Short Abstract

This workshop explores how AI and citizen science can enrich each other and benefit from their convergence. Based on a mixed-methods study from Germany aswell insights from other projects we will discuss methodological and social implications using a World Café format and reflect on how AI can align with citizen science values and future visions.

Description

The theme of ECSA 2026 highlights the diversity of contexts in which citizen science takes place, focusing on the relationship between center and periphery. In this workshop, we explore this tension through the lens of artificial intelligence (AI).

We focus on how AI and citizen science can enrich each other and benefit from their convergence. We ask questions like: To what extent is AI already being used, considered, or envisioned in current citizen science projects? How is AI integrated into the practices, goals, and future imaginaries of citizen science? And what consequences might the increasing presence of AI have—methodologically, socially, and especially in terms of how citizen scientists are engaged and included?

To address these questions, we will present preliminary findings from a small mixed-methods study combining qualitative interviews with a survey of practitioners and researchers from German projects. Also, we present learnings from other projects about how AI and citizen science can benefit from one another.

The core of the workshop will be a participatory World Café format, structured around three key themes derived from our short presentation at the beginning. This format invites participants to reflect on emerging insights and collaboratively develop ideas for next steps.

Together, we aim to move beyond the data and initiate a broader conversation about how AI technologies can be aligned with the values, practices, and participatory ethos of citizen science. With the sharing of experiences, challenges and imaginaries of AI-citizen science futures, we aim to work towards an output from the workshop. This could be a co-developed piece of work, agreed during the workshop and we expect this to take the form of a collaboratively authored paper, a white paper or a potential project proposal.