Citizen Science Projects

Citizen science for urban soils

6 October 2024

The “Living Technosols” project adopts citizen science to explore the role of earthworms in the evolution and spatial variability of Technosols (man-made soils) and their ecosystem services. Citizens are essential to the soil survey and data collection process, helping to study how human management influences soil formation, carbon storage, water availability, and earthworm communities in urban environments. By engaging the public in hands-on research, the project fosters community involvement in environmental sustainability, while developing earthworm-based strategies to enhance soil ecosystem services in cities. This collaborative approach empowers citizens to co-create knowledge for more resilient urban ecosystems.

This project explores how citizen participation can enhance collaborations across different sectors, particularly in addressing complex societal challenges. By engaging citizens directly in decision-making processes and collaborative efforts, the project aims to foster more inclusive and effective solutions. With twelve cross-domain partnerships we are co-creating and sharing knowledge for sustainable patient and/or citizen engagement. During the project, we will amongst others organise knowledge sessions and webinars.

This project focuses on empowering communities by fostering social cohesion and resilience. In three municipalities in the Dutch province of Overijssel, Losser, Wierden, and Zwolle, efforts are being made to create a healthy living environment in vulnerable neighbourhoods. The municipalities are exploring ways of cross-domain working in the neighbourhood with residents and professionals. In this project, we aim to develop practical expertise on the effective elements and experienced benefits of cross-domain collaboration and citizen participation for healthy living environments in vulnerable neighbourhoods. We use participatory action research to work with all stakeholders through co-production and to reflect and learn together.

Health & Society (WUR) is teaming up with Stichting Mijn Data Onze Gezondheid to explore the potential of Citizen Science for Pandemic Preparedness. In this project, we aim to gain insight into how citizens effectively participate in knowledge development, even in times of high tension, such as a pandemic.

The Power 4 Parents program aims to improve diet quality amongst parents in the first year after delivery by using an empowerment strategy.Power 4 Parents will be designed based on a literature study and co-creation sessions involving actors like lactation experts, dietitians, and youth health care professionals. This supports actor engagement and is prerequisite for success of the strategy. This project builds on the Power 4 a Healthy Pregnancy (P4HP) program conducted at Wageningen University & Research with stakeholders like the Nutrition Centre and Association of Dietitians.

Citizens help collect data on the level of mosquito nuisance experienced and mosquitoes caught indoors. Routine surveillance is already carried out with mosquito traps, but it is unclear how representative this is. Through citizen science, the aim is to provide more insight on mosquito exposure. Read more about how citizens contribute to the mosquito radar here.

Citizen science is used for more effective response to environment-related public health crises in African partner countries. It works with communities. It is a tool to improve linkages between communities, public health research and the training of health professionals. WUR is leading the citizen science component by organising workshops and 'science shop' pilots in African partner countries. Read more about improving local health systems here.

So-called farmer promoters and smallholder banana farmers are empowered with a co-developed smartphone app (BXW app) to capture data on banana disease prevalence and access reliable information on control or prevention. The aim of the project is to use citizen science and ICT innovation to develop efficient, (cost-)effective and scalable tools for advancing the prevention and control of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) in East and Central Africa. Read more about the project that uses local knowledge to prevent and control banana disease here.

Citizens in the Netherlands can monitor the water quality of water bodies in their own environment through the 'Waterdiertjes.nl' project. Animal species and corresponding numbers from a sample taken are entered into the webapp Waterdiertjes.nl. The webapp then provides information on the quality of the water. This allows volunteers to check the quality of waters in their area. Displaying all scores on a map provides great insight and adds to the samples already taken by professionals. Read more about how citizens help monitor water quality here.

Farmers' knowledge is combined with scientific knowledge in the WATERAPPS research in Bangladesh. The app provides improved prediction of weather conditions and climate risks so that local farmers can make better decisions when growing and harvesting. Leveraging practical knowledge from local people improves the app and ultimately increases the resilience of local, vulnerable farmers. Information sharing has many benefits, the main one being the learning process for all parties involved. Read more about the collaboration and results here.

Citizens in neighbourhoods and experts contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of families in disadvantaged situations. Citizens and experts-by-experience are involved in research activities, providing support in development, implementation, and evaluation research activities. The Samen Kansrijk en Gezond programme works with the people in the neighbourhood on development, implementation and evaluation research activities. For example, they can interview other citizens and/or help interpret data. Read more about how citizen science fosters empowerment here.

Citizens (or amateur wildlife spotters) classify wild animals on the millions of photographs of the Hoge Veluwe in the project Snapshot Hoge Veluwe. To the national park, involving citizens in classification is an additional means to increase the knowledge and interest in wildlife among the public, and to encourage wildlife watching at the Veluwe. Read more about wildlife ecology through camera traps here.

The Power 4 a Healthy Pregnancy program aims to improve the diet quality of pregnant women using empowerment consultations by midwives and dieticians. The program is developed through a co-creation process with pregnant women, midwives and dieticians. The program has been implemented and evaluated using a cluster randomized controlled trial in 16 midwifery practices in the Netherlands, with 342 participating pregnant women (186 intervention, 156 control). The program has been evaluated among pregnant women, midwives and dieticians using a mixed-method process evaluation. Not only by participating in the Power 4 a Healthy Pregnancy program, but also by actively participating in the development and evaluation, pregnant women are empowered to take control of their health.

To manage drought better, human influences on drought must be better understood. The 3D drought diagnostics project combines insights from socio-hydrology and water management into a completely new approach. The project investigates nested scale levels, related to local water resources and virtual-water transfers together with actor networks of users, managers, traders, and policymakers. Read more about the project that includes human influences, and consultation with actors, to better understand drought here.

Tekenradar.nl allows people, that have been bitten by a tick, to participate in research to tick bites and Lyme disease. People can report a tick bite or an erythema migrans (red ring). With this analysis the team hope to determine what the risk is of getting ill after a tick bite. Read more about how citizens contribute to information on ticks in the Netherlands here.

People from all over the Netherlands collect observations of the timing of annually recurring phenomena in nature, such as the flowering of trees and the start of bird migration. This data from natuurkalender.nl is used to map the effects of climate change on nature and its consequences. It also looks at how best to deal with these consequences. Read more about the nature calendar here.