Citizen science and citizen engagement

• Author: Delaney, Niamh; Tornasi, Zeno; Warin, Colombe
• Pages: 17-28

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2. CITIZEN SCIENCE AND CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT

2.1. Policy objectives

The ‘Integrating Society in Science and Innovation’ call of the initial SwafS 2014-

2015 work programme included topics on public outreach and multi-actor

engagement for scenario building. The 2016-2017 work programme saw three topics

focus specifically on the involvement of citizens (alongside other actors) in co-

producing research content.

In parallel, wider policy developments intensified efforts in this domain. In 2015,

former Commissioner Moedas identified three strategic priorities, described in Open

innovation, Open science, Open to the world (the th ree O’s strategy), which

proposed inter alia that ‘man y more actors will take part (in the research process) in

different ways and the traditional methods of organising and rewarding research will

also see many changes’21. One important dimension of open science is citizen

science, envisioned as being ‘linked with outreach activities, science education or

various forms of public engagement with science as a way to promote Responsible

Research and Innovation’. In 2016, the Council22 recognised citizen science as an

open science priority and in April 2018, the Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP)

included citizen science as one of eight Open Science ambitions.

Furthermore, partly in response to the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020, the SwafS

work programme 2018-2020 included a strategic orientat ion on ‘exploring and

supporting citizen science’, and d eveloped a portfoli o approach to work towards th is

orientation.

The SwafS work programme 2018-2020 focuses on the meanings, mechanisms and

challenges facing citizen science from local to European and global levels, learning

from on-going experiences and innovative grassroots initiatives. In addition, the aim

is to explore how citizen science can act as a catalyst to develop scientific skills and

competences, act as a tool for informal and formal science education of young

people and adults, counteract perceived anti-intellectual attitudes in society, raise

the scientific literacy of European citizens, as well as promote social inclusion and

employability.

Citizen science is blooming across scientific disciplines. It has the potential to bring a

wide variety of benefits to researchers, citizens, policy makers and society and

across the research and innovation cycle. It can make science more socially relevant,

accelerate and enable production of new scientific knowledge, help policy makers

monitor regulatory implementation and compliance, increase public awareness about

science and ownership of policy making, and increase prevalence of evidence-based

policy making23. To this end, the European Commission aimed to support and

showcase excellent examples of citizen science across scientific disciplines

(presented in section 2.3.2).

At the same time, there are difficulties setting up citizen science initiatives in terms

of choosing the optimum methodologies; quality assurance and validation of the

outcomes; managing large numbers of volunteers for many months or even years

and keeping them motivated and responding to their questions. To this end, the

21 Commissioner Moedas' speech at the conference ‘A new start for Europe: Opening up to an ERA of Innovation’

22 Council conclusions on the transition towards an Open Science system

23 SwafS Work programme 2018-2020