Citizen Science Symposium 2018

On April 9, Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand will host the country’s first symposium #CitSciNZ2018 dedicated fully to investigating citizen science. A series of hands-on ecological monitoring workshops will take place the weekend prior (7-8 April).

The Symposium vision

A dynamic event for current and potential citizen science key players to create an in-depth and shared understanding of citizen science activities and potential as well as to shape future directions for citizen science in New Zealand.

The symposium is aimed at those wanting to further their knowledge of what citizen science is, what is underway and its potential e.g. for establishing programmes that address particular research questions. Others will be actively involved in developing, coordinating or researching programmes that feature environmental monitoring or data collection largely by volunteers.

Presentations will showcase a range of New Zealand-based biodiversity, biosecurity and education focussed citizen science projects. Panel and interactive sessions will encourage debate and discussion, with international participants adding their perspectives: What scope is there for citizen science programmes to collect long-term environmental data…? How can existing citizen generated data be more effectively used…? Who will design and implement citizen science projects/programmes to support the strategic programmes for biosecurity, conservation and environment science…? How will these projects be supported into the future…? How can we build a ‘community of practice’ between government agencies to progress citizen science…?

Workshops

A series of hands-on practical half-day workshops on ecological monitoring. They are aimed at for individuals, community groups and educators. These will be designed to give participants a working knowledge of standard methods used to collect quality data. Some of the workshops include coastal, freshwater, vegetation and lizard monitoring with more being added as momentum increases. Web-based tools such as Naturewatch will also be showcased.

For further information and to register: www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/whats-on/events/hands-on-citizen-science-workshops

Check out this blog article for a great teaser on what's coming up in the symposium: https://monicalogues.com/2018/03/04/sneak-peek-citscinz2018-citizen-science-symposium-workshops-april-7-9-wellington.