The UKEOF symposium ‘Inclusivity in citizen science’ was held online on 29 November 2023.
The UK has a long history of volunteer involvement in environmental monitoring, which has continued to grow in recent years. We know that the diversity of citizen science, or community science, volunteers is not reflective of the wider population, suggesting we could do more to encourage engagement from all members of society. What is the impact of this for society and for monitoring data, and how can we improve? These are themes explored in the symposium that was organised by the UKCEH Citizen Science Working Group and hosted by UKCEH and JNCC.
The recording of the symposium is now available.
Recordings
The symposium recording is in two parts:
Videos hosted by UKCEH on YouTube.
Programme
Session 1 (10:00-11.35) Talks followed by audience questions and panel discussion.
- Opportunities for increasing inclusivity in citizen science projects: Rebecca Jefferson, Human Nature
- Engaging more diverse audiences in bat conservation and monitoring: Philip Briggs & Stephanie Fernandes, Bat Conservation Trust
- The FSC BioLinks Project – Lessons from a 5-year project engaging people with species ID and biological recording: Keiron Derek Brown, Biological Recording Company
- Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, Large-scale (IDEAL) Participatory Science: Prof. Caren Cooper, North Carolina State University
Session 2 (11.45-13.00) Talks followed by audience questions and panel discussion.
- Inclusion and Community Empowerment with Citizen Science: Lessons Learned from the Global South: Dr Artemis Skarlatidou, University College London
- The power of rock pooling and community citizen science!: Dr Ben Holt, The Rock Pool Project
- Cascading impacts of lack of diversity in citizen science: Prof. Sarah West