Project Duration
2017-2021
Location
California
Background
With offices in every county across the State, and programs that
engage farmers, natural resource managers, rural and urban
communities, and adults and youth, among others, the University
of California’s Division of
Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) is in an exciting
position to develop innovative and impactful citizen and
community science. In some ways, public participation has been at
the core of UC ANR’s work from its inception in 1913. UC ANR
academics are regularly engaged in co-created research, and there
is an opportunity to place this rich history in the context of
the evolving field of citizen and community science. At the same
time, there is considerable potential for UC ANR to develop new
citizen and community science initiatives for the benefit of
Californians.
The Center for Community and Citizen Science at UC Davis is
partnering with the University of California Division of
Agriculture and Natural Resources in exploring these
opportunities. Our work began with an assessment of citizen
and community science across UC ANR programs that
developed a robust picture of what is already happening
across UC ANR, helps us understand the barriers and opportunities
that are shaping that picture. The results show how UC ANR can
incorporate citizen and community science into its overall
strategy and programming, and inform UC ANR personnel and
constituents about CCS activities and opportunities. Read the
full report
here.
Project Goals
-
Assess the status of community and citizen science at
UC ANR. Highlight UC ANR’s long history of public
engagement and better understand the scope and diversity of
ways in which communities and individuals participate in UC ANR
research.
-
Highlight opportunities for useful, credible science
through CCS. Identify ways in which participatory
science can further provide useful, quality-controlled/assured
data for UC ANR research, while expanding the geographic and
temporal scope of UC ANR research across initiative areas and
division level programmatic goals.
-
Highlight opportunities for public engagement.
Identify opportunities to expand and improve UC ANR public
engagement by promoting community and citizen science.
-
Provide roadmap for increasing UC ANR capacity for
CCS. Communicate to UC ANR scientists the potential
value of CCS approaches in their work, including
recommendations for ensuring quality and credibility of CCS
data. Provide advice and framework for increasing UC ANR
capacity for CCS.
Partner
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
In late 2017, the Center for
Community and Citizen Science began an assessment of public
participation in research throughout the University of California Division of
Agriculture and Natural Resources. The final report,
“Community and Citizen Science at the UC Division of Agriculture
and Natural Resources” is now available! Authored by our
Executive Director Ryan Meyer and California Naturalist Interim
Director Sabrina Drill, the report examines the status of
community and citizen science at UC ANR and provides a roadmap
for increasing UC ANR’s capacity for CCS.
