How can we make science more democratic, participatory, and inclusive? This question was at the core of ACTION (Participatory science toolkit against pollution), a three-year programme dedicated to transforming the way citizen science (CS) is conducted today. The project examined how CS can help tackle issues of pollution throughout Europe.
ACTION will transform the way we do citizen science (CS) today: from a mostly scientist-led process to a more participatory, inclusive, citizen-led one, which acknowledges the diversity of the CS landscape and of the challenges CS teams have to meet as their project evolves.
We partnered with 5 European CS initiatives tackling major forms of pollution, which pose substantial threats to human health and to the environment, and contributing to Sustainable Development Goals. These pilots were be the starting point for the citizen science accelerator, which was expanded through an open call. By considering the needs of multiple stakeholders throughout the life-cycle of CS, we created methodologies, tools and guidelines to truly democratize the scientific process, allowing anyone to design and realise a CS project from the early stages of ideation to validating and publishing the results.