When citizens do scientific research

Today you offer all of our listeners the opportunity to conduct scientific research!

Yes, this is called participatory science, or citizen science. The goal is to participate in scientific research with researchers. Everyone shares their needs, knowledge, experiences, and expectations. This is a practice that has been around for a very long time, for example in astronomy, where amateur astronomers regularly make major discoveries.

So one can now become an amateur researcher in other disciplines?

Yes, for example by collecting data, as in butterfly counting programmes, which have been around for nearly 50 years in the UK and US. Every citizen can become a researcher by simply reporting their observations of butterflies anywhere in the studied area. But participatory science is not limited to data collection, and specifically, at the University of Lille, researchers from the Laboratory of Civil Engineering and Geoenvironment seek to understand how citizens can be more involved in conducting research research. This time we are in the field of ecology, and the goal is to study and understand how citizen science can be an effective research tool for dealing with environmental challenges. To do this, the researchers conduct several parallel case studies focusing on areas of tension and developing countries.

Can you give us a concrete example?

naturally ! For example, water management in Palestine. In this region, shortages are frequent, and researchers are trying to show that by involving local citizens, the situation can be improved. They have developed an online interactive platform on which residents and professionals post information. Citizens, walking along walking paths and along rivers, collect data throughout the water cycle and record it directly on the platform. The researchers, based in Lille, are using the data collected to try to improve the management of water resources and to develop new services. And it doesn’t stop there! The chain continues because local water suppliers also support this work by providing their expertise. The Palestinian Water Authority is promoting this initiative and is committed to implementing the solutions that will be proposed in the future.

Yes, it is therefore a collaboration between researchers and citizens, but also with local partners. And what are the results?

So this is a project still in its early stages but the results are promising! There are currently 41 contributing members. Then one hundred monthly contributions are expected. Thanks to these contributions, researchers will have a better understanding of the hydraulic context and will be able to propose innovative and adaptive solutions to frequent shortages of water for supply, drainage or irrigation. But beyond these results, the aim is also to encourage the participation of residents to better understand water consumption and monitor the condition of local waterways. Suddenly you have a better awareness of environmental challenges.

And if you live in our area, can you also become an amateur researcher?

Of course, there are many participatory research projects in France and in the North. And since we were talking about water resources, we can for example contribute to the census of ponds in the Hauts de France. You can also take part in the inventories of plants or animals and, in a completely different field, take part in research in quantum physics by playing a video game! In fact, there are dozens of participatory scientific programmes, for all tastes and, as usual, I have put some links for you on ramenetascience.fr.