Citizen Science Connected
About the project
‘Citizen Science Connected’ is a project by Citizen Science Zurich in cooperation with the University of Geneva. The immediate goal of the project is to establish a national network of Citizen Science Points of Contact (CS PoC) at universities and universities of applied sciences. At the end of the project, these PoCs should be able to promote Citizen Science research in the field of sustainability and be visible and approachable locally for people from research and civil society who are interested in Citizen Science.
Project aims and activities
The activities within the framework of the project will focus on two parallel objectives:
- co-creating a roadmap for a future national CS PoC network, and
- co-developing a Swiss-wide Citizen Science project on sustainability.
To achieve objective 1, we will analyse the current Citizen Science landscape at Swiss higher education institutions, identify potential partners and approach them as co-creators and future CS PoCs. Together with the potential PoCs, we will co-design a concept for the future network, addressing the need for training and further education as well as knowledge repositories and taking into account geographical and institutional gaps. In addition, funding requirements and opportunities for the sustainability of the network's sustainability will also be explored.
To achieve objective 2, we will organise two hackathons to provide the CS PoCs with opportunities to learn and experiment with Citizen Science and sustainable (open) innovation. The first, a one-day "ideathon" will explore a potential Citizen Science grand challenge on sustainability. The second, a weekend hackathon, will focus on selecting one grand challenge and developing tools and platforms to support it. To maximise social participation and relevance, stakeholders and community members will also be involved.
Intended outcomes
All activities are intended to promote networking and capacity building of the CS PoCs and provide them with hands-on experience in the development of citizen science projects.
In the long term, the aim is to create a network that supports cooperation between researchers, local communities and policymakers and promotes citizen science for sustainability.