Citizen Science and Policy

Abstract

Citizen science has manifold relationships to policy, which is understood as sets of ideas or plans for action followed by a government, business, political party, or group of people. In this chapter, we focus on the relationship between citizen science, government policies, and the related notions of politics and polity. We discuss two core areas of interaction between citizen science and policy. Firstly, government policies can support citizen science to flourish, for example, through legitimisation or funding. Secondly, citizen science can contribute to policymaking at various stages of the policy cycle, including policy preparation, formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Since both of these perspectives are intertwined, the policy landscape related to citizen science is complex, and it is continuously evolving. This chapter disentangles some of the complexities, with a particular focus on the European landscape, its geographic diversity, and key players (stakeholders and beneficiaries). It presents a brief history and the current context and also includes recommendations for the future with respect to governance, policy impact, sustainability of citizen science initiatives, and the role of digital transformations. We showcase the pathways of leading examples but also highlight currently unanswered questions.

A question of dialogue? Reflections on how citizen science can enhance communication between science and society

“…Each constellation of actors evokes a specific mixture of motivations, interests, knowledge and time courses, and these must be brought into the research process [cf. Schade et al, 2021;Groom et al, 2019].…”

The Ecosystem Approach in Addressing Sustainable Development Goals through Citizen Science in Lithuania

“…Low level involvement actors include the advisors of international citizen science projects, teachers, Lithuanian non-formal education institutions and their employees and higher education and government institutions. The research shows that both higher education [34,35] and governmental [36,37] institutions play an integral role in promoting the involvement of citizens in research processes. However, their activity in the Lithuanian citizen science ecosystem is very limited.…”

How Networks of Citizen Observatories Can Increase the Quality and Quantity of Citizen-Science-Generated Data Used to Monitor SDG Indicators

“…SDG 17, "Partnerships for the goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development", provides a policy framework that supports public engagement in scientific research, inclusive of citizen science both as a research object of policy, and as an instrument of policy [41]. That said, inconsistency in data quality across citizen science projects and bias among scientists for certain data sources [42] render citizen science data underused in environmental policy.…”