Pathways to balance and partnership: advancing equity, inclusion, and local relevance in citizen science

Many of society’s most pressing challenges have locally-specific manifestations that can not be clearly defined, much less solved, without including local knowledge and experiences. Equally importantly, effective, equitable... [ view full abstract ]

Many of society’s most pressing challenges have locally-specific manifestations that can not be clearly defined, much less solved, without including local knowledge and experiences. Equally importantly, effective, equitable responses to our global challenges require broad and inclusive social engagement. For these reasons, we need to strengthen the more participatory forms of the citizen science portfolio, where the public has an equal or central role in all aspects from identifying questions to interpreting and acting on findings. This symposium will investigate this kind of public participation in two ways. First, what are the theoretical issues hindering more balanced partnerships between the public and professional scientists? Second, what are practical approaches to more balanced partnerships, how do they work, and why or why not and?

This symposium will use presentations, discussion and an interactive exercise to explore obstacles to, and effective methods for, engaging the public as equal partners in citizen science projects. We will contribute directly to the theme of broadening engagement in the field by focusing on greater participation by historically underserved communities, and exploring methods to support substantive engagement by more diverse, people, which has the potential to greatly benefit individuals, communities and society, and as such addresses several other conference themes.