What is Citizen Science?
Citizen science is about public involvement in scientific research. Citizen science means that anybody can go out and be involved in researching, collecting and analyzing data. This enables us to answer questions, that one organisation might not be able to answer by themselves. Getting involved can be as simple as going online and looking through photographs but can involve getting outside and collecting data as well. From listening to bat calls to tracking microplastics we can all help our environment.
The rise in the numbers of smartphones and tablets which have GPS sensors has enabled citizen science to be more available. Now anyone with a phone or tablet can go out and collect data wherever they are.