Citizen Science 4 Health

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰: 𝗦𝗶𝘅 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 The Top Citizen Science program by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has approved six new projects for 2024 and 2025 that directly engage citizens in scientific research across areas such as health, artificial intelligence, and climate change. These projects, based in Vienna and Graz, engage citizens from diverse social groups, including school-age children, care home residents, and local community members. With funding of €300,000, this round of projects represents the largest investment since the program's launch in 2015, integrating with FWF-funded basic research to ensure scientific quality and practical relevance. According to Christof Gattringer, President of the FWF, the program strengthens the necessary skills for joint research between scientists and laypersons, contributing to knowledge sharing and the refinement of scientific methods. The approved projects involve various activities, including data collection, result interpretation, and AI data analysis, aimed at benefiting both participants and scientific initiatives. In health research, collaboration across disciplines and with community members is essential to achieve meaningful results for those most invested in public well-being—the citizens themselves. The approved projects address critical topics such as air quality, nutrition and sustainable diets, and the impacts of climate change in specific regions. About Top Citizen Science: The program funds research activities with citizen participation to generate relevant additional findings, ensuring scientific quality through foundational projects and international peer reviews. Visit the website for more details on the approved research projects: https://lnkd.in/dZBPpP7v #TopCitizenScience #Research #CitizenEngagement #CS4H #Health

Autumn is the perfect time to watch webinars on citizen science 🍂🍄 🎙 22 October 8.30-9.00 CET: super short webinar on citizen science for health (in Dutch) https://lnkd.in/eKgTiMez 🎙 22 October 17.30-19.00 CET: webinar on effective communication in citizen science projects (in English) https://lnkd.in/ePZs_5Zk 🎙 18-20 November 13.00-17.00 CET: online masterclasses on citizen science (in Spanish and English) https://lnkd.in/eMQP-m-Q 🎙 19 November 14.30-16.00 CET: general webinar on citizen science as part of the webinar series 'participatory research' (in English) https://lnkd.in/ey9uMeJ8 Any other interesting webinars coming up in the coming weeks that we have missed in this overview? Let us know in the comments 👇

VERY VERY GOOD READ! "Get inspired by this powerful stories" say Stefanie Schuerz, Teresa Schaefer, and Barbara Kieslinger, authors of the fresh published book "The impact of citizen science: 12 stories from across Europe" Centre for Social Innovation Read it online: https://lnkd.in/d8ynq8kj Science For Change Fundación Ibercivis Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation Museum für Naturkunde Berlin Public Libraries 2030 Images description: Cover and sample of internal pages of the book "The impact of citizen science: 12 stories from across Europe"

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲? The lack of practical examples of including citizens' perspectives in health research often makes it difficult for postgraduate students to incorporate these activities. Practical cases help illustrate and inspire creative ways to make this integration possible, reducing barriers such as lack of time, funding, and knowledge on how to proceed. The study by Pearson et al. (2024) not only demonstrates an approach to integrating the public and patients throughout the research cycle during the doctoral phase but also provides an example of a project in the field of pediatrics. Beyond the example, the study shows the impact and evaluation of public and patient involvement in all phases of the cycle. It also offers recommendations on how to include parents and caregivers in the research process, contributing valuable examples of research projects that involve citizens throughout the entire research cycle. Link to the the study: https://lnkd.in/gF2vtRZN #doctoralresearch #researchcycle #PPI #CS4H

💬 "We cannot address today’s and tomorrow’s major societal challenges with closed science" Concerning news from the Netherlands this week about budget cuts on 'open science' research funding, which includes citizen science 👇 The new Dutch government has presented their budget plans for the coming year. It already became clear several months ago that there would be large budget cuts made in research funding. Yesterday it was announced that 'open science' faces a disproportionately larger reduction compared to other budget areas. The budget of Open Science NL is cut by half. "This is extremely disappointing," says Hans de Jonge, director of Open Science NL. Since its inception, Open Science NL has supported several key initiatives, including investments in training and capacity building for data stewards, enhancing citizen science efforts by funding the Citizen Science NL network, and a large call for applications to fund Open Science Infrastructure. Hans de Jonge: "Only recently, the UNESCO Commission recognised our programme as one of the most progressive in the world. Our funding is crucial for realising all those plans institutions and researchers have in the Netherlands. If this goes ahead, we will have to make tough choices. We cannot address today’s and tomorrow’s major societal challenges with closed science. Yet that is precisely what this proposal suggests."

An interesting publication about citizen involvement in technology development for health, care or well-being by Catharina Margaretha van Leersum, Christina Jaschinski, PhD, Marloes Bults & Johan van der zwart A total of 83 articles were included in this scoping review, showing the growing interest in citizen science for health. 🔍 Key Highlights: ➡ The level of citizen involvement differed across research phases: most citizens were involved in the data collection, and less in the preparation or evaluation of the study. ➡ Different terminologies were used to describe the methodology, such as: co-design, patient and public engagement, participatory design etc. The term ''citizen science'' was only used in two included articles. ➡ A citizen science study asks for different research approaches and skills from researchers. According to this review, some important lessons are: invest in a structural and longitudinalpartnership with the collaborators, an open attitude, flexibility and context sensitivity from researchers. Traditional power dynamics need to change and researchers have to step away from their own expectations and preconceptions. Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/e-hPuSsS

Our working group did some research into what people's perceptions of the unique characteristics of "#CitizenScience for Health" and its challenges/enabling factors are. Coming out of a workshop at the 2021 ECSA - European Citizen Science Association conference, we started a survey on this topic, reaching over 250 people across Europe and beyond. Today the results were published in the journal "Citizen Science: Theory and Practice"! Respondents highlighted ethics, the complexity of the health domain, and the overlap in roles (citizen researchers also being the subject of research) as the main particularities. Furthermore, a better “balanced return on investment” and “ethics” were highlighted as the main factors that influence the development of the field. Read the full text (open access) here: https://lnkd.in/eZpcNFGr

Read about this new and highly relevant publication about citizen science for health ⬇ 'A Model for Engaging Citizen Scientists: A Community-Partnered Research Collaboration to Address Inequities for Black Birthing People' by Erricka Hager, Dani Lavage, Jada Shirriel, MS, CLC, Janet Catov & Liz Miller, on behalf of The Pittsburgh Study Pregnancy Collaborative & Tamar Krishnamurti. Persistent disparities characterize maternal and child health outcomes. These disparities, mediated by poverty, racism, and place-based social and structural determinants of health, are the biggest threats to Black maternal health. Recently, community-engaged efforts to improve Black maternal health disparities have moved towards cross-sector approaches that center the lived experiences of Black birthing people. Despite these comprehensive approaches, community members rarely participate throughout the research lifecycle. Citizen science-led projects like those described in this paper are one way to acknowledge and commit to bidirectional community-partnered research and action. Ten community members and five university-based scientists participated during all phases of developing a citizen-scientist collaboration over an initial two-and-a-half-year period. Phases include forming the Pregnancy Collaborative and group research ethics training; co-creating a research agenda grounded in shared principles; and community-partnered data collection, analysis, and dissemination. These phases produced three key co-designed products: 1⃣ A mission and vision statement of the Pregnancy Collaborative 2⃣ A Collaborative-endorsed research agenda 3⃣ A citizen-scientist-executed research survey. Lessons learned from the formation of the Pregnancy Collaborative highlight the importance of equitable power distribution through bidirectional knowledge sharing and by centering intellectual effort, lived experience, and tools and resources of those affected by health inequities. Using a citizen science approach to co-designing and executing research helps us move maternal health inequity work from “research on” to “research with.” Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/e-gJQ_9M 

Want to set up a #CitizenScience project? Whether you are looking to include citizen science in your research or set up a project involving citizen scientists – there are many resources out there to help you get started! #ECSAFAQs https://lnkd.in/etpvfqx2

Exploring AI in Citizen Science The integration of AI in citizen science is transforming data analysis and discovery. By using machine learning, citizen scientists are identifying new patterns in environmental data, making research more accurate and accessible. This innovation empowers everyone to contribute to global challenges, from pollution tracking to wildlife monitoring. Learn more about the impact of AI on Citizen Science: https://lnkd.in/d_qCQMtX Explore more on eu-citizen.science and be part of the future of science! #CitizenScience #AI #ECSA #Innovation #PublicEngagement