Citizen Science Training School Barcelona

Citizen Science Training School Barcelona: Improving urban environmental health by aligning civic participation and policymaking

Organized by the COST Action - CA15212 Citizen Science to promote creativity, scientific literacy and innovation throughout Europe

Preliminary Program:

Dates: 20 - 26 Nov 2017
Location:  Passatge Trullàs, Districte de Sant Martí Barcelona, 08005 Barcelona

(klick for view on google maps)
Deadline for application: closed

Context

The Environmental Health Clinic (EHC), by engineer and artist Natalie Jeremijenko develops and prescribes systems that improve local human and environmental health. Environment belong to all of us. This property invites us to reimagine our relationship with natural systems; to redesign and improve human and environmental health.
As part of the exhibition After the end of the world at CCCB, physicist and curator Josep Perelló invited Natalie Jeremijenko to design an EHC for Barcelona. The Clinic aims to improve environmental health in a participatory manner and by creating synergetic relations among policymakers, citizens and a cultural center by means of citizen science strategies. The Clinic will be divided in two spaces: Beta Station at the CCCB and City Station (co-produced by the Innovation Center at ICUB-City Council and CCCB), in a public lot and adjacent public spaces in the Poblenou area of the Sant Marti district. From these two locations the EHC will implement and disseminate six prescriptions designed by the artist to improve environmental health with a scientific protocol attached:

• Farmacy | OOZ | Water | Waste | Energy | CIA (Creative Independent Agency)

The project brings a unique opportunity to:

1. Codevelop concrete actions that can have a real impact in the city of Barcelona using citizen science
2. Be in close contact with a list of agencies and entities within the city council of the municipality and increase link between citizen science strategies and policymakers. Representatives of the municipality will be actively engaged in the school
3. Codesign participatory strategies in combination including artistic practices and a cultural centre fully engaged in improving the environmental health of the city

Call for applications

We are inviting applications from young researchers, who are at an early stage of their careers, either doing their PhD or having their MSc or MA just completed, to contribute in a substantial manner to the planned activities together with the Environmental Health Clinic. Applicants must be based in COST Member and Cooperating States or from Near-Neighboring Countries, whose participation has been approved by the Action Management Committee of this Action.  At present, only applicants from Albania are eligible to apply, among the Near-Neighboring Countries. About 10-15 participants will be selected to participate to the training school with financial support from the Action.

Candidates are requested to:

• Fill out the application form
• Prepare and upload a 300-word motivation letter explaining their interest
• Prepare and upload a short CV - max 2 pages
• Fluent English is required and gender and cultural diversity will guarantee a wide variety of inputs and perspectives

CV and motivation letter can be uploaded in the application form!

Deadline for submissions

September 18, 2017 | Candidates accepted will be covering a wide range of disciplines.
The Application Registration is closed.

School format

The School is free of charge and accommodation and travel expenses will be covered. The school will be grounded on the basis of a mutual learning process where candidates will also teach.
Mornings will have a strong hands-on component with the building of concrete participatory strategies that can enable a set of evidence-based policies. This will happen in a concrete neighborhood where a very ambitious urban plan to remove cars from city is taking place  (klick to see Superblocks plan reported).
Afternoons will provide more reflection and some theoretical background with the presence of several experts coming from the municipality. We will invite several actors including some local residents to provide all perspectives in the actions being developed.
Last day (Saturday) will have public presentation of the results of the school.  
 
We will focus on:

1. Citizen Science in connection with civic movements
2. Data and observations made by residents to collectively gather evidences
3. Codesing collective actions and build measures and indicators to evaluate their impact
4. Strategies to connect public participation and large scale urban action within the context of environmental health

The school plans to have a publication as an outcome to be submitted to a journal during the months after the end of the school.

For more information please contact

Amanda Masha Caminals | amasha [at] cccb [dot] org
(+34) 93 306 41 00 (1236)
(+34) 608 299 857

Coordinator | CITY STATION | ICUB - CCCB

Download Preliminary Program

CitizenScience Training School in Barcelona.pdf