Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EU-Citizen.Science (The Platform for Sharing, Initiating, and Learning Citizen Science in Europe)
Reporting period: 2020-04-01 to 2021-12-31
EU-Citizen.Science was a 3-year Coordination and Support Action project, aimed to build the Platform for Sharing, Initiating, and Learning Citizen Science in Europe.
To address such an ambitious objective, the project focused on communication, coordination, and support of activities related to citizen science. The consortium was composed of 14 beneficiary partners and 9 third parties across 13 European Member States and the United Kingdom, including a variety of stakeholders, who acted as multipliers and, through their participation in the EU-Citizen.Science project, built, strengthened and linked national and/or disciplinary networks on citizen science. The project leveraged the tremendous European potential in regard to capacities, skills, and know-how gained within the European projects and the varied stakeholder communities actively involved in citizen science. Through the release of the EU-Citizen.Science platform, the project developed a mutual learning space accessible to different stakeholders, ranging from interested citizens and media over scientific institutions up to politicians and donor organizations. As of December 2021, the platform showcased 163 resources, 205 projects, 51 training resources, 25 training modules, 8 linked platforms, 102 published blog posts and 14 community forums. In addition, it gathered a citizen science community of over 1.700 registered users and 175 institutions working on citizen science projects across Europe.
With the end of the project, ECSA – the European Citizen Science Association - has taken on the responsibility to keep the platform online and maintain it for at least five years to expand it further, adapt it to the growing needs of the community and provide further potential for citizen science in science, policy and society.
To address such an ambitious objective, the project focused on communication, coordination, and support of activities related to citizen science. The consortium was composed of 14 beneficiary partners and 9 third parties across 13 European Member States and the United Kingdom, including a variety of stakeholders, who acted as multipliers and, through their participation in the EU-Citizen.Science project, built, strengthened and linked national and/or disciplinary networks on citizen science. The project leveraged the tremendous European potential in regard to capacities, skills, and know-how gained within the European projects and the varied stakeholder communities actively involved in citizen science. Through the release of the EU-Citizen.Science platform, the project developed a mutual learning space accessible to different stakeholders, ranging from interested citizens and media over scientific institutions up to politicians and donor organizations. As of December 2021, the platform showcased 163 resources, 205 projects, 51 training resources, 25 training modules, 8 linked platforms, 102 published blog posts and 14 community forums. In addition, it gathered a citizen science community of over 1.700 registered users and 175 institutions working on citizen science projects across Europe.
With the end of the project, ECSA – the European Citizen Science Association - has taken on the responsibility to keep the platform online and maintain it for at least five years to expand it further, adapt it to the growing needs of the community and provide further potential for citizen science in science, policy and society.
Work Package 1 was about coordination and management. The coordination of the project progressed as expected. All partners followed the quality assessment procedures defined, resulting in high-quality deliverables and all milestones achieved. Special attention was paid to the establishment and development of a working group on citizen science with the SwafS ‘hands-on’ citizen science projects. This working group will continue to meet and exchange under the leadership of ECSA.
Work Package 2 was in charge of Platform development, community and network building. WP2 achieved the successful launch and establishment of the EU-Citizen.Science platform as the European knowledge hub for citizen science. The platform ensures interoperability with existing platforms, as well as provides support to those countries that are still lacking a structured national repository for citizen science initiatives.
Work Package 3 was responsible for the development of a high-quality criteria framework for the assessment of citizen science resources. The framework resulted in an approach that integrated top-down and bottom-up methods that are both expert- and community-driven, therefore ensuring the establishment of a high-quality open access repository built by the community for the community.
Work Package 4 was about developing a model for awareness, empowerment and engagement in citizen science and for integrating citizen science across Europe.
One of the most important outcomes related to the achievement of this goal is represented by the recommendations for promoting citizen science among society, with a focus on policymakers, presenting a range of strategies supported by best practice examples.
Work Package 5 addressed training needs assessment, creation and delivery. One of the most significant results was the creation and release of 25 citizen science training modules for beginners and advanced citizen science practitioners, addressing specific needs and topics, e.g. research integrity, ethics and the sustainable development goals within the context of citizen science; volunteer engagement, management and care; doing citizen science as open science.
Work Package 6 was responsible for the communication, dissemination and exploitation plan of the project and was highly successful in the execution of this plan. For example, measurable results include: 9525 returning visitors to the platform, 783 subscribers to the project newsletter and 5973 followers in total on the project social media channels. These figures exceed the indicators set at the beginning of the project.
Work Package 7 was responsible for evaluation and impact assessment, elaborated an evaluation framework for the project and collected evidence regarding the advancement of the project activities and the expected impact. The results of the final assessment of the project clearly showed that the EU-Citizen.Science KPIs and targets - as set out at the beginning of the project – were fully met per each of the four categories: platform, training, resources, dissemination.
Work Package 8 was about ethical requirements. To comply with the requirements, the consortium developed and approved ethical and data protection procedures that were compiled to create four dedicated deliverables. During the reporting period, the consortium partners referred to these deliverables to act in compliance with the 'ethics requirements'.
Work Package 2 was in charge of Platform development, community and network building. WP2 achieved the successful launch and establishment of the EU-Citizen.Science platform as the European knowledge hub for citizen science. The platform ensures interoperability with existing platforms, as well as provides support to those countries that are still lacking a structured national repository for citizen science initiatives.
Work Package 3 was responsible for the development of a high-quality criteria framework for the assessment of citizen science resources. The framework resulted in an approach that integrated top-down and bottom-up methods that are both expert- and community-driven, therefore ensuring the establishment of a high-quality open access repository built by the community for the community.
Work Package 4 was about developing a model for awareness, empowerment and engagement in citizen science and for integrating citizen science across Europe.
One of the most important outcomes related to the achievement of this goal is represented by the recommendations for promoting citizen science among society, with a focus on policymakers, presenting a range of strategies supported by best practice examples.
Work Package 5 addressed training needs assessment, creation and delivery. One of the most significant results was the creation and release of 25 citizen science training modules for beginners and advanced citizen science practitioners, addressing specific needs and topics, e.g. research integrity, ethics and the sustainable development goals within the context of citizen science; volunteer engagement, management and care; doing citizen science as open science.
Work Package 6 was responsible for the communication, dissemination and exploitation plan of the project and was highly successful in the execution of this plan. For example, measurable results include: 9525 returning visitors to the platform, 783 subscribers to the project newsletter and 5973 followers in total on the project social media channels. These figures exceed the indicators set at the beginning of the project.
Work Package 7 was responsible for evaluation and impact assessment, elaborated an evaluation framework for the project and collected evidence regarding the advancement of the project activities and the expected impact. The results of the final assessment of the project clearly showed that the EU-Citizen.Science KPIs and targets - as set out at the beginning of the project – were fully met per each of the four categories: platform, training, resources, dissemination.
Work Package 8 was about ethical requirements. To comply with the requirements, the consortium developed and approved ethical and data protection procedures that were compiled to create four dedicated deliverables. During the reporting period, the consortium partners referred to these deliverables to act in compliance with the 'ethics requirements'.
The EU-Citizen.Science consortium increased its impact through participation in different workshops, conferences, fairs and online meetings and by joining forces with other SwafS and RIA projects. The consortium developed a high-quality assessment framework for citizen science resources and projects being shared on the platform by the community for the community. The application of this framework ensured that all citizen science resources uploaded on the platform are of high-quality and consistent with the 10 ECSA principles of citizen science and the characteristics of citizen science being developed as a joint effort between ECSA and the EU-Citizen.Science consortium in year one of the project.
The project established a platform that is not only a knowledge hub but also a lively place for exchange and networking for the citizen science community. As of December 2021 the platform featured 8 linked platforms, 102 published blog posts, 14 community forums. In addition, it gathered a citizen science community of over 1.700 registered users and 175 institutions working on citizen science projects across Europe.
The project achieved these successful results, through the extensive participation of the community during the course of the project. The project partners acted as multipliers in their respective disciplinary and national networks to mainstream citizen science across Europe. Furthermore, the project made significant contributions to promote and foster the efforts made by partners in terms of establishing national networks for citizen science, raising awareness among policy makers by running activities and events within the framework of the project.
The project established a platform that is not only a knowledge hub but also a lively place for exchange and networking for the citizen science community. As of December 2021 the platform featured 8 linked platforms, 102 published blog posts, 14 community forums. In addition, it gathered a citizen science community of over 1.700 registered users and 175 institutions working on citizen science projects across Europe.
The project achieved these successful results, through the extensive participation of the community during the course of the project. The project partners acted as multipliers in their respective disciplinary and national networks to mainstream citizen science across Europe. Furthermore, the project made significant contributions to promote and foster the efforts made by partners in terms of establishing national networks for citizen science, raising awareness among policy makers by running activities and events within the framework of the project.