way of understanding nature values. This idea we can and should care for nature in particular very concrete ways. It's not a abstract care, but it's very specific, and I think that is powerful.
00:14:19:23 - 00:14:20:01
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah.
00:14:20:02 - 00:14:39:16
Abigail Acton
So why aren't there more thrushes in my back garden? Where have my thrushes gone? Yeah, I get that. But what I'm curious to know is, was it not possible that your cohort was self-selecting? In other words, I mean, was it not possible that the subjects were already people who are keen birders? What did you do to try and bring in people who'd never thought of birdwatching as a pastime that could interest them at all?
00:14:39:18 - 00:15:19:02
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So one of the things we did was to do a lot of interviews. So we have it again in our seven countries. Very hard teams working day have joined birdwatching tours. So, you know, we become part of these communities that we are studying also and through those met people into you to make sure that we got a very good distribution from the people who have been doing birdwatching for 50 years back to very hardcore twitchers to sit there with their phone and they get the message when there's this rare bird and they all run out to cars to go see the two people who just took it off because, this sounded interesting.
00:15:19:04 - 00:15:37:20
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So. So that's one. Of course, I see your point about this self-selecting. Of course. You want to get people to to not watch birds this way. So one of the other things we did was we've been working with schoolchildren through teachers in particular. I mean, it's it's a bit challenging to work directly with schoolchildren also for privacy reasons as well.
00:15:37:20 - 00:16:11:12
Finn Arne Jørgensen
The very strict rules about that. And I get that. So we've been working with teachers as well then to reach kids and or to see them in bird watching in these activities around watching and counting and thinking about birds. There are so many ways to engage with these larger goals in natural curricula for school. You know that the kinds of knowledge and values and skills that that we want children to develop in school and many of these children do not have particular relationship with birds.
00:16:11:14 - 00:16:37:07
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I guess another thing we saw was, I mean, it's not uncommon for children to be interested in birds, to notice birds and to think about them and talk about them. But there's something that happens when they come into the teenage years where they're less interested. Some of these people come back when they get older, but not all. So it's also one of those areas or places in life we identify where here it might actually be possible to design some interventions.
00:16:37:09 - 00:16:47:07
Finn Arne Jørgensen
How can you keep the teenagers interested in birds? I guess also, what is it about those teenagers who remain interested in birds? What is it that keeps them interested?
00:16:47:11 - 00:17:06:04
Abigail Acton
Yeah, and yes, what can you learn from that? Maybe applied to the ones who are becoming disengaged. Okay, that's super. There's a clear benefit to the participants in terms of awareness of the natural environment and getting outdoors and so on. But I think you are also interested in the benefit to nature of this kind of activity. Did you notice any change just with how people interacted with the environment?
00:17:06:04 - 00:17:07:19
Abigail Acton
Was it more respectful?
00:17:07:21 - 00:17:13:08
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah, you know, former colleagues are sort of respectful. Is this it's kind of a different.
00:17:13:10 - 00:17:14:14
Abigail Acton
Aware maybe?
00:17:14:16 - 00:17:40:23
Finn Arne Jørgensen
We're certainly and there is again, this development of care which shows I mean, we tied this to this idea of citizenship or environmental citizenship is a term that's gaining increasing traction. And we have it from one of another. EU funded costs network. This European project that developed this term, which looks at both rights and responsibilities that people have in relation to nature.
00:17:40:23 - 00:18:16:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
And we are also moving away from this idea of citizenship as something connected to 20 states, nations membership in some particular groups, that way to being citizens of the planet with this particular kind of relationship. And and one of the things we see is that developing environmental citizenship is something that is transformative. It is not just, you have you accumulate a little bit more knowledge, but in this process, something happens that some change in the way you relate to and care about the planet.
00:18:16:01 - 00:18:27:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
But we are measuring this impact on people and their values, not on the environment itself. Of course, some of these effects you won't see until nine years down the line.
00:18:27:02 - 00:18:40:15
Abigail Acton
Well, of.Course, because it's the people's behavior towards their environment that will cause the environment to benefit. And that does take time to unfold. But it is a win win for both. Does anyone have any comments at all for Finn on any observations?
00:18:40:17 - 00:19:09:19
Kris Vanherle
I have one thing on the bird watching myself, so be prepared to do it. To hear this song. I was curious, is that citizen science observation, Are they useful for doing species population estimates or is selection bias an issue I can consider Birds of prey and watch, which is so you might see some issues. I'm curious.
00:19:09:21 - 00:19:37:05
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah, I mean, and that’s one of the really interesting things that come with this, this lower threshold that it’s very easy for people to get into this first level. And part of that is done because of the development of this platform. So you have apps where you register bird observations and many of these can just be very common birds. You have the backyard bird count that you do across Europe in January where you just basically register what kind of birds are in your garden. They are super common bird stories in a way, in and of themselves, not particularly exciting or interesting as observations.
00:19:37:05 - 00:20:03:12
Finn Arne Jørgensen
But in this being such a widespread and popular activity, you can then trace actually larger parties across Europe. And then, I mean, the more into these apps, people are, you do get a lot of registration. So there's a lot of data about what kinds of birds are in there active in particular area. So there is of course a lot of knowledge good science generated through these activities as well.
00:20:03:17 - 00:20:13:02
Abigail Acton
Well, so it's public engagement. I mean, it's like a gateway activity to have something something bigger at another time. Xavier you have a question.
00:20:13:08 - 00:20:13:19
Xavier Basagaña
So.
00:20:13:21 - 00:20:39:16
Xavier Basagaña
I was wondering if you're interested, interested in really getting people that will get into bird watching like from now on, or we have some sporadic users also that they just tried that for, for some time and then they live it. But maybe still it's a benefit to know how this thing works.
00:20:39:18 - 00:21:04:23
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I think that's one of the beauty beauties of Bird as a practice in that it works at so many of these different levels. And I mean, there are kind of like this plateaus where you can gain knowledge to begin with really quickly, but then it takes a bit to get to the next level because I mean, there are some people who are incredibly dedicated.
00:21:05:00 - 00:21:29:21
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I mean, and their knowledge of birds is like almost magical in that they can see like, you know, this tail sticking out as ambitious up there and know exactly what kind of bird it is. But most people will never reach that level because it requires so much time and effort. That's not why people are doing it. Whereas for other people, of course, spending this time and effort is precisely why they're doing it, because it is it's so rewarding to them.
00:21:30:10 - 00:21:45:24
Abigail Acton
Excellent. So I think you hit on a really good sort of I'm trying to find the right word, really a good means of opening up a range of possibilities for people to engage in. You're right. I mean, everyone can do it and everyone can do it either a little or everyone can do it a lot depending on what they actually feel motivated to do.
00:21:46:04 - 00:22:10:09
Abigail Acton
Excellent. Thank you very much. That's fascinating. Kris I'm going to turn to you. WeCount wanted to give people the tools they needed to monitor traffic, to co-design solutions to tackle a variety of road transport challenges. You were particularly interested in empowering people to collect the data they needed to approach the local authorities. So we talked about engagement a little bit just now, and now I'm turning to the notion of empowerment a little as well.
00:22:10:15 - 00:22:18:16
Abigail Acton
You combined your experience as a transport policy researcher and consultant with your interest in citizen science. So what did you hope to achieve?
00:22:18:18 - 00:22:22:21
Kris Vanherle
Yeah. Excellent. Okay. Where to start?
00:22:22:23 - 00:22:24:11
Abigail Acton
That’s a.Good sign.
00:22:24:13 - 00:22:49:20
Kris Vanherle
Well, to start off. And so I'm an excellent policy specialist. Data is my food, so we need a lot of data to to do this analysis. Typically, we buy discounting accounting data. I wouldn't call it a point constant, whatever. But at the same time, I mean, this data expensive. And so traffic counting data typically is just hugely expensive.
00:22:50:01 - 00:23:17:20
Kris Vanherle
If you want implementing tubes, you're very quickly in orders of magnitude of either juegos or something for just one. So I could just very expensive and at the same time as a as a as a policy specialist, we also engage with citizens of sometimes and and we could see that people were counting manually and sometimes counting manually. And actually this information was useful for Nelson But the skeptics, it's just one not so I'm a citizen seismologist myself.
00:23:17:20 - 00:23:38:20
Kris Vanherle
So I see what what the what the potential unintended insights volunteer. So I have this evidence and I was thinking let's let's try this concept for definitions. So let's try to give a citizen a tool so they can generate the data which is actually being used. So let's give them something where they can generate data which is useful for effort, for difficulty.
00:23:38:22 - 00:23:41:22
Kris Vanherle
And then basically also spoke was this go for WeCount.
00:23:42:02 - 00:23:48:18
Abigail Acton
Okay, I get that. So let's start from the beginning. How did I'm curious again, how did you reach out and enroll people? How did you get people on board?
00:23:48:21 - 00:24:16:06
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, well, it works within an open call. Basically, we use local communication channels. We also don't be confined to difficult areas. We got five cases lived in Belgium and Barcelona, Madrid, Cardiff, Dublin. And Ljubljana So we use to the local communication channels to tap into a decent zone. Do you want to come traffic? You can join this project and you'll get a sense of who's really nice and and that in itself is enough.
00:24:16:08 - 00:24:31:20
Kris Vanherle
So we had more than enough volunteers who were willing to host the center, because that's the commitment that this time had to do at the very least, you have to install the sensor in your place, do a bit of effort, but then you are collecting and counting traffic on on your specific location.
00:24:31:22 - 00:24:48:09
Abigail Acton
So I guess again, and that's quite interesting because we're going back a bit to the Xavier’s idea of receiving a box through the post and having something solid in your hand that that makes you feel that you've got something to contribute. So that's an interesting overlap that the both of both of you have come across there. Okay. And so you had more people volunteering than you needed.
00:24:48:09 - 00:25:06:23
Abigail Acton
I mean, you had as many as you needed, I guess also, you were touching you were pressing a button a bit because a lot of people are concerned, rather like Xavier's project on pollution. People are concerned about traffic in their environment. So I guess they were quite hungry to participate. Okay. And so you sent them, you sent them equipment.
00:25:07:00 - 00:25:10:02
Abigail Acton
What equipment did you send and what did you ask them to do with it, Please.
00:25:10:07 - 00:25:32:10
Kris Vanherle
Yeah. So it's it's a low cost traffic sensor, basically. Basically, it's Raspberry Pi based system. So that's a common microcomputer in the and large volumes we tweaked it and we made a bit of software so it would count or it could be pointed towards the IT and collect that accounting data and the commitments so much. But this happens is to self install this thing.
00:25:32:10 - 00:25:53:19
Kris Vanherle
So that's where it competes or how it stands off compared to different technologies. So implementing due to high camera systems have to be solved in situ by technicians. Expensive again. But while if you go for something simple, your citizens become your technician and they will do it for free. Because they are committed, they want to not have to get in their seats.
00:25:53:19 - 00:26:08:11
Kris Vanherle
So this is the quick call it say so and Citizen makes a bit of an effort for generating or setting up the sensor because it takes a bit of time. It's a bit technical, but they will get just accounting data for this because of this as well.
00:26:08:13 - 00:26:19:00
Abigail Acton
Okay. And how did they report back or did the sensor automatically I guess the sensor automatically reported the data back to you. Did they have to do as my question ready? Did they have to do anything beyond installing the sensor? What else did they have to do?
00:26:19:01 - 00:26:46:04
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, this is where it becomes interesting because again, when I started the project was my first citizen science to set up and my only if I want to have this data, I want to have it so I can do my analysis, which is the system which is otherwise way too expensive. But then the beautiful thing comes by. So this the citizens who have the sensor and they're super engaged and so they're super curious about what this data that they're generating is meaningful them.
00:26:46:06 - 00:27:08:06
Kris Vanherle
They start to do their own analysis, they start to find insights into the accounting data, which you wouldn't even see yourself. And there's this beautiful example which has been used a million times. I was analyzing data once and I saw a big spike in traffic, on bike traffic on 11am and which makes no sense that you see in bikes in the morning, in the evening.
00:27:08:08 - 00:27:29:11
Kris Vanherle
And then when I was in the workshop and somebody explained, well, there's a group of cyclists, a club, we always think the same with the same time, so only they can explain this type of phenomenon and that's the nice thing. And so I give these tools to a citizens and they will analyze and find insights for you as an expert and not even have fun.
00:27:29:13 - 00:27:47:08
Abigail Acton
Excellent. That sounds fascinating. And I'm thinking about empowerment. I mean, you were giving them the tools they needed in order to get hard data. Did you find that they then themselves wanted to go further with that, maybe approach policymakers or maybe raise questions amongst the, you know, to local councilors or. Yeah, tell me.
00:27:47:10 - 00:28:09:03
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, for sure. And like you said, traffic is hot topic and local traffic is a hot topic, so we actually have a selection bias in our participants as you have people who are very committed and very engaged to traffic issues who often already have some kind of line of communication open with the local policy level. There's been speeding in my in my street or one way street is not being expected to destruct.
00:28:09:09 - 00:28:32:10
Kris Vanherle
One shouldn't be anyone here. So apart from the pure hardcore data, we also tried to give them some tools how to start engaging in a discussion with the local authority. And I think that's that's where we tend to make a difference with with allowance. The technology is trying to make this big, make this bridge that the data is objective and I mean, both the policymakers, the local authority and the citizen have to agree on the data.
00:28:32:10 - 00:28:52:04
Kris Vanherle
This is a global it's it's a fact. It's a fact. Exactly. And again, issues which are typically antagonistic like which can be very divisive and then start opening up a conversation around the data which is being generated by the citizen. So, yeah, you have to try to make this make this bridge, I think, between the policy level and citizen.
00:28:52:08 - 00:29:10:24
Abigail Acton
Absolutely. And I guess that that whole point about the antagonism, I mean, that really I that kind of divisive conversation I can imagine does take place all the time. But when you've actually got hard data but the facts speak for themselves, I guess you take a lot of the heat out of the conversation because it this is what it is and nobody can try and pretend it isn't.
00:29:11:01 - 00:29:33:05
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. We've actually seen both issues since. We have U.S. citizens who are very activist joining the project, have very strong opinions about an issue in their street. Data shows that it's maybe not that big of an issue and it's just across the street, let's say, is having a major issue. So it helps calm down these I would say three vocal citizens.
00:29:33:11 - 00:29:50:11
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, but vice versa as well. And so you might emerge issues which you didn't know were there and then you might create an issue. So it's not always that easy for local authorities to mean not always super eager to open up this Pandora's box because it might backlash for them as well.
00:29:50:13 - 00:29:59:00
Abigail Acton
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's absolutely fascinating. I'm really enjoying this. This is such a great conversation. Does anybody have anything that they want to ask Kris or any points or observation Xavier,Yes, please.
00:29:59:02 - 00:30:22:04
Xavier Basagaña
I think well, traffic is very related to the pollution, so this has to be a similar issues. And what is basically where you're measuring it is very important where you measure, for example, with air pollution, we have artificial, monitoring stations that they are located in some places, but there may be citizens that live in some of the places where the concentrations are much higher.
00:30:22:06 - 00:30:32:23
Xavier Basagaña
So I wonder if it happens. The same with, with traffic. And in your data you find things that were not in the official data.
00:30:33:00 - 00:30:54:23
Kris Vanherle
Yes, I would position that. Would we count as a complimentary to AI traffic counting technique. So you will not want to measure high end roads like the big ones because you will have I mean it's worth paying money. Dash to apply in technology, but it's in these small residential areas which are often forgotten, which are then also very often the victim of this test.
00:30:55:00 - 00:30:59:01
Kris Vanherle
So it's complimentary. So we actually filling a blind spot there.
00:30:59:01 - 00:31:02:20
Abigail Acton
So yeah, it's like missing pieces of the jigsaw. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:02:22 - 00:31:04:04
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, exactly.
00:31:04:06 - 00:31:12:15
Abigail Acton
And you guys have both got projects ongoing in Barcelona, so you should stay in touch. So that's the overlap scenario. Finn You had a question. What was your question?
00:31:12:18 - 00:31:33:19
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Yeah, I think this is one breadth really addresses all of us because of passive birds, traffic and pollution. I mean, there were found everywhere where people are. So I mean there are also very good cases for engagement, engagement in studying people. But of course people are can be quite difficult to relate to. We've used terms like data sense.
00:31:33:19 - 00:32:02:23
Finn Arne Jørgensen
We use terms like I mean, policymakers are also people. Stakeholders is another one and also communities of people. And then there's us who are mean. We are scientists, we researchers, we are studying them in a particular way. So so I guess this question of both of you, I mean, what has your relationship to those people you are studying have been have there been like, well, negotiations of authority and trust in that process?
00:32:03:00 - 00:32:05:14
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Did you have to work hard to make people trust you?
00:32:05:16 - 00:32:09:03
Abigail Acton
Xavier I'm going to ask you to answer that. And then Kris afterwards.
00:32:09:08 - 00:32:44:06
Xavier Basagaña
Chris Well, I must say we were working on that topic that already has a lot of people that are concerned, and we know that our participants where basically people who already care about air pollution and they were worried about that. So in that sense they were very happy to, to participate in the study and to have this connection with citizens because then they felt scientist sorry, because then they felt that someone was, was helping them or was trying to improve this particular problem.
00:32:44:08 - 00:32:56:13
Abigail Acton
And Chris, you, you were involved with with sort of communicating with different members of the community. So perhaps your question, the fan on his question is maybe a little bit more relevant for you. Did you have trust issues? How did you how did you navigate that?
00:32:56:14 - 00:33:24:13
Kris Vanherle
That's a super quick question. The way I have come to understand a new center in science ecosystem, let's say, is that you need some anchor points within the local community as your local champion that same way, your conveyance of trust. If you you should invest time to with this relationship. But if you have made clear that what you're talking is helping everybody, then they will sell your solution towards the volunteers in the end.
00:33:24:15 - 00:33:43:15
Kris Vanherle
So I think this type of course, to say, look, we as a science have a very big gulf and influence in intense communication with a few local heroes. And we went to all of and then have a whole bunch of underlying volunteers who basically put their trust in the median level. Then that works for us at least.
00:33:43:17 - 00:33:59:14
Abigail Acton
Can I add and add a question to all of you, really? Have you noticed that since the pandemic, I'm suddenly thinking of this myself. I have a wonderful Streets WhatsApp group. I mean, I know that some people, streets, WhatsApp group can be problematic. This is just lovely. I have to say. It's a really good community. Have you noticed that since the pandemic?
00:33:59:14 - 00:34:10:09
Abigail Acton
Because people started to communicate with their neighbors through WhatsApp to to to just get through the whole situation, that that has opened up a new channel for for reaching people or might it be going forward?
00:34:10:11 - 00:34:30:15
Kris Vanherle
Yeah, I'd like answer first, if I can, to go. Yes, it was right in the middle of the pandemic. So my first case study was right in the middle of the pandemic. So we had to complete your healing and engagement and we had a meeting and workshops and face to face, but we had to move something online. And it's been an issue because I think you lose people if they're not.
00:34:30:15 - 00:34:49:11
Kris Vanherle
If you don't, that's a physical anguish. But then so they're not they're not that engaged. But your reach is bigger. I mean, you can you have digital heat which so you can you can get to more people to maybe before we're in a digitally active and then had to become because of the pandemic and then you can reach people who you would otherwise not have been reaching.
00:34:49:11 - 00:34:54:15
Kris Vanherle
So it's I think it's got to two sides of the same lines.
00:34:54:20 - 00:35:13:21
Abigail Acton
I've just thought of a third as well. I mean, because people became more digitally active, perhaps they were less frightened, if I can say that in inverted commas, about the idea of trying to install a Raspberry Pi because computers became part of everyday life. And so somebody says, Could you set up this little mini computer? It's like, you know, that becomes perhaps more aware that they can sit on it.
00:35:13:23 - 00:35:34:14
Finn Arne Jørgensen
I mean, our experience is I mean, it's been very under digital in that sense because, I mean, our project started April 2020. I mean, it was the worst possible timing, but at the same time, we had designed a project well, because the first part of the project was we were going to design in a way where this practice came from the historical background.
00:35:34:17 - 00:36:02:00
Finn Arne Jørgensen
So that worked pretty fine for the first time then. But then when we started up doing like participant observation, working with communities, it also worked well because, you know, people went outside to do birdwatching. So outside walks to, to do then guided walks to the birdwatching continued throughout the pandemic. So that part was, I mean, undisturbed, mostly even got more popular because people were interested in getting out.
00:36:02:02 - 00:36:09:18
Finn Arne Jørgensen
But you did see also a big boost in this area is birding apps. People them and started using them.
00:36:09:21 - 00:36:14:19
Abigail Acton
Yeah. Looking for alternative sort of areas of stimulation because their normal areas were taken away from them, I guess.
00:36:14:21 - 00:36:27:19
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Exactly. I can't say much about WhatsApp and if it's being used we do not have a street WhatsApp, there's a neighborhood Facebook group. It is like, I found a lost bike here, have you seen my cat? And that's it's very that.
00:36:27:21 - 00:36:50:10
Abigail Acton
We I was sitting in the garden about six months ago and a macaw I'm in Brighton in the UK a macaw flew I mean touching distance above my head. I thought okay, where am I, What country am I actually in? And it was being mobbed by seagulls and they were really giving it a hard time and it was through the streets WhatsApp group that we discovered someone had lost a macaw and it was returned.
00:36:50:10 - 00:36:57:00
Abigail Acton
So, you know, birdwatching really made dynamic. Okay. Yes, please. One more question from Sabio observation, please, of you.
00:36:57:03 - 00:37:26:16
Xavier Basagaña
Also that our project was also in the middle of. Yeah, but apart from the from the electronic channels to connect with the citizens. I think one other thing that that changed at least, in Barcelona is that, people were more used to having things delivered at home. So for example, in the past you would say, okay, you can pick your research kit here in our institute and they have to come and they have to find a time to come.
00:37:26:16 - 00:37:37:18
Xavier Basagaña
But now what we designed a strategy where we deliver the kids with bike messengers. And yeah, since people were more used to it to receive many things.
00:37:37:20 - 00:37:40:06
Abigail Acton
We got a little lazier in some ways.
00:37:40:08 - 00:37:45:09
Xavier Basagaña
But that I think also may help. Yeah. And some of the new studies.
00:37:45:13 - 00:37:56:15
Abigail Acton
Absolutely. Because it's you know, it's a bit of a turnoff to think, I could have track all the way down there and get the stuff and it just arrives at the door. It's like a gift. Fantastic. okay. Listen, thank you very much. The three of you. I really, really enjoyed.
00:37:56:15 - 00:38:03:20
ALL
That has been a pleasure. Thanks for that. Thanks for having us. Thanks. Yeah, you're very welcome. Bye bye. Take care.
00:38:04:00 - 00:38:26:09
Abigail Acton
Bye. If you are interested in seeing what the EU is doing to promote citizen science, take a look at the EU dash Citizen science platform which gathers projects together. It gives anyone interested in setting up a project involving the public ideas on how to make the whole thing work. To see what other EU funded projects are doing to involve citizens in their work, visit the Cordis website.
00:38:26:10 - 00:38:46:04
Abigail Acton
This will give you an insight into the results of projects funded by the Horizon 2020 program that are working in this area. The website has articles and interviews that explore the results. Research being conducted in a very broad range of domains and subjects from stars to starfish. There's something there for you. Maybe you're involved in a project or would like to apply for funding.
00:38:46:05 - 00:39:04:11
Abigail Acton
Take a look at what others are doing in your domain. So come and check out the research that's revealing what makes our world tick. We're always happy to hear from you. Drop us a line. Editorial at CORDIS Dot Europa dot EU. Until next time.
Insights and ideas
LIDAR, high-resolution satellite images, advances in computational power – new ways of collecting data are creating vast quantities that need to be analysed and interpreted. At the same time, citizen science is gaining traction: with 2.5 million volunteers using the Zooniverse citizen science app, the movement is clearly growing. But is it just a gimmick, or is there a clear value for both researchers and participants? This episode considers the best ways to inspire volunteers and keep them motivated. Does participation empower people? And can projects gain their own momentum, carrying on after the funding ends? Listening to these three researchers, it is clear the inspiration is a two-way street: volunteers find they can actively contribute to understanding issues that matter to them, and the participants’ enthusiasm can energise researchers. If you are into the idea of counting killer whales around the Aleutian Islands from the comfort of your living room, or if you are a scientist keen to make the most of the resource a network of motivated volunteers can bring, this episode is for you. To discuss Citizen Science – engagement & empowerment are our three guests, whose work has been funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme: Xavier Basagaña is associate research professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Basagaña’s CitieS-Health project was interested in evaluating the health impacts of urban living. The project set out to encourage collaboration between researchers and citizens, to generate solid, unbiased scientific evidence. Professor of Environmental History at the University of Stavanger in Norway, Finn Arne Jørgensen is the coordinator of the EnviroCitizen project. The team wanted to understand the ways in which citizen science projects can be used to cultivate new ways of thinking and acting in all aspects of life, to promote environmental, rather than national, citizenship. Kris Vanherle is a transport policy researcher, working at Transport & Mobility Leuven, a spin-off of the University of Leuven, Belgium. Vanherle was the coordinator of WeCount which wanted to give people the tools they needed to monitor traffic, and to co-design solutions to tackle a variety of road transport challenges. If you are interested in checking out what other projects are involved in citizen science, take a look at our recent Results Pack on the subject. The CORDIScovery team wishes you a merry Christmas and we hope our podcast can keep you company as you prepare food and wrap gifts! A very successful and productive New Year to all our listeners.
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Keywords
CORDIScovery, CORDIS, CitieS-Health, EnviroCitizen, WeCount, citizen science, traffic, environmental, transport, urban, health