European network for Citizen Science established

The remarkable growth of citizen science in Europe demands actions to bundle capacities for citizen science. With the funding of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Funding Scheme (COST Action CA15212), researchers from all sciences and scholars from 32 European countries will investigate and extend the impact of the scientific, educational, policy, and civic outcomes of citizen science and gauge the potential of citizen science as enabler of social innovation and socio-ecological transition. At the Kick-off event of the COST Action, held from 12.-13.12.2016 in Berlin, Susanne Hecker and Dr Anett Richter (both Department Ecosystem Services of UFZ & iDiv) contributed to the working groups “Science Policy” and “Data Quality” with their expertise about science communication and the strategic development of citizen science at the national level. The relevance of high data quality achieved through citizen science and the challenges such as uncertainties in observations, the lack of evaluation criteria as well as the barriers to inform decision makers were intensively discussed and will be further addressed in reports and scientific publications. At the event reception at the Natural History Museum Berlin, Susanne Hecker and Anett Richter presented the Living Atlas of Nature Germany. The arranged infographic opened the discussions about the mutual benefits of such biodiversity atlases and was well received. Anett Richter Link: http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/CA15212?