Under the lead of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, a Citizen Science Platform developed together with 14 other partners, in which Citizen Science is conceived throughout Europe. EU-Citizen.Science is the digital platform for everyone interested in Citizen Science. It compiles best practice examples and resources for the initiation, planning and implementation of Citizen Science projects and presents a wide range of Citizen Science projects. The vision of the platform is to promote Citizen Science and to increase participation in research, as well as to strengthen networking among stakeholders at European level.
Citizen science actively involves the public in scientific research at any stage of the research process: from the defining of research questions, to the creation and collection of scientific data and their analysis. Citizen science generates new knowledge or understanding, and thus has the potential to bring together science, policy makers, and society as a whole in an impactful way. As a core dimension of Open Science, it opens up the opportunity for all members of society to take an active role in research, innovation and the development of evidence-based policy, at local, national and EU levels.
EU-Citizen.Science is the digital platform for anyone interested in citizen science. It gathers best practice resources from the community for initiating, planning and executing citizen science projects, and showcases a wide range of citizen science projects to learn from, collaborate with, or participate in. Future releases of the platform will include training materials and community discussion forums as well.
The mission is to become the central reference point for anyone setting up or running a citizen science project - such as practitioners, researchers, educators, communities and citizens, anyone supporting the ecosystem of citizen science projects - such as policy makers and funding bodies, and anyone interested in the outcomes and impact of citizen science - such as decision makersand society as a whole.
"The newly created European Platform for Citizen Science serves to build up content and operational capacities. It provides information on projects as well as resources such as manuals on various topics in different languages and formats," says Katrin Vohland, head of science program" Museum and Society. "This will not only raise the profile of Citizen Science, but will also improve the quality of the projects in terms of both scientific results and social added value".
"The platform offers innovative possibilities for strengthening the practice, but also research in the field of Citizen Science. With its valuable materials and diverse partner organisations, it will contribute to opening up science to all people in Europe," adds Silke Voigt-Heucke, who is currently setting up a competence centre for Citizen Science at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, in which the EU-Citizen.Science project will be located.
Search, find and share: by the community, for the community
The platform offers the possibility to search for civil science projects across Europe; by title, keywords, countries or research topics. After registration, a profile of one's own civics projects can be created and contact can be established with other project initiators. In addition, there is an opportunity to work on new projects. It is not necessary to have experience in Citizen Science. The platform also gives access to newcomers and some projects can be done from the comfort of your own home. EU-Citizen.Science follows the latest news and trends in Citizen Science, which are regularly published in a blog. The first blog entry is about Citizen Science in times of Corona.