Using your smartphone to spot biodiversity on campus
Citizen science brings research out of the ivory tower and into the heart of society, enabling citizens to actively participate in and contribute to scientific processes. The EU GREEN project “BioUniversity” raises awareness of biodiversity on European campuses. This requires a great deal of data, including from Magdeburg. How does data collection via the app work, and what added value does it provide for research and environmental awareness? Dr Antonio Roselli, co-initiator of the launch of the “iNaturalist” app in Magdeburg, will give you a concise insight into this growing European participatory project.
What exactly is citizen science, and what role does it play in the EU GREEN university alliance?
Citizen science refers to a specific way of conducting science. What makes it special is the active involvement of citizens in the various phases that make up a research project. Through participatory formats, citizens not only gain insights into how science is ‘done’, but also actively contribute to the research themselves: They may ‘merely’ collect data (‘contributory level’), but depending on the project, they may also be involved in developing working hypotheses and analysing data (‘collaborative level’), or even further still in formulating the research question, processing the results and publishing them (‘co-created level’). But even ‘merely’ collecting data is no small feat: A citizen science project always involves transparent communication regarding the objectives, approaches and methods, as well as the barrier-free publication of research results. Participation goes hand in hand with learning processes that contribute to ‘scientific literacy’ – and not just in the natural sciences! After all, citizen science is also used in fields such as history and the arts. Within our European university alliance EU GREEN, citizen science projects play an important role, as they build a bridge between science and society and facilitate exchange. Seen in this light, citizen science projects could also be situated within a university’s third-mission strategy. A joint citizen science project has been launched within the alliance: “BioUniversity”.
Biodiversity on campus (Photo: Media Centre Archive)
What is the ‘BioUniversity’ citizen science project about?
In the alliance-wide “BioUniversity” project, data on biodiversity is collected on the respective campuses, which will then be made available for future research projects. With this initiative, the EU-GREEN Alliance aims to promote environmental awareness and the protection of natural resources. It is not only fascinating to see how many different plants and animals thrive amongst our university buildings, but also to see what the situation is like at the other locations in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, France, Poland, Romania and Italy. The approach corresponds to the ‘contributory level’, serving as an ‘entry-level model’ into citizen science, so to speak. The project is aimed not only at students and university staff, but also at the wider public. If, for example, you look at the campus of the Faculty of Humanities on Zschokkestraße, you will see, particularly in the afternoons, many families using the green spaces as a recreational area, many young people spending time there, and children playing. “BioUniversity” thus offers an ideal opportunity to involve these groups in a research project and, through participation and almost “incidentally”, to give them an insight into scientific processes.
Dr Antonio Roselli (Photo: Jana Dünnhaupt)
What is the “iNaturalist” app and how does it work?
As part of the project, data is conveniently collected using the “iNaturalist” app via your own smartphone. The steps are quite simple: once you’ve installed the app and created your own profile, you’re ready to go. You can use the camera to photograph plants and animals and then identify them yourself. If you’re unsure, “iNaturalist” helps with identifying plants and animals by providing suggestions. In addition, you can find further information on the plants and animals you have photographed. ‘BioUniversity’ is already set up as a project on ‘iNaturalist’, so that all data collected in the specified areas is automatically incorporated into the project. Among the “iNaturalist” users are experts who check and validate the data. Once entries are given “research quality” status, they are released for research purposes. In fact, the first theses using the project data are already being produced within the EU-GREEN context.
We will be organising various events to present the project and try out the app together, for example on 22 May at 11.30 am in Building 40, Room 412. If you’re interested, please feel free to drop by. If you’re already running or planning citizen science projects at OVGU, I’d be delighted to discuss this with you. Just send me an email.
Thank you very much for talking to us.