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Citizen science is a rapidly emerging mode of research and innovation, and one which the projects funded under the Horizon 2020 Green Deal call are increasingly using to engage citizens in adapting to and tackling climate change. In this series of articles, we will be focusing on some of the key themes to emerge from the Green Deal Projects Support Office’s recent webinar on citizen science[1], such as the role of citizen science in realising the European Green Deal, the challenges presented by employing citizen science methodologies, and how we go about capturing the long-term impact and validation of results. First up, the opportunities to enhance research through a citizen science approach.

Societal engagement and citizen science have grown in importance and implementation over the last several years, with practitioners recognising their potential in achieving greater societal impact, improving the quality and effectiveness of research outputs, and increasing trust in science. 

Citizen science is now a core element of the Pact for Research and Innovation (R&I) in Europe, which lists societal responsibility as the main principle, and active citizen and societal engagement is a cross-cutting priority of the new European Research Agenda, and one of the eight pillars of the European Commission’s Open Science Policy, as described in Citizen Science: Elevating research and innovation through societal engagement.   

Described as the voluntary participation of non-professional scientists in research and innovation at different stages of the process and at different levels of engagement, citizen scientists can be involved in a range of activities, from shaping research agendas and policies to the gathering, processing, and analysing data, and assessing the outcomes of research.

Employing citizens in scientific initiatives can greatly increase the quality and quantity of data that is collected, often enabling innovative and creative approaches to gathering that data. It also ensures that the research being undertaken aligns with society’s needs, expectations, and values, and is, therefore, more likely to trigger desired behavioural change. And finally, it increases the openness, transparency, and societal understanding of the science, increasing public trust in research outputs.

With open science, including citizen science and societal engagement, as the modus operandi of the Horizon Europe programme, this opens up huge opportunities for the projects funded under the Horizon 2020 Green Deal call to expand their science engagement activities and achieve long-term impacts, as well as contributing to the delivery of the five EU Missions. Citizens and civil society organisations can get involved in project activities in three different ways:

  1. Co-design of activities such as workshops, focus groups, or other means of developing R&I agendas and policies. This often includes exploring the implications, ethics, benefits, and challenges of R&I approaches and technology development.
  2. Co-creation – involving citizens or end-users directly in the development of new knowledge, often through user-led innovation.
  3. Co-assessment – such as assisting in the monitoring, evaluation, and feedback to a project’s governance, policies, or programmes.

Three Green Deal projects - GreenSCENT, PSLifestyle, and Aurora - shared their experiences at our recent webinar of how they are using citizen science approaches to deliver their project outputs and effect behaviour change.    

The GreenSCENT project (smart citizen education for a green future) aims to educate and empower the people of Europe to change their behaviour towards the environment by fostering empathy for the planet and is co-creating the European Green Competence Framework (GreenComp) using a citizen science approach, mainly targeting young people. The project’s Youth Assemblies' pupils and students collaborate with researchers to formulate the Green Competence Framework and the pilot projects. This gives students and pupils a say on the future Green Competence Framework and curriculum, making future education more relevant, increasing students’ and pupils' awareness about the Green Deal, and therefore making them more motivated to take action.

The PSLifestyle project aims to bring people closer to sustainability and is co-designing and co-creating the PSLifestyle Tool and Living Labs to help people get better informed about the environmental impact of their daily activities, reduce their carbon footprint and engage with other like-minded citizens. The project is closing the gap between climate awareness and individual action, making a positive impact on our environment.

And finally, the Aurora project aims to transform the university communities of various EU countries into citizen science hubs, trying to show at least 7,000 citizens how they can make a difference through the choices they make to reduce the emission that they are responsible for, and setting up five demonstration sites for community solar energy projects.

All three projects are aiming to demonstrate the impact that citizen action and societal engagement can have on tackling the world’s most pressing problems, and that educating and empowering our citizens can lead to a better future for all.

Next up, we will explore some of the barriers and challenges of employing a citizen science approach to research and innovation. You can watch the recording of our citizen science webinar and download the presentations on the Green Deal Projects Support Office website.