As highlighted in a recent OECD report, citizen science (also known as “community science”), the practice of public participation in scientific research, “can be applied in a wide variety of scientific fields and is valuable for addressing a broad range of policy priorities”. It empowers ordinary people – from educators to students – to collaborate with scientists to help solve real-world problems. Citizens can help monitor air quality and water pollution, map biodiversity, or even contribute to medical research. Their contributions are valuable to collect and analyze data, shape research questions, and generate real-world impact. They can gather bigger amounts of data than what scientists would normally gather on their own, align research with actual community priorities, and overall boost democratic participation and involvement. Citizen science networks and associations are very important as intermediaries bringing different actors together, while international cooperation can help tackle global issues, by sharing knowledge, data and tools. Some measures to strengthen its role and impact include enhancing policy and funding support, continued training of educators and leveraging existing data collection technologies.
Citizen science is not just for educators or adults: it can be integrated into school practice and empower students, providing them with practical tools and smoothing their (often strenuous) relationship with science and technology. Many students, especially those showcasing a preference towards classical studies, fear mathematics, physics and chemistry. Citizen science can help them overcome their fear and learn how to use scientific tools, while making a positive impact in the world. Their smartphones can turn into research tools, letting them contribute data by recording observations. Some examples include:
- iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/ ): they can identify plants, animals, fungi etc., track species and discover nearby nature.
- eBird (https://ebird.org/home ): they can explore birds and hotspots, share their sightings, and track their lists.
- Zooniverse (https://www.zooniverse.org/ ): a citizen science platform hosting many different projects, from classifying animals, to discovering exoplanets, to transcribing historical documents, and more.
- Ispex (https://ispex.org/ ): a professional-grade spectropolarimeter, that can be attached to a smartphone, designed for research applications – scientific studies for water quality measurements and advanced spectral analysis.
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References
eBird website, https://ebird.org/home
iNaturalist website, https://www.inaturalist.org/
iSpex website, https://ispex.org/
IUCN, Citizen science, explainer brief, available at https://iucn.org/resources/explainer-brief/citizen-science
OECD (2025), “Embedding citizen science into research policy”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 175, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a1cfb1a8-en.
SciStarter, What is Citizen Science?, available at https://scistarter.org/citizen-science
Smith C.& Shimosuka M. (2025). What is citizen science and why should policymakers care?, OECD blog, available at https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2025/04/what-is-citizen-science-and-why-should-policymakers-care.html
Zooniverse website, https://www.zooniverse.org/