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Short abstract:

The talk problematises how Citizen Science as a participatory research approach is conceptualized, promoted, and potentially transformed regarding its core values and driving actors in a national citizen science contest in Germany.

Long abstract:

Citizen science is an umbrella term describing public participation in knowledge production, developed in various communities of practice. Its increasing popularity and pluralisation have led to calls for either mainstreaming or further multiplying its definitions, aims and values.

In this presentation, I explore how citizen science is conceptualised within a national citizen science contest in Germany. As the first of its kind in terms of outreach, stakeholders and experts’ involvement, and awarded funds, the contest arguably functions as an important, potentially transformative research policy tool within the current German citizen science landscape.

I argue, that within the intertwined practices of the contest's research funding, stakeholder engagement and scientific community building, a specific mode of enacting citizen science is particularly promoted and supported. This mode differs significantly from the two core traditions of citizen science, which are rooted in social and political activism and academia, respectively.

In my analysis, I show how this mode has both multiplying and mainstreaming effects on the definitions, aims and values that drive citizen science hoping to potentially generate transferable knowledge for reflecting on the underlying values and understandings of ‘Wissenschaft’ at play in citizen science and other participatory research approaches.