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Citizen science is public participation in scientific research, and anyone can participate using their own resources and tools. Let's say a researcher needs to know the number of plants of a certain species that exist throughout the country over the course of a year.
This is a difficult task for one person to do, but if that researcher puts out a call for public input, it could be a huge help to their work. This is just one of many examples of scientific data that citizens can provide to researchers to help them do their work.
Today, more than ever, science has become part of our lives. The pandemic has lifted the curtain and given us a glimpse into how science is done, although many questions still remain. What do scientists do? How do they obtain the data they work with? Do they go into the field every day? How do they analyze the data?
In this report, we will learn about the history of citizen science (in Portugal and worldwide), some of the Portuguese citizen science projects, as well as the testimonies of the coordinators and citizens who participate or have participated in them. The problems of this scientific practice will be presented, as well as possible solutions found by government entities and public institutions, and the informal joint movement called the Portuguese Citizen Science Network will also be presented.
In 1979, an article published in the North American magazine New Scientist, refers to the term citizen scientist as someone who participated in science.
In 1989, another article appeared, this time in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) magazine, about a project by the National Audubon Society, a society whose main objective is the protection of birds.
A project related to acid rain was being developed and asked citizens to collect rain samples to send for analysis, says researcher Cristina Luís, from the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon, who is studying the history of citizen science in Portugal.
– Cristina Luis, Researcher
This term became known in 1995, when the English sociologist Alan Irwin wrote a book entirely dedicated to the subject. This time, the first definitions of citizen science, applied to a context of citizens participating in the scientific process, began to have a more sociological perspective, in which citizens could play a more interventive role, of democratic participation.
The best-known cases of citizen science, adds Cristina Luís, are quite old and come from the United States of America: “In 1890, the American Meteorological Service asked for meteorological stations to be installed in private backyards, which was widely accepted by the population. There were meteorological information collection points spread throughout the country, providing information to the central service. There is also the case of the Christmas Bird Count, in which citizens are asked to count birds. This is a systematic collection that has existed since 1900.”
In Portugal, we have the emblematic case of Frederico Oom: at the beginning of the 20th century there was an eclipse and Oom, a Portuguese astronomer, “made a request through the newspapers for people to send him information about how the eclipse had gone… And people sent it.” The researcher explains that, although citizen science as a concept is recent, its essence has existed for a long time.
– Cristina Luis, Researcher
Participatory practices usually emerged in association with the observation of nature. When a study was being carried out, people were asked to send information. This happened in Portugal, for example, with José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage in the 19th century, who asked for specimens to be sent to him for collections, reveals Cristina Luís.
As the professionalization of science did not exist until the end of the 19th century and in some countries, the beginning of the 20th century, amateurism played a preponderant role, as the researcher mentions: “People who are not scientists and who do science in a so-called amateur way produce absolutely impressive scientific information.”
Bringing science closer to society is a central issue in citizen science: it is one of its reasons for being, but it is not its ultimate goal. There are some differences between environmental education initiatives and citizen science projects or initiatives, and although environmental education is extremely important, the ultimate goal of citizen science is, in addition to increasing scientific literacy, the production of scientific knowledge. Although the criteria for what constitutes citizen science are still under debate in entities such as the European Citizen Science Association, it is important to remember that the objectives that guide these two activities are different.
Click on the images to find out more about each project.
O BioDiversity4All, as the name suggests, is a platform that brings together projects related to biodiversity. Scientists, citizens and various entities can create projects and, with a simple registration, can start photographing the species they find and help these projects.
Patrícia Tiago, project coordinator, says that BioDiversity4All, since its creation in 2009, has always had the objective that “researchers use the platform for their data and information, that is, that each person who goes there to look for information or uses the platform, does so because there are advantages to it”.
And what are these advantages? According to the researcher from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, the projects that the platform brings together benefit from its already established infrastructure, which can allow them to achieve their objectives more quickly, among other advantages.
– Patricia Tiago
Many of the citizen science projects related to biodiversity in Portugal are registered on the BioDiversity4All platform, and the researcher recalls that, when she began the project in 2009, most of the university professors to whom she spoke about the idea could not imagine that data from citizens could have scientific purposes, always assuming that it was for dissemination purposes rather than for the scientific production of the platform. She recalls that it took more than ten years for this idea to begin to be recognized by peers, as it is today, where the view of colleagues is completely different from what it was.
Today, with some dedication to social media, where they publicize the projects that are on the platform, scientists and citizens understand the benefits of belonging to this community, but they also see an ever-increasing potential in the use of data from citizen science.
Projects created on BioDiversity4All can have other purposes besides scientific research. Maria Emília Martins is a secondary school teacher and uses the platform as an auxiliary method for her Biology classes. Whether it is for students to follow the evolution of species or to find cyanobacteria in a park, the teacher believes that the platform has educational potential and allows students to gain insight into the scientific process while learning the subject.
– Maria Emilia Martins
This platform has already been the site of the discovery of a species new to science. Francisco Barros, a nature watcher and avid user of BioDiversity4All, discovered a new species of cricket, the saddleback cricket, whose scientific name was registered with the name of its discoverer: Neocallicrania barrosi.
The discovery was announced on the platform and in social media groups simultaneously, so that several scientists had access to the information and were able to travel to the site, confirming that the species had not yet been registered.
New locations for species are also found. Patrícia Tiago says that there are “records of a plant that had already been found in three locations in Portugal and now a fourth cluster has been found in the Paiva area, in Arouca. They created the Arouca GeoPark project on the platform, a teacher was recording and found this plant. It is a new location for this plant, which is also a very endangered plant. These things are very relevant for science, and for this platform… There are many eyes, looking at biodiversity at the same time”.
To participate in the platform's projects, simply do the download of the application, register in the application or in the website and start recording the biodiversity around you.
The project Memory for All is a collaborative project, from the social sciences and humanities, dedicated to collecting memories that we all have and would all like to keep.
This research and citizen science project promotes the study, organization and dissemination of Portugal's historical, cultural and technological heritage. It is developed in cooperation with archives, local authorities, local associations and other institutions. The content collected, such as photographs, audio and video testimonies, with the participation and involvement of citizens and institutions, is made available online and in open access.
Fernanda Rollo, project coordinator, describes that Memória Para Todos is a project that has existed since 2009 and today converges on a platform in which the Open Science policy and open access are one of the most relevant points. Oral history is collected, along with methodologies such as the history of the object, since citizens are invited to share their material testimonies such as photographs or postcards.
Projects such as Portugal 1914 or Memories of the Revolution were the subject of major nationwide publicity campaigns with the aim of obtaining large-scale participation. They were successful and managed to capture unique testimonies and memories that might otherwise have been lost. In addition to being a “repository” of memories, Memória Para Todos aims to serve the scientific community:
– Fernanda Rollo
The Memória Para Todos platform now houses projects in different thematic areas, functioning as an infrastructure for collecting and patrimonializing testimonies and material objects, appealing to the population to participate with their memories. In this sense, all researchers and interested citizens can participate, simply by going to website of the platform and understand which projects you want to collaborate on.
Located behind a pine forest, flanked on one side by silos that are the largest source of cereal products in the country and on the other by a NATO post, the front of the Bairro do 2.º Torrão, in Trafaria, is nothing but water. It is private land, where immigrants and descendants of former Portuguese colonies have found a space to build their homes. Eviction has been imminent for a long time, although these plans are not known to the residents of the neighborhood.
This project was the result of an initiative by João Cão Duarte, a researcher at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, together with other scientists, and Diana Pereira, a facilitator in this area, with the aim of challenging a group of young people to work in a dynamic that would allow them to find problems. In 2014, when this idea began, I knew that any problem encountered, as long as it had a scientific dimension, would be used as the beginning of a citizen science investigation.
After a few months of talking to these young people, the scientific question “Will the neighborhood be swallowed by the sea?” emerged, emerging from a concern among citizens, since there had been a storm that caused some damage to the neighborhood that year. After this dynamic, oceanographers were contacted, who began to work on this question with a view to gaining new knowledge about coastal overtopping. However, João mentions that despite being a project where the co-creation component is present, it can be difficult to establish dialogues between these two parties. The role of the mediator is, therefore, of extreme importance in citizen science projects.
– John Dog Duarte
Renata Camargo, a member of the New Science Decision Makers team, adds that the methodology of scientific work follows specific rules and schedules, while fishermen know the wind and the sea. This may not mean that scientific rules are followed exactly, which can cause some initial shock, which must be mitigated. That is their role.
João and Renata are currently facilitators and mediators, not only for the residents of the 2.º Torrão neighborhood, but also for scientists and institutions. In this sense, they consider it quite difficult to get the institutions involved in developing a plan, even though it shows the potential harm caused by coastal flooding for this population.
Paulo Faísca, president of the Residents' Association of the 2nd Torrão Neighborhood, followed the entire process of placing probes on the seafront and is involved with the New Decision Makers Science project in an attempt to make entities more aware of what may happen in the Neighborhood.
– Paulo Spark
The proposal of the Residents' Association, along with the many innovations that have been implemented in 2º Torrão that promote the quality of life of the population, is to create an alarm and subsequent simulations, so that the residents of the neighborhood know how to recognize the sound and know what to do in case of danger. The “tsunami-like waves”, as Paulo calls them, already caused damage in this area in 2018 and, although he hopes that it will not be necessary, Paulo would like to be prepared to ensure everyone's safety.
You can find more information at Facebook from the project.
As the name suggests, this project is dedicated to recording sightings of invasive plants in Portugal. And what are invasive plants? They are species introduced by humans, many of them intentionally, for various purposes such as forestry or ornamental use. In the case of acacias, an invasive species was brought to Portugal to establish itself on dunes. These species, after being introduced, escaped human control and began to reproduce on their own, dominating landscapes that once belonged to native species.
Elizabete and Hélia Marchante, the coordinators of the Invasoras.pt project, point out that most of the invasive species in our territory are Australian, South African and Mediterranean, that is, “species that are adapted to fire”. Having negative impacts is not an essential condition for a species to be considered invasive; what makes it become invasive is the ease with which it dominates the space of other species. Among the “worst” are acacias, Fallopia and Cortaderia (better known as pampas grass), all of which were intentionally introduced.
What impacts can they have? From allergenic impacts, in the case of acacias and Cortaderia, to economic impacts, as they break down sidewalks, walls, pavements and roads, like Fallopia. They spread through fragments that propagate easily, or through seeds.
– Helia Marchante
The two researchers warn that there are no bad species, all species are good in their places of origin, because “they are in balance with all the others”.
They add that many of our native species are also invasive, and have natural enemies that control them (as is the case with broom and rockrose).
Citizens can participate in the Invasoras.pt project by registering on website and do the download of the application, for Android and iOS, to start recording each invasive species you find. In website you will find a lot of information about the species and how to identify each one. After registering a sighting (put the photo online, as well as the location and species), this sighting is validated by the project team. If the species does not match, you will be sent a notification to confirm, telling you to take a closer look at a particular aspect.
Within the website, there are several challenges in which participants can take part, such as monitoring the life cycle of a plant or communicating about invasive plants, a challenge in which, according to the researchers, some very fun dynamics have emerged.
Within the various research projects taking place in Portugal, some researchers are beginning to consider citizen science as a way of obtaining data and interacting with society during this process.
This is the case of the i9Kiwi and Socientize projects, which are presented below.
i9Kiwi took place between 2018 and 2021 at the FLOWer Lab of the Centre for Functional Ecology at the University of Coimbra. Its aim was to innovate kiwifruit production in Portugal by studying the role of insects in kiwifruit orchards, particularly in pollination. The citizen science component of this research project was quite important: it required data that scientists were unable to collect and for which they had the help of 22 farmers, owners of kiwifruit orchards, from Valença to Pombal.
– John Loureiro
These farmers, who are involved in kiwi production, are relatively young and well organized among themselves. According to João Loureiro, they are very sensitive to issues of orchard and environmental sustainability, with some trying to adopt practices that are beneficial to pollinating insects.
The project had a success rate of 68%: “unfortunately, only four producers carried out the study each month,” says the researcher. However, there were many positive points, such as the conclusion that practices that are more insect-friendly ultimately benefit all important functional groups, while not benefiting pests. “In addition, we related the data obtained from insects to impacts on production and found that production remained the same regardless of the practices, meaning that it is possible to have more sustainable and environmentally friendly orchards that promote insects without any loss in production.”
The Portuguese Kiwi Farmers Association (APK) represents around 80% of kiwi producers nationwide, and Patrícia Duarte, president of the Association at the time of the interview, said that being a partner in this project was very important and she hopes that there will be more joint research. She says that farmers have shown themselves to be very motivated and interested in the project, and this is a role that APK also intends to encourage, so that people question their practices.
Patrícia Duarte believes that the results of the project can benefit kiwi production, since pollination plays a crucial role in the life of the orchard.
– Patricia Duarte
He also says that this project has had a positive impact on his relationship with science, which he believes is now more necessary than ever, and takes the opportunity to explain that the agricultural sector is not a sector full of people without intelligence: “Any farmer, no matter how simple it may seem to us, is used to thinking about a huge number of factors and thinking based on a thousand and one variables in their daily lives, in order to simply make room to plant a seed. There is nothing basic about this.”
Funded by EU funds, the Socientize project aimed to produce the White Paper on Citizen Science and developed several citizen science projects. One of them was called CellSpotting: a scientist had “hundreds of thousands of images of cancer cells” that were attacked by chemical substances and destroyed. “The idea was to know how many cells were destroyed in each image and these images were not easy to interpret for an automated system that also did not exist.” Paulo Gama Mota, a researcher at the University of Coimbra and coordinator of the Socientize project in Portugal, explains. The idea behind Cell-Spotting was for people to observe these images, with the rigor that a scientific project requires.
To do this, the image was analyzed by ten people. Until then, it continued to circulate. This ensured the quality of the observations. The observers were found through schools, which ensured that these images were taken up and processed in about seven months, which is very little for the large amount of information.
Another project was related to photographs of the sun from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra, taken every day since 1928. The objective of Sun4All was to analyze sunspots and, together with the scientist, it was decided that the analysis would be superficial so that it would be simpler for citizens.
The third project was a word map, in which citizens were asked to make associations between words, from the University of Zaragoza, as well as Cell-Spotting. Regarding the reason why there is no particular interest in citizen science in Portugal, Paulo Gama Mota explains that, in his view, this is due to a misunderstanding.
– Paulo Gama Mota
Valentim Gomes, a student at the Senior University of Esmoriz, participated in both Cell-Spotting and Sun4All. Very active and with a busy schedule, Valentim considered that helping science could be a good way to fill his day a little longer and feels that everyone benefits.
– Valentin Gomes
Observing images made his “neurons work”, and this helped him pass the time with some discretion. Valentim, in addition to his love for science and being useful to scientists, had a personal reason for participating, particularly in the Cell-Spotting project.
– Valentin Gomes
The fact that citizen science is a scientific practice that is little known and recognized, both among the population and among entities and institutions, often results in a lack of funding, which greatly threatens its sustainability. This sustainability is related to the human resources assigned to communicate the project (social media and email, since citizen involvement is very important for the long-term success of these projects), the promotion and promotion of the project initiatives, the maintenance of the website with updated information, and, of course, some time to confirm the data.
Although some researchers are starting to develop citizen science initiatives within their own research projects, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, as a way of obtaining scientific data, as is the case with i9Kiwi, most projects arise from researchers' curiosity about other topics that may not be directly related to their research areas.
In the case of Invasoras.pt, the team working on the project dedicates itself to invasive plants in their day-to-day work and the project is a complement, but not a direct part of their work. It was funded by Ciência Viva at one point, but when that funding ended, the team persisted without funding. To ensure the project doesn't die, the team takes time out of their free time (evenings and weekends) and dedicates themselves to validating records and carrying out awareness-raising actions about the various invasive species at that time.
This is also the case of BioDiversity4All, which, when it was created, began as a non-profit association. Patrícia Tiago says that “something that lasts ten years without practically any money is unlikely to end. This is all the prudery of the people involved.”
Of course, in the case of researchers who subsequently work with data from projects, there is always something to gain from the projects. But everyone points to the lack of time, the lack of sustainability of the projects due to the lack of financial support and, ultimately, a lack of recognition by institutions of the importance of citizen science as a scientific practice.
This lack of knowledge, although widespread across a large part of society, can also be seen within the scientific community itself. Until recently, this practice was not considered a serious scientific practice or one whose results were reliable. However, in the eyes of those interviewed, this notion has been dissipating and researchers are increasingly aware of the potential of these projects and initiatives that promise to bring science closer to society.
In the case of i9Kiwi, the scientific project was entirely designed around the citizen science component. In the case of Socientize, the initiatives in which citizens participated allowed scientists to quickly analyse data that would not otherwise be possible. These are two cases that prove that it is possible to integrate citizen science into research projects and to use data for scientific purposes. But the problems are far from being resolved.
Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, believes that the strength and usefulness of citizen science lies in the formulation of scientific agendas.
– Manuel Hector
Regarding the funding for these projects, the vice-president of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), José Paulo Esperança, explains that the Foundation follows a traditional funding model in which only the researcher is funded. Regarding citizen science, in which citizens participate voluntarily, he says that there could be aspects that could be funded.
In this sense, it highlights local authorities and authorities that can play a fundamental role in providing financial support to citizen science projects that provide benefits at a local level, as is already the case in some local authorities interested in conserving biodiversity.
According to Manuel Heitor, funding for this type of project should be integrated into research projects developed by scientists, in order to ensure their scientific robustness. He reiterates that all projects funded by the FCT have a portion of their budget dedicated specifically to science outreach and communication activities, where these projects can be included and developed.
Although there are no funding lines specifically for the practice of citizen science, on par with other European countries, the Portuguese scientific community is quite participatory in its relationship with society, according to Rosalia Vargas, president of Ciência Viva, the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture.
Although it may be demotivating for scientists, the Portuguese scientific community is quite participatory, according to Rosalia Vargas, president of Ciência Viva, the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in November 2021. In its many actions, the rapprochement between science and society has become a reality, through, for example, the network of Ciência Viva Centers, where the Agency allows contact with science that, focused on children, extends to the whole family.
Rosalia Vargas refers to the importance of schools in this approach, in the sense that “School is often the place where students have their only contact with science”. The central role of schools and the consequent awareness of the rest of the family nucleus, so that there is a perception of the importance of science throughout life, are very important, also when it comes to citizen science.
Ciência Viva is also present in the creation of the Portuguese Citizen Science Network, an initiative that Rosalia supports and about which Minister Manuel Heitor states: “All participation movements, by scientists with society, are welcome, as long as they effectively promote science, promote scientific careers and bring people closer to science.”
It is a network voluntarily formed by scientists, citizens, non-governmental organizations, local authorities, among other entities. It is an informal network, but “where everyone can participate”, says Cristina Luís. It is present on all social networks, and its objective is to promote knowledge and growth of citizen science, contributing to increasing society’s involvement in scientific processes.
It aims to be an open and inclusive Network, and is divided into several working groups that operate in different areas and which anyone is free to join, wanting to contribute to the growth of this practice in Portugal.
One of these working groups is dedicated to mapping citizen science initiatives and, according to Cristina Luís, one of the Network's objectives is to be able to count citizen science projects and initiatives at a national level. It is estimated that there are currently around 180 citizen science projects active in Portugal, which are still being mapped.
The Portuguese Citizen Science Network has already held three national meetings (in 2017, 2019 and 2021), the last one in person and online, last November. It involved eight libraries – public and university. During the two days of the Meeting, which had around 290 registrations, with the motto “Building bridges for a more participatory science”, Rosa Arias, coordinator of the D-NOSES project, a project funded at European level, was present and, at this Meeting, she was invited to talk about her experience.
– Rose Arias
Pablo Camacho, representing the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), was also present. His intervention, which was different from the Portuguese reality, surprised the audience. FECYT has a specific funding line for citizen science projects and Pablo explained that the Foundation has a growing concern with the relationship between science and society. This funding line from the Spanish Foundation allocates around four million to projects that manage to establish this relationship, in particular citizen science projects.
– Pablo Camacho
In Rosa’s case, her project received financial support from FECYT for three years. This support allows for a full-time person to be dedicated to the project, which is a great help for projects that are just starting out.
– Rose Arias
Citizen science is one of the pillars of an increasingly open, inclusive and responsible science. Citizen science initiatives or projects promote the involvement of scientists and researchers who need scientific data or are interested in a particular topic, citizens who are interested in that topic and, sometimes, other entities that may be involved in some way in this collaboration process.
There are some citizen science projects in Portugal that attempt to establish this relationship between science, society and other stakeholders. They most commonly arise from the scientific community, that is, from the need of scientists themselves to collect scientific data, and from there these projects or “collaboration requests” emerge, where every citizen can participate and help science.
Although this scientific practice is quite interesting, it cannot be generalized to all scientific projects, since not all of them need the same type of data. Creating this type of project unnecessarily can be harmful to citizen science itself, since it can put at risk projects that truly need the help of citizens to obtain information.
In this sense, funding citizen science projects could make sense if included in the research projects that the FCT funds annually, as Minister Manuel Heitor mentioned. However, there are other aspects of citizen science that can be funded, and that distinguish it from science education, such as the focus on the production of scientific knowledge.
– Cristina Luis, Researcher
– Patricia Tiago, BioDiversity4All
– Fernanda Rollo, Memory for All
– Ana Costa, NUCLIO
– New Science Decision Makers
– Invaders
– Ilidio André Costa, CoAstro
– Jose Paulo Hope
– Manuel Hector
