NMDC Citizen Science event
Citizen Science for environment

Citizen Science has become increasingly popular in recent years. More and more institutes and organizations are applying Citizen Science in their research design and data collection. However, it is not the easiest or fastest method. Therefore, it is useful to exchange experiences between different organizations. In this event, experts from KNMI, PBL, RIVM and WUR will share their approach to Citizen Science. They will discuss with you their approach and perspectives on the topic.

Details

Program

The sessions

Session 1: Arnold van Vliet – Wageningen University & Research (13:15 - 13:45h)

Session 2: Irene Garcia Marti – Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI) (13:45 - 14:15h)

Using crowdsourced data at KNMI: a retrospective on the journey
In recent years, there has been a buzzing activity around the crowdsourced weather observations topic at KNMI. Our journey started by assessing the quality of these observations, an exercise that yielded promising results and encouraged us to continue working at demonstrating the value of crowdsourced data. In this sense, we opened two lines of work. The first line pursues the integration of crowdsourced data into the digital infrastructure of KNMI (e.g. live database) and promotes its usage via virtual research environments. The second line is progressing towards the creation of new high-resolution products and services, merging official and volunteer observations. In parallel to this work, we are also busy finding out a good way of communicating with the community to keep the engagement in the long term. In this presentation, we would like to share with the audience our experiences and learn from each other.

Session 3: Measure Together (NL: Samen Meten)  – Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM) (14:45 - 15:15h)

Measure Together is a program developed by RIVM, which supports citizen science for topics such as air quality and noise. Existing measuring projects can be found on the website and the data generated by these projects is publicly available on our data portal. Through these facilities we hope to create an infrastructure where people can measure together, build communities, exchange knowledge and put these data in a broader context. To do so, we are constantly thinking of ways to expand our citizen science facilities, for example by developing tools for data analysis. Besides supporting citizen science by building facilities, our aim is also to use citizen science data to improve our own monitoring and modeling. By using citizen science data in official processes, we hope to enhance the impact of citizen science even further.

Session 4: Claudia Basta – Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (PBL) (15:15 - 15:45h)

From science for citizens to science with citizens: ‘opening science’ from the perspective of a national environmental agency
The chief mandate of national planning agencies like the PBL is developing policy analysis studies for the public interest from a position of independence and autonomy. For this, the reliability of the data and the robustness of the analytical models and evaluative frameworks used for assessing the effects of national and regional policies on the living environment are paramount. The advent of the four pillars of ‘open science’ in the European as well as the national research policy frameworks poses clear challenges to how our studies can be designed, led, and their findings communicated. On the one hand, political independence and scientific autonomy must be preserved; on the other hand, ‘citizens science’ calls for involving citizens in the research process not only as sources of data and information, but also as actors of the process itself. In this presentation I will share the questions and dilemma’s that accompany this transition – and the preliminary vision on ‘citizens science’ of our Bureau Chief Scientist. 

 

About NMDC

The National Modeling and Data Center for the Living Environment (NMDC) combines knowledge for the living environment and the environment. The NMDC is a partnership between KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut), RIVM (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu), PBL Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, Deltares, RWS, Wageningen Environmental Research and TNO. For more information, see nmdc.eu.