Citizen Science Policy & Assessment

Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) need to support researchers in recognizing and adopting CS. Strategies, policies, and assessments incorporating CS must be developed as actions for CS implementation.

The aim of this workshop is to embed CS in existing strategies and policies of the RPO and to envisage new ones. By the completion of the workshop, the participants will have a better understanding of strategy- and policymaking processes. The workshop will specifically address new institutional norms, regulations, policies or agreements, including reward mechanisms for CS implementation. It will provide an overview of the reward system of science, including the diversity of reward mechanisms and assessment criteria for researchers and RPOs. Based on analysis of existing reward mechanisms in their own RPO, the participants will develop a portfolio of assessment criteria relevant to CS. The final aim of this workshop is to connect CS to the wider aims of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) which draws on more established agendas and processes. Several Horizon2020 projects such as RRI Tools and Res-AGorA have already built resources and tools for incorporating RRI in policy and institutions.

Themes covered

• Develop new institutional norms, regulations, policies or agreements
• Install reward mechanisms for doing CS
• Adopt evaluation criteria for researchers’ evaluation that take into account CS
• Adopt explicit mission statements and strategies

Intended audience(s)

• Researchers at all career stages, including researchers who are already running citizen science projects
• Research-support staff and other administrative staff groups in research performing organisations (RPOs) or non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• Managers in RPOs or NGOs

Workshop description

This is a free 2-hour workshop that provides participants with basic understanding of policy and assessment strategies in support of citizen science. The participants will learn about strategic planning, strategies particularly adopted for citizen science, quality and success criteria for citizen science, and tools for connecting citizen science to the wider aims of responsible research and innovation. The workshop is designed for researchers, including citizen science project leaders and initiators, and administrative staff and their managers employed in research performing organisations. Participants are expected to have some degree of familiarity with the notion of citizen science.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

• Objective 1: Describe existing strategies and reward systems for citizen science
• Objective 2: Facilitate strategic processes within RPOs that are particularly relevant for citizen science
• Objective 3: Adopt assessment criteria for evaluation of researchers and research projects that specifically target citizen science objectives
• Objective 4: Develop strategies and/or policies specifically targeting citizen science