Highlighting Citizen Science on Earth Day

22/04/2021
On 22 April we celebrate Earth Day as a continuation of a more than forty years of environmental movement worldwide. This day is also the occasion to stress the climate emergency while calling for bold, creative, and innovative solutions. Public engagement is key to unlock the full potential of these innovative solutions and accelerate the environmental transition. In this view, the topic of citizen science is a growing in importance as it promotes the active engagement of the public in scientific research tasks.
Several COST Actions are already investigating the potential of citizen science and others are using it within their work programmes to broaden their input. 

COST Action ‘Citizen Science to promote creativity, scientific literacy, and innovation throughout Europe (Citizen Science)’ has recently published a book on the subject following its four-year investigation into the citizen science landscape across Europe. The main objective of the Action, which commenced its work in 2016, was to build a research network to promote the untapped potential for social innovation and socio-ecological transition represented by citizen science initiatives.

Other COST Actions such as Increasing understanding of alien species through citizen science’ or Networking Lake Observatories in Europe (NETLAKE)’ are also contributing to addressing the need for overarching insights, standards, a common vocabulary, and guidelines.
Read our full article  “Citizens get the science bug” highlighting COST Actions initiatives around Citizen Science here.