The Recent Past and Possible Futures of Citizen Science: Final Remarks

Abstract

This book is the culmination of the COST Action CA15212 Citizen Science to Promote Creativity, Scientific Literacy, and Innovation throughout Europe. It represents the final stage of a shared journey taken over the last 4 years. During this relatively short period, our citizen science practices and perspectives have rapidly evolved. The COST Action started in 2016, when citizen science was gaining momentum in Europe and worldwide. The first international citizen science conference took place in San José, California, in 2012. This period also saw the foundation of citizen science organisations, such as the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, in 2014. These milestones were not isolated events in the evolution of citizen science. There was a confluence of factors on multiple levels: globally, nationally, and locally. There was a sense of urgency to find common spaces to discuss the widespread flourishing of citizen science practices. These factors led to the formation of the citizen science COST Action. The impetus for citizen science in Europe over the last few years is partially indebted to the activities and interactions of this COST Action. This has offered a panoramic view of new initiatives, recently built digital platforms, and ongoing hot topic debates in the citizen science community of practitioners. It also helped spark several European-funded projects. The most relevant example is EU-Citizen. Science, a coordination and support platform launched in 2019. Its goal is to become the European reference point for citizen science, through cross-network knowledge sharing on a multi-language repository website with access to projects and resources for all stakeholders....