Education & Awareness-raising for Research Performing Organisations

The TIME4CS project has suggested activities related to education and awareness include actions that raise awareness of CS amongst researchers, students, managers and other RPO staff, and members of the public (incl. communities of citizen scientists). This includes general information about CS for members of the organisation but also activities – courses, seminars, workshops, master classes, open days, and much more – that involves larger and more diverse audiences.

The aim of this workshop is to inspire participants to develop their own CS training programs for graduate students and/or researchers and other staff as well as other activities aimed at raising CS awareness inside their organisations. It is also to introduce issues relating to volunteer (community) training and management. Attention will also be given to the introduction of CS into classrooms as part of STEM teaching. Finally, this workshop aims to provide information about public engagement with CS and how to use CS as a tool for public engagement.

Themes covered

• Set up training programs for researchers and citizen scientists
• Set up training programs for students
• Set up information sessions specifically for management
• Set up informal occasions of interactions with researchers
• Find and nurture CS champions
• Develop easily accessible materials
• Organise debates or public events to promote CS

Intended audience(s)

• Researchers at all career stages
• Research-support, educational and outreach staff at research performing organisations (RPOs)
• Training providers for RPOs

Workshop description

This is a free 2-hour workshop providing participants with basic understanding of teaching and awareness-raising activities to support citizen science within RPOs. The course is designed for researchers, lecturers, research-support and outreach staff and training providers, and no prior knowledge is needed for this workshop. RPOs wishing to further embed and use citizen science as a research method in their organisations could benefit from expanding awareness-raising activities and internal training on citizen science within their RPO as well as outreach programs. This workshop will introduce you to a variety of awareness-raising activities (inreach and outreach) and outline important aspects of conducting citizen science training for RPO staff and students.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, the participant should be able to:

• Objective 1: Describe learning goals, develop activities and create meaningful learning experiences for CS training programs for students, researchers, and other RPO staff
• Objective 2: Describe organisational objectives for CS awareness-raising activities inside and outside the RPO
• Objective 3: Develop meaningful interactions with (prospective) volunteers or groups of volunteers, including communities, schools, and NGOs