Citizen Science – Co-created research

Citizen science involves the public, i.e. people who are not researchers, helping researchers to investigate certain questions. The most common way is by helping researchers to collect and/or review large amounts of data, on a scale that would be impossible for researchers to achieve on their own. This may involve, for example, reporting observations of plants or animals, transcribing old letters or classifying images of galaxies. Citizen science can also involve collaboratively formulating research questions, testing methods, and compiling or communicating findings.

The involvement of members of the public, patients and family members in research, public engagement and collaboration with different stakeholders in health research or health-related citizen science is often referred to as PPI, short for Patient and Public Involvement.

There is strong and growing interest in co-creation and public involvement in research. Co-creation in research, both as an approach and as a research method, is described using a wide range of terms. Research funders, for example, use concepts such as:: Public engagement, Stakeholder involvement, Participatory action research, Citizens engagement, Community engagement, Citizens involvement, Patient and public involvement (PPI), Community-based participatory research, Public participation, Place-based public engagement,  Patient and public involvement and Engagement (PPIE), End-user involvement, Citizen science, Civic engagement och Societal engagement….

This wide range of terminology reflects both the growing interest in co-creation and the diversity of research disciplines in which different co-creative approaches have emerged.

Why co-creation in research and citizen science?

There are several advantages to citizen science. Perhaps the most obvious is that citizen science helps researchers to speed up scientific progress. In addition, citizen science can be a way of engaging people who would not otherwise come into contact with research. Citizens gain better knowledge of what research entails and how it is conducted, something that over time can increase their confidence in science, build relationships and create dialogue between researchers and society.

Public & Science Sweden has been and is involved in various projects that promote citizen science:

• ARCS – citizen science for all
  – developed a Swedish web portal for citizen science.
• EU-Citizen.Science
  – developed a European platform for citizen science.
• European Citizen Science ambassadors –  a European network of 28 Citizen Science Ambassadors to support the activities in the European Citizen Science (ECS)-project
• RE-MEND – Generating new knowledge to prevent mental illness
• Successful Public Involvement in Research – PPI Workshops
• Researchers’ Night mass experiment
  –Since 2009 VA has run an annual citizen science project, as part of the ForskarFredag science festival, in which the public and school classes across Sweden are invited to participate in real research.
• YouCount – Boosted Young People’s Participation in Society through Citizen Social Science.

Further information:

• Medborgarforskning.se – the Swedish portal for citizen science
• Wikipedia entry on citizen science 
• The European Citizen Science Association’s 10 principles for citizen science