The power of citizen science
Inaugural lecture
From monitoring pollution to tracking rainfall, citizen science comes in different shapes and sizes. But at its heart, it’s about the relationships between citizens, policymakers and researchers. That’s the central message of Professor of Citizen Science and Sustainability Uta When’s upcoming inaugural.
Wehn gets straight to the point: there’s no single definition of citizen science. ‘See it as an umbrella term. People often associate citizen science with citizens collecting data, and that’s definitely a valuable part of it, but it’s much more than that. It’s about building relationships between citizens, policymakers and researchers, promoting science and drawing attention to pressing issues.’
Environmental challenges
When’s chair was jointly established by Leiden University and the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, where she has worked for years. Her research centres on citizen science in the context of water and environmental challenges. ‘I initiate citizen science projects and study how stakeholders collaborate within them and how knowledge comes when citizens, policymakers and researchers work together in new partnerships’, she explains. ‘It could involve tracking pollution in waterways, with citizen observation networks helping identify sources. Or it could be initiatives like Drinkable Rivers that encourage citizens to see their environment differently. The underlying idea is that if we can’t drink the water in our rivers, can we really call it clean?’
Citizen-government partnerships
In her inaugural lecture, Wehn will emphasise the importance of long-term collaboration between civil society, government and academia. ‘My work focuses on community-based monitoring systems that rely on citizen-government partnerships. Researchers are involved too, but often in an advisory role. When these systems are well designed, it’s a win-win-win situation for citizens, researchers and policymakers alike.’
To make that happen, we need to move beyond the idea of citizen science as a miracle cure that can be used at will, says Wehn. ‘It has to be embedded in the process. That’s why I’m focusing on the methodology and am researching how we can support and sustain citizen science initiatives.’
Highlight problems
Her belief in citizen science as part of the solution to today's environmental crises may sound idealistic, but Wehn disagrees. ‘I see myself more as a realist. Some even call me pessimistic when I say it’s not just our water, but our air quality, soil, biodiversity, climate – everything actually – that is under pressure. We can’t afford to be naive, but I believe citizen science is a way to highlight these problems and to bring people together.’
Citizen science: a lifeline for many
Is Wehn a citizen scientist herself? She laughs. ‘In my free time, especially when I travel, I’m a birder – the most amateur twitcher you can imagine. I use the eBird app to log the birds I see. At home, I joined the ‘Delft Measures Rain’ project to track rainfall. I’ve also got a nesting box with a camera in my garden to monitor great tits for the Nestwacht initiative.
But she notes that citizen science looks very different elsewhere. ‘In studies, we see that people in the Netherlands often take part in these kinds of initiatives because they enjoy it – it’s a kind of hobby. But in Africa and the Global South, rainfall monitoring can be a matter of survival because the harvest or the health of livestock depends on it. For some, citizen science is deadly serious: their lives depend on it.’