About

The ACTION (Participatory science toolkit against pollution) project was co-funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework, SwafS programme. It started on 1st February 2019 and ended on 31 January 2022.

 

The project main objectives were to:

  • Set up a citizen science accelerator to support hands-on citizen science activities to combat and prevent major forms of pollution in the EU;
  • Carry out an open call to select 10 additional pilots with interesting, impactful ideas that address pressing pollution challenges not yet covered through the consortium;
  • Co-design and co-develop methodologies, tools and guidelines to understand the requirements of different stakeholder groups in the citizen science lifecycle, and to open the entire scientific process to new demographic groups and communities;
  • Create a digital infrastructure to help citizen scientists easily set up and manage projects in all their online and offline manifestations, manage and share their data openly, and comply with RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) practices;
  • Create a sociotechnical toolkit that solves challenges around methodological decisions, task design, quality and validation, building and nurturing a community, incentivising participation, impact, and sustainability, with a special focus on less explored types of projects, covering a range of project activities, and acknowledging the evolution of projects in time.
  • Devise methods and models to assess the sustainability and impact of citizen science projects and to analyse costs and benefits from a societal, democratic, economic, scientific and environmental point of view.
  • Partner with researchers, policy makers, community groups, open data and open science activists, social enterprises and third-sector organisations to establish a multi-stakeholder ecosystem for responsible citizen science and innovation and promote ACTION and our pilots in this ecosystem to receive valuable feedback and have broad impact.

All these objectives have been achived. Have a look at our results.

We are proud to be one of three citizen science projects featured in the European Commission video
“Citizen Science: Opening up science to society“

The ACTION (Participatory science toolkit against pollution) project was co-funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework, SwafS programme. It started on 1st February 2019 and ended on 31 January 2022.

 

The project main objectives were to:

  • Set up a citizen science accelerator to support hands-on citizen science activities to combat and prevent major forms of pollution in the EU;
  • Carry out an open call to select 10 additional pilots with interesting, impactful ideas that address pressing pollution challenges not yet covered through the consortium;
  • Co-design and co-develop methodologies, tools and guidelines to understand the requirements of different stakeholder groups in the citizen science lifecycle, and to open the entire scientific process to new demographic groups and communities;
  • Create a digital infrastructure to help citizen scientists easily set up and manage projects in all their online and offline manifestations, manage and share their data openly, and comply withRRI(Responsible Research and Innovation) practices;
  • Create a sociotechnical toolkit that solves challenges around methodological decisions, task design, quality and validation, building and nurturing a community, incentivising participation, impact, and sustainability, with a special focus on less explored types of projects, covering a range of project activities, and acknowledging the evolution of projects in time.
  • Devise methods and models to assess the sustainability and impact of citizen science projects and to analyse costs and benefits from a societal, democratic, economic, scientific and environmental point of view.
  • Partner with researchers, policy makers, community groups, open data and open science activists, social enterprises and third-sector organisations to establish a multi-stakeholder ecosystem for responsible citizen science and innovation and promote ACTION and our pilots in this ecosystem to receive valuable feedback and have broad impact.

All these objectives have been achived. Have a look at our results.

Why pollution?

Pollutants in their various forms are an increasing problem. Single pollutants such as air or light can have additive negative effects for humans and the environment.
For example, every year 4,2 million people die as a result of exposure to air pollution. No single lab, government or initiative can solve this on their own.
This makes pollution an ideal medium to co-design, experiment with, and evaluate novel methodologies and resources to open CS processes further and to help CS have greater impact.

Why pollution?

Pollutants in their various forms are an increasing problem. Single pollutants such as air or light can have additive negative effects for humans and the environment.
For example, every year 4,2 million people die as a result of exposure to air pollution. No single lab, government or initiative can solve this on their own.
This makes pollution an ideal medium to co-design, experiment with, and evaluate novel methodologies and resources to open CS processes further and to help CS have greater impact.