Workshop WG 3: A pan-European Comparison of the development and implementation of CS Strategies / Policies
At European level, the White Paper on Citizen Science by the Socientize project rolled out a strategy for a substantial increase of citizen science and has since been followed up by a range of policy papers, recommendations and manifestos on several aspects of participatory research practice. Some countries, e.g. Germany and Spain, are also in the process of developing citizen science strategies which are partly accompanied by public funding. How is the situation across COST countries? Where do we find citizen science strategies and where not, who makes them and what measures are proposed? By mapping CS strategies and policies in various COST countries, we aim to analyse how the concept and practice of citizen science manifests in different national and sub-national contexts.
In this first meeting, we want to explore possibilities of a larger and more in-depth comparative study in line with the philosophy of this COST Action is to bring researchers, practitioners and other stakeholder together. The aim is to draft an analytical framework by collecting theoretical approaches and mapping first empirical cases.
Some pieces of the puzzle we have discussed so far:
Future visions aspect & co-creation of science and society – Strategies for citizen science are mostly part of research policy. They set out visions of how science shall look like in the future in order to address challenges and problems perceived as important today. Inscribed in these visions of future science, and the processes in which they are created, are also visions of society, of how we want to live together, what constitutes a good life, what value does nature have etc. This could be explored further using concepts like socio-technical imaginaries from Science and Technology Studies (STS) or related disciplines. This dimensions addresses primarily the research aims of the COST Action.
Comparative policy analysis – The development of new strategies for citizen science or the inclusion of the concept into other existing political programmes varies from country to country. While strategy development processes are relatively visible, an overview of the relevant political programmes, policy instruments and legal frameworks across Europe is currently missing – and a COST Action appears to be a great way for generating such a knowledge base. This dimension addresses the research and, through usefulness for decision makers, stakeholder engagement aims of the COST Action.
Learning points in practice – Translating citizen science from an abstract idea into a national (or subnational) strategy for action, bringing practitioners and supporters together and winning support is a massive effort. Through learning about the particular journey of each initiative, we hope to identify learning points for others who venture into similar directions. With this dimension we address the aim of exchange of experience between practitioners.
We are looking for people with:
- Experience in social science research, especially comparative analysis, policy analysis, STS.
- Experience in citizen science practice, especially regarding the development of national or sub-national citizen science strategies and policies – both from places where such strategies exist or are lacking.
- Experience you find important for contributing to this joint project.
Core organizing team
Brígida Riso (ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon), Claudia Göbel (ECSA, MfN), Sven Schade (JRC), Marina Manzoni (JRC), Katrin Vohland (MfN, COST, ECSA).
Call for application
If interested: please, send one page motivation letter to Brigida Riso no later than by 15th January, 2018 that shall include the following: A short description of yourself, your motivation to participate, and experience in the areas mentioned above.
As only a limited number of participants will be subject to COST full funding, two sets of criteria for participants’ selection are presented below.
General criteria for selection
Experiences mentioned above.
Additional priority criteria
- Geographical spread
- Career stage (particularly involving early career investigators).
- Gender balance.
Report
You can find the report here.