Projects
Find out more about the kinds of projects run by the Extreme Citizen Science Research Centre.
Current Projects
ExCiteS is a partner in this £6.5 million, 5-year UKPRP award which aims to improve the life chances of children by focusing on improving the environments that influence their health
Extreme Citizen Science: Analysis and Visualisation (ECSAnVis) is a five-years,€2.5M project funded by the European Research Council
ExCiteS is working with the UCL Library Services as a collaborator in this 3-year, €1.5M H2020 project TIME4CS aims at supporting and facilitating the implementation of sustainable Institutional Changes in Research Performing Organizations (RPOs) to promote Public Engagement (citizens and citizens associations) and Citizen Science in science and technology.
The EU-Citizen.Science platform aims to become the reference point for citizen science through cross-network knowledge sharing for citizen science participants, practitioners, researchers, policy makers and society across Europe.
ExCiteS is a partner in this £1.3 million NERC award, led by Reading University. The project aims to re-evaluate the impacts of environmental science from a community perspective with the aim of using these insights to inform the UK’s research agenda.
ExCiteS leads this 2-year Erasmus+ project aimed at repositioning universities more centrally, as co-creators of knowledge, for social change. This is in response to the traditional models of knowledge creation and dissemination being increasingly challenged by bottom-up, community-driven action. Project priorities include innovative digital action, fostering civic engagement, and tackling skills gaps and mismatches.
An ambitious programme of work will develop the skills of university staff and students and create frameworks for civic engagement between universities and voluntary sector and civic society organisations.
ExCiteS leads this 6-month GCRF-funded project investigating the efficacy of using Sapelli and Community Maps to support sustainable farming in Nigeria. We are partnering with EERC and Mapping for Change
Past Projects
Finding connections between citizen science and Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) in the Cairngorms National Park.
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Partners
CinCity (Civic Innovation in Community) looked at some of the most urgent issues related to knife crime and distrust. It also examined what actions needed to be taken, all using a bottom-up approach led by young people.
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Doing It Together Science (DITOs), co-ordinated by ExCiteS at UCL, is organizing many innovative events across Europe focusing on the active involvement of citizens in Citizen Science.
In Doing It Together Science universities and research institutions work together with science galleries, museums and art institutions to engage people with citizen science in Europe. More than 500 innovative workshops, exhibitions, and activities are organized in nine countries in Europe. With this project. the eleven European partners intend to show that citizen science is an accessible and fun way to explore the world around you.
Why Do It Together?
Citizen Science empowers citizens in exploring, measuring and experimenting with the world around them. Citizens have a major role to play in addressing the challenges to a sustainable future. It is by 'doing science together' that we combine our resources and expertise to raise awareness, build capacity, and innovative lasting solutions grounded in society.
Getting citizens involved
As a European-wide project Doing It Together Science will promote a step change in they way the public is engaged with science and innovation. We will move from a model in which scientific research, innovation, and problem-solving is mainly driven by scientific institutions to one that is based on active public participation in the scientific process. The Doing It Together Science activities will move beyond more traditional approaches of engagement (e.g. hearings, public meetings or non-interactive exhibits) into a direct engagement that builds upon hands-on Do-It-Yourself (DIY), grassroots, and frugal innovation initiatives. This will be done in a way that enables people from all walks of life to contribute at a level of participation that is interesting to them and also suits their lifestyle; whether that is engaging in face-to-face community meetings, working in a citizen bio lab or using a crowdsourcing app to log air quality to address local issues.
All our activities are focused on two themes: Biodesign (the use of living things such as bacteria or plants in designing products or art) and Environmental sustainability. Not only do we want to engage citizens but also but also policy-makers, local decision-makers and funders. With this Doing It Together Science aims to build institutional and policy foundations for a deep public engagement in science and technology in Europe.
Who is DITOs?
A pan-European network (European Citizen Science Association), SMEs (Tekiu; eutema), universities (UCL; Universite Paris Descartes; University of Geneva), science galleries, museums and arts organisations (Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova; Medialab-Prado; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) and NGOs (Meritum Association; Waag Society). These organisations cross multiple countries and languages, enabling coverage of much of Europe in its native languages. This eleven-partner project is coordinated by the UCL Extreme Citizen Science group.
Who can join?
You – because everyone can bring something to the table. Are you a concerned resident, a person wishing to connect with others on local or regional issues, a student, an entrepreneur, a pensioner, an educator, a carer, a curious person, a tinkerer, an arts- science- or technology enthusiast, an employee in any industry or sector, a public official, a funder, a passerby, an observer looking for opportunities? Then, hop on and join in the various activities we will have and develop together.
What activities?
In DITOs we would like you to join events and activities that match your needs, interests, time available, and skills. This is why we will be organising a range of activities in the broad categories of interactive and travelling exhibitions, online activities, debates, round tables, seminars, pub nights, film nights and DIY/DIT workshops. Check out our upcoming events here. At each of these, there will be opportunities to engage and engage further. We will also be providing support for existing organisations to develop over time (and as we learn together) guidelines to share the ingredients of successful projects: lessons learnt, know-hows, ideas, prototypes, and tips.
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WeGovNow! is a three years (2016-2019) project funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme (H2020-EURO-6-2015a).
The project is coordinated by Empirica; it consists of 12 partners of which three are local authorities (Southwark, Turin, and San Dona di Piave) to represent the three evaluation trial sites for the proposed technological innovations.
The project involves a set of innovative technologies which we integrate within a unified citizen engagement platform (i.e. WeGovNow! platform), as a solution to overcome limitations of existing digital tools in the context of citizen reporting, e-participation, and citizen-government communication.
In doing so, WeGovNow! enables a new type of interactivity, enhancing and expanding the viability of and capacity for citizen co-production in the public sector, not only in a traditional citizen-to-government dynamic, but also in an arrangement where the government informs, assists, and enables private actions, or where citizens assist one another, with IT replacing the dependency on administrations as a vehicle for collective action.
The involvement of ExCiteS in WeGovNow! focuses on technological, user as well as spatial data aspects. First, ExCiteS will provide its expertise to support the technological integration of the various systems and will contribute in the creation of the WeGovNow! platform with its Community Maps and GeoKey systems. These are already used for supporting local authorities and citizens in decision-making processes in various contexts.
Second, ExCiteS will work closely with our social enterprise Mapping for Change, also a partner in this project, to engage local authorities in a structured but also iterative process of user requirements elicitation. Finally, ExCiteS will assist with the usability evaluation and user testing of the whole platform as well as of specific components. The philosophy of User-Centred Design (UCD) is not only central to WeGovNow!, it is also pivotal to the ethos and practices of ExCiteS which drives this process.
Finally, the ExCiteS group has extensive experience in the development and use of geospatial tools and data issues and it will further support WeGovNow! in spatial data quality and data integration assessments, with a particular focus on addressing metadata and data reuse issues.
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Challenging RISK looks at the socially integrated mitigation of multiple structural risks in the urban environment.
It aims to generate new knowledge on how current reinforced concrete (RC) structures perform under earthquake and fire hazards. It also seeks to develop an integrated framework for performance-based assessment and structural mitigation.
The proposed technical engineering solutions will be designed with the social context in mind. They will take into account how and where they will be implemented. Part of the project focuses on community engagement using citizen science techniques. It also provides tailored monitoring and data analysis tools to define 'acceptable' outcomes. These tools help inform the technical programme of work and guide the effective implementation of mitigation strategies for multiple risks.
Thus, Challenging RISK aims to promote community-centric learning about risk and resilience. It also seeks to improve understanding of how models, research results, guidelines, and rules align with the needs and abilities of different communities.
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This project takes an Actor-Network approach and a device ethnography to follow a series of participatory sensing tools and their networks as they transverse ontological & political boundaries.
The aim of the research is to understand the way experience and power are re-distributed within these human & non-human hybrids.
The research combines critical design and action research as a way of being physically and emotionally present and intervening in the case studies.
The outcome of the research will be new narratives that help us understand ontological and power shifts in Smart Cities and will create a transformative intervention in the dynamics of the case studies.
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The project in conjunction with ZSL is about the novel combination of knowledge domains to improve outreach in ecology.
It aims at the design of innovation on citizen science methodologies and environmental monitoring approaches to effectively contribute to biodiversity conservation. Tools will be evaluated or developed with the support of IT specialists to integrate different information sources and to elicit evaluations. Currently at a conceptual stage.
The first overarching structure of the interconnected knowledge domains is represented in the research image posted. The expected outcome is a methodology/tool to elicit from diverse information sources an evaluation of immaterial goods related to the natural environment.
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This project looks at engagement in Do-It-Yourself practices that link knowledge to action in 'publicly initiated scientific research'.
The aim is to understand how groups and individuals create and share knowledge to address issues that matter to them. It also explores how they turn this knowledge into public-led actions that drive change.
This research applies the Theory of Communicative Action and examines three case studies. These case studies follow people and communities as they initiate scientific research. The findings are expected to support the approval of publicly initiated research as a valid way of knowing and understanding. In turn, this could help make collaborative science more accessible.
Partners
We aim to design, develop, evaluate and deploy a generic platform that enables people with no or limited literacy to use smartphones and tablets to collect, share, and analyse (spatial) data.
The platform is and will be used in a variety of concrete projects, often related to environmental monitoring. Ultimately the goal is to let communities build so-called Community Memories: evolving, shared representations of the state of their environment, their relationship with it, and any threats it faces.
We started by developing tools to allow non-literate people to engage in participatory mapping. To extend participation beyond mere data collection we plan to introduce novel approaches to the visualisation, analysis and editing of spatiotemporal data, comprehensible for non-literate users – a concept we call Intelligent Maps.
This project involves a variety of disciplines, such as Human-Computer Interaction, Anthropology, Software Engineering, and GIScience.
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Mapping the socio-demographics of volunteers with The Conservation Volunteers: Realising the Wider Potential.
The project evaluates the potential to further develop The Conservation Volunteer’s online Management Information System (MIS). The goal is to create a sector-wide tool for tracking and analysing volunteers' socio-demographics, skills development, well-being, and pro-environmental behaviour.
The aim is to test how well their MIS database works when linked to open-source datasets. This will help determine whether this quick and easy green impact method can serve as an effective delivery model for other Third Sector groups.
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The Citizen Cyberlab (The Lab) includes members from several institutions, such as Universite Paris Descartes (UPD), CERN, Universite de Geneve, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Imperial College London, The Mobile Collective, and University College London (UCL). It is focused on exploring and evaluating online group spaces and software tools. These tools aim to encourage creative learning within the context of Citizen Cyberscience.
The Lab will create open-source platforms and tools designed to enhance learning and creativity in Citizen Cyberscience. Four pilot projects will be used to test these innovations.
These pilots, platforms, and tools will be reviewed to develop a new perspective on creative learning, drawing on real-world examples of Citizen Cyberscience.
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EveryAware is an EU Citizen Science project that combines environmental monitoring, awareness, and behaviour change. It aims to do this by creating a new digital platform merging sensing methods, networking applications, and data-processing tools.
The idea is to use mobile technologies to collect and analyse changes in behaviour and present local environmental information.
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- EU FP7
- ISI Foundation
- Sapienza University of Rome (Department of Physics)
- L3S Research Center
- Mapping for Change
- CNR-ISC
- CSP – Innovazione nelle ICT
This project uses spatio-temporal data from London to identify factors linked to fear of crime during daily journeys.
This project builds on current trends in Fear of Crime (FOC) research. It focuses on capturing more accurate accounts of the daily experiences of FOC and perceptions of safety in the environment. The aim is to gather information about people’s perceptions of safety during daily commutes. This is done using mobile phone applications to log GPS coordinates. The apps also collect qualitative data about these recorded locations.
This data may be enhanced with the quantitative coding of built environment features. Sensor data, such as readings from a mobile Galvanic Skin Response armband, can also be included. This project can lead to a more holistic understanding of FOC and its links with the built environment. It also explores the potential applications of this approach to other social science problems.
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- EPSRC
- PAMELA
Effective and Efficient Tools For Evidence-Based Management of the National Health Service
This project examines the impact of introducing a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach in a company operating in a dynamic and complex work domain. The aim is to explore their impact beyond just improving the user interface and experience. This includes their influence on the status of UCD within the business and among project stakeholders.
This study uses an action research approach along with design and evaluation methods from ‘Usability Engineering.’ The results reveal both the challenges and opportunities created by rapid changes in the business environment. They also contribute solutions to address these challenges. The methods used also offer more benefits, such as supporting customer relations and introducing UCD ideas to those outside of product development.
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How do people, nature, technology and enthusiasm mingle, interact and emerge at different times and in different spaces, in the context of monitoring and managing tree health?
Amateurs, enthusiasts and volunteers have long contributed to scientific research. Today, demand for data on biodiversity outstrips the capacity of professional scientists (in terms of manpower and finance), citizen scientists are therefore increasingly valuable to the design, collection and analysis of scientific data.
Through collaboration with Forest Research, the Sylva Foundation and the Science Museum, Dr Geoghegan will investigate the development of a UK framework for monitoring tree health through citizen science, specifically how relations between and about nature, technology, science and society are made and sustained.
Partners
Challenging RISK looks at the socially integrated mitigation of multiple structural risks in the urban environment.
It aims to generate new knowledge on how current reinforced concrete (RC) structures perform under earthquake and fire hazards. It also seeks to develop an integrated framework for performance-based assessment and structural mitigation.
The proposed technical engineering solutions will be designed with the social context in mind. They will take into account how and where they will be implemented. Part of the project focuses on community engagement using citizen science techniques. It also provides tailored monitoring and data analysis tools to define 'acceptable' outcomes. These tools help inform the technical programme of work and guide the effective implementation of mitigation strategies for multiple risks.
Thus, Challenging RISK aims to promote community-centric learning about risk and resilience. It also seeks to improve understanding of how models, research results, guidelines, and rules align with the needs and abilities of different communities.
People
Partners
The use of virtual globes, especially Google Earth, is becoming increasingly popular in both formal and informal education. However, previous studies show that students tend to use tours passively.
This project investigated how Google Earth Tours (GETs) can be effectively combined with related student activities. It focused on integrating them into an Active Learning approach.
A Human-Computer Interaction approach was used to gather both qualitative and quantitative data, including eye-tracking data. The goal was to understand which elements and on-screen aspects of the virtual landscape attract the user’s attention.
Based on the results, a set of guidelines and podcasts were produced. They offer concrete advice on integrating Google Earth Tours into an Active Learning approach.
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New and unprecedented sources of geographic information have recently become available in the form of user-generated web content. The integration and application of these sources often termed volunteered geographic information (VGI), Crowdsourced geographic information and citizen science offer multidisciplinary scientists an unprecedented opportunity to conduct research on a variety of topics at multiple spatial and temporal scales.
Since applications generating VGI are not often designed specifically for data production or analytical purposes, the research network aims at the following to fill this gap, recognising the potential value of these sources to the EU in citizen-based decision-making. This European network of excellence on GeoWeb technologies focuses on VGI and citizen science and gathers efforts carried out in an innovative and under-exploited field of Web research and knowledge production.
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A four-year EngD project, sponsored by Arup and EPSRC, focused on a case study of the site selection process for a nuclear waste disposal repository in the UK.
This project builds on the UK's Nuclear Waste Management Programme, which was introduced in 2008 with DEFRA's White Paper (.pdf), showing the need for greater "transparency and openness." It combines knowledge from Human-Computer Interaction and Risk Communication to develop a Web GIS application that informs the public about the site selection process.
Several environmental applications were considered with input from over a hundred users to understand which interface design elements inform people's trust perceptions. Based on this, a set of trust guidelines were created, along with a thorough, structured system for researching trust in similar situations. Additionally, both lay people's and experts' mental models of nuclear waste disposal were explored. An information communication strategy was then put in place to enhance public understanding and trust.
The information and trust guidelines helped shape the final system's design. It was tested for reliability, among other factors, and the findings showed that the suggested trust guidelines support the growth of rational public trust. They also help people make informed decisions about whether to rely on the system, understanding the risks involved.
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An extension of Artemis Skarlatidou's EngD research and methodological framework in the context of online public crime mapping
The aim was to help people make well-informed choices about their crime prevention strategies by providing a solution that improved the perceived usefulness and trustworthiness of these applications.
Using mainly Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) methods and tools, the users' needs and expectations were identified to understand what crime information should be provided (at different scales). How the information should be presented was also considered. A set of novel crime geo-visualisations was further developed, which considers privacy issues but also improves public trust and usefulness.
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