Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STEP CHANGE (Science Transformation in EuroPe through Citizens involvement in HeAlth, coNservation and enerGy rEsearch)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-03-01 do 2022-08-31
The world is becoming characterized by post-modern societies, where social structures are no longer capable of shaping behaviors, expectations and cultural orientations, and where individuals are subjected to new sources of influence, which are opaque and not subjected to public scrutiny. In post-modern societies, science is loosing its authority and social status, because laypersons are developing critical attitudes and alternative views of scientific facts, and because they demand more transparency and accountability, to maintain their trust in science and scientific institutions.
To counteract this detachment between society and the scientific process, citizen science (CS) has been proposed as a valuable approach to engage citizens, to make them interacting with the scientific community and to integrate them into the scientific process, with various levels of engagement. On the one hand, this is supposed to change their attitudes and boost their trust towards science. Moreover, by engaging citizens in the co-creation of science, citizen science has the potential re-design scientific questions, to make its process really inclusive for society and ultimately to improve the capacity of science to address complex problem and perform trans-epistemic changes.
The overall objective of STEP CHANGE is to explore and exploit the potential of citizen science in terms of knowledge and innovation advancement and science and society alignment, through the development and evaluation of 5 hands-on citizen science initiatives in three different areas (Energy, Health and Environment) in Europe and beyond (Africa), and- on this basis - to formulate recommendations and tools for better anchoring of citizen science in scientific institutions. Its specific objectives are: (i) to produce new knowledge and innovation in 5 fields of research where citizen’s knowledge and capacities are fundamental for advancement, (ii) to produce new knowledge on citizen science itself and its potential for a better alignment of science and society, (iii) to develop and disseminate recommendations and tools for supporting the diffusion of citizen science and its anchorage and (iv) to promote the social inclusion in the territories where citizen science initiatives will take place, by engaging multiple stakeholders on a dialogue about societal stakes of science.
To counteract this detachment between society and the scientific process, citizen science (CS) has been proposed as a valuable approach to engage citizens, to make them interacting with the scientific community and to integrate them into the scientific process, with various levels of engagement. On the one hand, this is supposed to change their attitudes and boost their trust towards science. Moreover, by engaging citizens in the co-creation of science, citizen science has the potential re-design scientific questions, to make its process really inclusive for society and ultimately to improve the capacity of science to address complex problem and perform trans-epistemic changes.
The overall objective of STEP CHANGE is to explore and exploit the potential of citizen science in terms of knowledge and innovation advancement and science and society alignment, through the development and evaluation of 5 hands-on citizen science initiatives in three different areas (Energy, Health and Environment) in Europe and beyond (Africa), and- on this basis - to formulate recommendations and tools for better anchoring of citizen science in scientific institutions. Its specific objectives are: (i) to produce new knowledge and innovation in 5 fields of research where citizen’s knowledge and capacities are fundamental for advancement, (ii) to produce new knowledge on citizen science itself and its potential for a better alignment of science and society, (iii) to develop and disseminate recommendations and tools for supporting the diffusion of citizen science and its anchorage and (iv) to promote the social inclusion in the territories where citizen science initiatives will take place, by engaging multiple stakeholders on a dialogue about societal stakes of science.
The work performed and the main results are summarized as follows.
Objective 1 – Producing - with and by citizens - new knowledge and innovation in 5 critical fields of research in which citizens' knowledge and capacities are a key for scientific advancement
Status: cross-disciplinary core teams were established in the citizen science initiatives (CSIs), in some, more than 100 citizens actively engaged. Exception is on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease due to sensitive inclusion of patient the engagement number in lower. In the first period of 18 months 5 scientific outputs have been made.
Objective 2: To produce new knowledge on Citizen Science itself, providing evidence of the role of citizen science for a better alignment of science and society
Status: the evaluation process is on-going. Local evaluation teams were established in each citizen science initiative
The first two articles published on citizen science approach have answered some important starting questions. Firstly, how to deal with recruitment of citizen scientists and secondly, what are the ethical issues and potential risks. The Step Change consortium has developed The General Evaluation Framework has been developed and tested through the organization of 5 Customization workshops, one per each initiative.
Scientific outputs that cover the specific initiative research have been published in a form of an article and a poster. An article from UP is highlighting the problem of the non-sufficient wildlife monitoring data in Slovenia and is calling citizen scientists for help. With the project activities UP has introduced SRNA (eng. deer), application for data collection with photo traps. Application has been developed in versions for both hunters and non-hunters. The app is inclusive and is being communicated through different activities. Second output on specific initiative has been made by NIHR. They have published a poster with scientifically reinforced, very public friendly information on their CSI, on theme Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The poster is in a form of collage and it includes: an introduction of the STEP CHANGE project, a description of the research experiment with citizen science approach, basic scientific findings from the field of NAFLD, some opportunities for researchers and also a call for action in a form of collaboration.
As communication and policy skills are in the center of attention, we carefully disseminate key project milestones and outputs with the scientific community and other actors within the quadruple helix model (policy, industry, and society). This has been achieved through extended dissemination efforts through the Step Change communication channels, which include but are not limited to; the Step Change social media platforms, The Step Change website, newsletters, press releases, video and written interviews, and presentations at relevant scientific conferences. As of period 1, Step Change activities have included; the organization of 17 workshops, attending 14 conferences, and publishing 84 updates on the Step Change website. From these efforts, we have been able to disseminate the Step Change project aims and key outcomes to over 72,000 people within the scientific community, over 21,000 people from civil society, and over 50,000 people within the general public.
Objective 1 – Producing - with and by citizens - new knowledge and innovation in 5 critical fields of research in which citizens' knowledge and capacities are a key for scientific advancement
Status: cross-disciplinary core teams were established in the citizen science initiatives (CSIs), in some, more than 100 citizens actively engaged. Exception is on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease due to sensitive inclusion of patient the engagement number in lower. In the first period of 18 months 5 scientific outputs have been made.
Objective 2: To produce new knowledge on Citizen Science itself, providing evidence of the role of citizen science for a better alignment of science and society
Status: the evaluation process is on-going. Local evaluation teams were established in each citizen science initiative
The first two articles published on citizen science approach have answered some important starting questions. Firstly, how to deal with recruitment of citizen scientists and secondly, what are the ethical issues and potential risks. The Step Change consortium has developed The General Evaluation Framework has been developed and tested through the organization of 5 Customization workshops, one per each initiative.
Scientific outputs that cover the specific initiative research have been published in a form of an article and a poster. An article from UP is highlighting the problem of the non-sufficient wildlife monitoring data in Slovenia and is calling citizen scientists for help. With the project activities UP has introduced SRNA (eng. deer), application for data collection with photo traps. Application has been developed in versions for both hunters and non-hunters. The app is inclusive and is being communicated through different activities. Second output on specific initiative has been made by NIHR. They have published a poster with scientifically reinforced, very public friendly information on their CSI, on theme Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The poster is in a form of collage and it includes: an introduction of the STEP CHANGE project, a description of the research experiment with citizen science approach, basic scientific findings from the field of NAFLD, some opportunities for researchers and also a call for action in a form of collaboration.
As communication and policy skills are in the center of attention, we carefully disseminate key project milestones and outputs with the scientific community and other actors within the quadruple helix model (policy, industry, and society). This has been achieved through extended dissemination efforts through the Step Change communication channels, which include but are not limited to; the Step Change social media platforms, The Step Change website, newsletters, press releases, video and written interviews, and presentations at relevant scientific conferences. As of period 1, Step Change activities have included; the organization of 17 workshops, attending 14 conferences, and publishing 84 updates on the Step Change website. From these efforts, we have been able to disseminate the Step Change project aims and key outcomes to over 72,000 people within the scientific community, over 21,000 people from civil society, and over 50,000 people within the general public.
The most significant impact so far has been on researchers. The project was an opportunity to address issues that had never been discussed within the university and on the territory, bringing out a new and important aspect of research, that of the active involvement of citizens in projects and research. We are already seeing impacts related to knowledge sharing and broader and deeper interdisciplinary collaboration, especially related to data collection.
Regarding the contribution to Sustainable Development Goals, the initiative 3 (CSI3) contributed to the regional discussion for regulation of energy communities, initiative 2 (CSI2) involved policy makers into negotiation regarding national monitoring tools for wildlife management and initiative 5 (CSI5) has taken the first step to up-scaling off–grid renewable energy. In this way Step Change is contributing to the evidence based decision making in the field of wildlife conservation and management, with its data collection, but also with an open dialogue with policy makers that aims to include the results and methodology in the decision making, ensuring the sustainability of the initiative beyond the lifespan of the project.
We expect contribution to MORRI indicators to be articulated in the 2nd period of the project, after the results of the initiatives will be achieved. We are focused on both costs and benefits of citizen science, with particular reference to the socialisation process of science. This impact will be mirrored in the 2nd period through the participatory evaluation framework. In the second period new tools and frameworks will be tested in the Final Evaluation Workshops, where the main results of the evaluation will be identified and published.
Regarding the contribution to Sustainable Development Goals, the initiative 3 (CSI3) contributed to the regional discussion for regulation of energy communities, initiative 2 (CSI2) involved policy makers into negotiation regarding national monitoring tools for wildlife management and initiative 5 (CSI5) has taken the first step to up-scaling off–grid renewable energy. In this way Step Change is contributing to the evidence based decision making in the field of wildlife conservation and management, with its data collection, but also with an open dialogue with policy makers that aims to include the results and methodology in the decision making, ensuring the sustainability of the initiative beyond the lifespan of the project.
We expect contribution to MORRI indicators to be articulated in the 2nd period of the project, after the results of the initiatives will be achieved. We are focused on both costs and benefits of citizen science, with particular reference to the socialisation process of science. This impact will be mirrored in the 2nd period through the participatory evaluation framework. In the second period new tools and frameworks will be tested in the Final Evaluation Workshops, where the main results of the evaluation will be identified and published.