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Short Abstract

CaSTCo is co-designing the future of river monitoring—uniting communities, scientists, and regulators to build open, trusted, and reliable water data systems. Together we’re shaping how citizen science powers cleaner, healthier rivers by 2035.

Abstract

I am technical lead on a highly collaborative UK project, the Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative (CaSTCo) and bring valuable insight and experience of co-designing transformational change in citizen science. Over the past four years, I have helped shape the national partnership dedicated to transforming how we monitor, understand, and care for our rivers. Working alongside communities, regulators, water companies, researchers, NGOs, and technology providers, our shared goal has been to build a system where everyone can contribute to, and benefit from, high-quality water data. My role has focused on technical oversight and co-design: facilitating collaboration between citizen scientists and professional stakeholders, auditing and testing citizen science monitoring approaches, and helping to translate local insights into scalable methods and standards.

Working and testing approaches in demonstrator catchments, we co-designed frameworks for data assurance, governance, and open access. We’ve created training and accreditation pathways for citizen scientists and built trust across traditionally separate sectors — from grassroots volunteers to national agencies. We've demonstrated how locally driven monitoring can inform decisions on water quality, flooding, and ecosystem health.

We worked together to develop the CaSTCo Roadmap https://castco.org/roadmap/ which sets out a shared vision for 2035: every catchment in England and Wales continuously monitored and cared for through a unified, open data system. It calls for integration across sectors, long-term investment, and a commitment to transparency, inclusion, and action. Above all, it shows that by co-designing the future of monitoring, we can move from fragmented efforts to collective stewardship of our rivers.