In LandSeaLot’s mission to improve how we observe the areas of the world where the land meets the sea, citizen science is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Our partner researchers and organisations are in the process of identifying potential applications of citizen science, activating new collaborations and testing the best approaches for maximising the power of citizen science observation.
Explore how researchers and local communities are working together as part of LandSeaLot, and how you can get involved.
Citizen science is public participation in scientific research, offering people and communities the opportunity to develop their skills and make meaningful contributions to scientific research. All over the world, people are contributing to science by observing their surroundings and local area, gathering information, collecting samples and more.
Land-sea interface areas like coasts, estuaries and bays are densely populated areas of huge environmental and societal relevance. The more we know about these essential areas, the better we can understand and protect them in the long term. Within LandSeaLot, researchers, fishers, aquaculture companies, marinas, NGOs and people who live or work in land-sea interface areas are creating new opportunities to observe these areas together. The results of this evolving Community of Practice will inform and guide future efforts to enhance collaboration amongst scientists and local communities in land-sea areas across Europe.
To increase observation efforts, LandSeaLot researchers and affiliated citizen science groups are testing and validating cost-effective technology: affordable, easy to use sensors and other devices for gathering marine and coastal data.
This technology makes it easier than ever for more people to observe the natural world. In the initial stages of the project, researchers, citizens and civil society will engage in training, testing and exchanging knowledge with LandSeaLot researchers. The resulting data will be used by project partners and fed into European marine open data services, namely EMODnet, for future use. These activities are laying the groundwork for significant public participation in scientific research on an international scale, building observation capacity and knowledge in the long term.
Explore how LandSeaLot is equipping citizens and researchers with cost-effective technology to address scientific and societal challenges
SCOOP is a catalogue of cost-effective observation technologies for citizen scientists, developers, community partners and researchers alike. See more at scoop-ocean.org.
Various challenges exist in relation to the data produced from citizen science initiatives. Working outside of conventional approaches, using cost-effective or accessible technologies, and collaborating with non-experts without extensive scientific training often leads to data issues relating to standardisation, metadata, quality control, interoperability, and others. Thankfully, projects such as CS-MACH1 (a close collaborator with LandSeaLot) is working to address this. By developing data management standards and best practices, trainings and guidelines for citizen science initiatives, CS-MACH1 will address many of these issues, sustaining solutions with a Marine Citizen Science Data Network. The project aims to unlock the potential of data collected from marine citizen science initiatives across Europe, increasing their FAIRness, and enabling flows into data services, such as EMODnet.
Images from scoop-ocean.org
LandSeaLot has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under grant agreement No 101134575. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. UK participants in Horizon Europe Project LandSeaLot are supported by UKRI grant numbers: 10109592 University of Stirling and 10107554 Plymouth Marine Laboratory.
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