- Convenors:
-
Diren Senger
(Alfred-Wegener Institute)
Thorsten Kluß (Zukunft - Umwelt - Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Workshop
Short Abstract
Many citizen science projects use mobile apps, sensors, or complex data analysis. While technology offers great potential, ensuring inclusive participation requires thoughtful design. This workshop offers an opportunity to share and explore challenges and potential solutions together.
Description
From mobile apps for nature observations to air quality sensors and data analysis using statistics or deep learning—technology is central to many citizen science projects. Sensors, software, and scripts enable the generation of scientific knowledge, but also raise important questions about accessibility and inclusion.
How can we ensure meaningful participation in tech-intensive projects? Are sensor setups user-friendly for those without technical experience? Can observation and metadata collection be made intuitive and accessible? How can software development be inclusive, reflecting the needs and ideas of the full community? How do we ensure that motivation, skills, and ownership are shared among participants? And crucially, how can citizens be empowered to take part in all stages of research—from formulating questions to analyzing and interpreting data?
We also encourage to explore equity-focused challenges: How can we better support the participation of marginalized communities? How can Indigenous knowledge be respected and integrated? How do we address gender imbalances in tech, and support older adults or communities with limited access to technology?
Workshop Structure:
The workshop will consist of two parts:
Small Group Discussions – Participants will share experiences, challenges, and strategies
Collaborative Ideation – We will reconvene to collect actionable ideas and approaches
Our goal is to develop a shared collection of strategies and best practices for enabling participation in tech-based citizen science.
Accepted contributions
Short Abstract
The AMUSENS project uses a formal User-Centred Design framework to build its gas sensors. Our co-design workshops with end-users revealed that trust, intuitive data visualization, and privacy are key for adoption, directly shaping our technical development for inclusive science.
Abstract
The success of technology-intensive citizen science projects hinges on their usability and acceptance by non-expert participants. To address this, the AMUSENS project has adopted a formal User-Centred Design (UCD) methodology, structured around the Double Diamond framework, to ensure our next-generation gas sensor platform is driven by end-user needs, not just technical specifications.
Through participatory co-design workshops, our findings revealed that user priorities transcend mere accuracy. Key requirements emerged, such as the need for intuitive data interpretation (preferring simple alerts over complex graphs), robust privacy controls, and building user trust through transparency. These insights have been translated into actionable design principles that now guide our technical development.
As our contribution to the workshop, we propose to share these concrete, user-derived principles as a case study to spark a broader discussion on bridging the gap between advanced R&D and community needs. Following this, we would be excited to facilitate a "challenge sharing" session, allowing participants to collectively troubleshoot their own project's inclusivity and usability hurdles. We believe our experience offers actionable insights on how structured participatory methods can create technology that is not only powerful but genuinely inclusive and trusted.
Short Abstract
Urban ReLeaf explores how sensors, apps, and mapping tools can advance citizen science in European cities. This contribution shares lessons on designing tech-enabled approaches that turn local observations into trusted, actionable evidence for urban policy and planning.
Abstract
Urban ReLeaf is an ongoing Horizon Europe project that explores how citizens, municipalities, and researchers can use technology (i.e. sensors, mobile apps, and digital mapping tools) to monitor heat stress, air quality, and greenspaces across six European cities. The pilots show both the promise and the pitfalls of tech-enabled citizen science. In Athens, municipal workers integrate wearables for measuring heat stress into their daily routines; in Riga residents trace routes with sensors and comfort logs, complemented by community air quality monitoring to shape greening plans; and in Cascais participants map thermal comfort, as well as their perception of greenspaces to guide climate adaptation planning. These cases highlight a central challenge: while technology can generate robust environmental evidence, inclusion depends on how tools are designed and governed.
Our research focuses on addressing several key challenges in tech-enabled citizen science: designing inclusive recruitment and engagement strategies; combining subjective perceptions with technical datasets in meaningful and actionable ways; strengthening citizen data literacy and analytical capacity; and building governance systems that ensure citizen contributions are trusted and acted upon by municipal authorities. At this workshop, I will share lessons from Urban ReLeaf and collectively explore ways to design and leverage technologies that make citizen science accessible, inclusive, and impactful for urban governance.
Short Abstract
Starting from Lepida's experience on IoT networks and Open Data solutions for Emilia-Romagna's Public Administration, and the CitizER Science project, my contribution to the workshop explore how sensor technology can foster citizen participation in informed data collection.
Abstract
I'm a Welfare and Digital Integrations Specialist for Lepida, one of the in-house companies of Emilia-Romagna Region, in Italy. Lepida acts across all the territories of its Members, guaranteeing the availability of networks, data centers and digital services. Lepida studies Big Data Analytics and Open Data solutions and architectures, and it has started the IoT Network project for the Public Administration, which is available both for PA and private citizens, associations and businesses in order to collect data from thousands of new sensors located in points of interest, which can then be used by the sensor’s owners and by every articulation of the Public Administration for institutional and public interest.
Lepida is also partner to the CitizER Science project of Emilia-Romagna Region, with the aim to foster the growth and spread of Citizen Science initiatives in Emilia-Romagna through the creation of a regional conceptual framework. The experiences developed through CitizER Science show that involving citizens – especially younger generations – in data collection, awareness-raising and co-design activities can foster civic engagement and trust in institutions.
My contribution to the workshop would bring expertise related to the CitizER Science project, and I would like to explore the potential of sensor technology particularly in public administration projects, in order to foster citizen participation in informed data collection activities.
Citizen Science is not only a tool for gathering information, but can be a driver of cultural and institutional change.