Ryan Meyer
Executive Director, Center for Community and Citizen Science
I direct the Center for Community and Citizen Science at the UC Davis School of Education. Our mission is to help scientists, communities, and other members of the public collaborate on science to address environmental problems as a part of civic life. Learn more and sign up for our mailing list here.
My background is in science and technology policy, with a focus on science funding institutions, and the role of science in decision making. Areas of past/current work include climate science, climate adaptation, ocean and coastal resources, watershed health, cooperative extension and community and citizen science.
I am a faculty member in three Graduate Groups: Education, Ecology, and Environmental Policy & Management. I am not currently available to serve as a primary academic advisor to Ph. D. students, but welcome conversations about serving on committees and other forms of mentorship for students at any stage, if there is a good fit.
Bio
Ryan Meyer is the Executive Director of the Center for Community and Citizen Science at the UC Davis School of Education. His career has focused on the dynamics between science society, and on the role of science in environmental decision making. He has studied and written about science funding, the role of public values in our science system, boundary organizations and co-production of science for decision making, and public participation in research.
Ryan was previously Program Director at the California Ocean Science Trust, a non-profit boundary organization that helps scientists and decision makers collaborate more effectively. He completed his PhD at Arizona State University, where he conducted research on climate science funding in the US and Australia. He is a Fulbright Scholar, an affiliate of the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University, and a 2023 Public Scholarship Faculty Fellow.
Select Publications
Jadallah, C., Ballard, H., Meyer, R. M., Ching, C. C., & Patterson Williams, A. (2024). “Seeing power” between young people and conservation professionals in the design of a community-based watershed monitoring initiative. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 33(1), 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2024.2310240
Eitzel, M. V., Behymer, C., Meyer, R., Jadallah, C., Kagley, A., Morley, S., Shafroth, P., Parks, D., Miller, I., Shaffer, A., & Ballard, H. (2023). Lessons learned from community and citizen science monitoring projects on the Elwha River Restoration Project. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1216080
Jagannathan, K., … Meyer, R., et al. (2023). A research agenda for the science of actionable knowledge: Drawing from a review of the most misguided to the most enlightened claims in the science-policy interface literature. Environmental Science & Policy, 144, 174–186.
Meyer, R., Ballard, H., and Jadallah, C. (2020). A Manual for Planning Your Community-Based Citizen Science Monitoring Project For Dam Removal and Watershed Restoration
Arnott, J.C., Kirchhoff, C., Meyer, R., Meadow, A., Bednarek, A. (2020). Sponsoring actionable science: what public science funders can do to advance sustainability and the social contract for science. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 42: 38-44
Moss, R. H., S. Avery, … R. Meyer, et al. 2019. Evaluating Knowledge to Support Climate Action: A Framework for Sustained Assessment. Weather, Climate, and Society, April. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0134.1.
Lemos, M. C., J. C. Arnott, … R. Meyer, et al. (2018). “To Co-Produce or Not to Co-Produce.” Nature Sustainability 1 (12): 722.
Freiwald, J., Meyer, R., et al. (2018). Citizen science monitoring of marine protected areas: case studies and recommendations for integration into monitoring programs. Marine Ecology. 39:e12470 https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.12470
Bednarek, A., Wyborn, C., Cvitanovic, C., Meyer, R., et al. (2018). Boundary-spanning at the science-policy interface: The practitioners’ perspectives. Sustainability Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0550-9
Meyer, R., E. Meyer, L. Sievanen, and A. Freitag. (2017). Informing Ocean and Coastal management. In J. A. Cigliano & H. L. Ballard (Eds.), Citizen Science for Coastal and Marine Conservation. Routledge (Taylor & Francis).
Parris, A., G. Garfin, K. Dow, R. Meyer, and S.L. Close, editors. (2016). Climate in Context: Science and Society Partnering for Adaptation. John Wiley & Sons.
Community and Citizen Science at the UC Division of
Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Authors: Meyer, R., and Drill, S.
Final project report to UC ANR.
Cigliano, J. A., Meyer, R., Ballard, H. L., Freitag, A., Phillips, T. B., Wasser, A. (2015) Making Marine and Coastal Citizen Science Matter. Ocean and Coastal Management.
Meyer, R., S McAfee, & E. Whiteman. 2015. How California is mobilizing boundary chains to integrate science, policy and management for changing ocean chemistry. Climate Risk Management
Citizen Science and Ocean Resource Management in California: Guidance for forming productive partnerships. California Ocean Science Trust, CA, USA. August, 2014.
Meyer, R. 2012. Finding the true value of US climate science. Nature. 482(7384): 133.
Meyer, R. 2012. Uncertainty as a Science Policy Problem. Climatic Change. 110(1):1-2 DOI: 10.1007/s10584-011-0050-8
Meyer, R.M., Leith, P.B. 2011. Reward Research That Informs Policy. Nature 474, 450.
Meyer, R. 2011. The Public Values Failures of Climate Science in the US. Minerva. 40: 47-70.
Pirtle, Z., R. Meyer, A.L. Hamilton. 2010. What Does It Mean When Climate Models Agree? A Case for Assessing Independence Among General Circulation Models. Environmental Science and Policy. 13: 351-361.
Shifting Tides: Piloting the MPA Watch Intercept Survey in Southern California
Here’s one inescapable reality of community and citizen science: there are many things that you simply cannot learn until you’ve been on the ground with people, doing work side by side in the field. No matter how much you plan and prepare, no matter how many logistical and technical realities you try to anticipate, things will come up once you get out in the world and start testing out your ideas. Adjustments will be needed.
Feature: Essential Tips for Collaborative Grant-Writing with Community Partners
Ryan Meyer, UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science, shares on Public Scholarship and Engagement to convey his advice and guidance on the particular challenges and struggles when writing grant proposals with partners outside of the university.
Project Update: Back to the Matilija Dam
Discussion surrounding the removal of the 76 year old Matilija Dam started in the mid-1990’s, yet here we are today in 2023, and the Dam is still here. Initially constructed in 1947 for water supply and flood control, the dam is now considered non-functional due to structural deterioration and sediment accumulation. Classified in poor condition, the dam poses a significant impediment to species movement in Matilija Creek, notably impacting the federally-endangered Southern California Steelhead Trout.
Building on ten years of support and partnerhip:
How can California sustain and improve the role of Community and Citizen Science in MPAs?
Together with our partners at the California Academy of Sciences, our MPAs team has submitted a public comment for the April 2023 meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission, urging the state to build on 10+ years of support and partnership, which brought more than 80,000 people into the process of marine protected area monitoring in California.
Report: Summary of Community and Citizen Science on the Elwha River
The UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science team has been working with researchers on the Elwha River in Washington state for more than a year now, and we are proud to share a new report summarizing what we have learned about Community and Citizen Science on the Elwha.
Citizen Science in Prisons
Project Duration
2020-present
Location
San Quentin State Prison, Avenal State Prison, Mule Creek State Prison, California
Project Update: Piloting Citizen Science in Prison Gardens
People in prison are taking part in real science in collaboration with UC Davis researchers.
This post is cross-posted from the UC Davis Public Scholarship and Engagement blog. Click here to view the original post.
New reports on Community and Citizen Science in California’s Marine Protected Areas
The Center’s analyses will inform the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Decadal Management Review of MPAs
Since Spring 2021, two project teams at the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science have been collecting and analyzing data related to the contributions of community and citizen science participants in coastal monitoring activities within and surrounding marine protected areas (MPAs) throughout the State of California.
Youth-focused Community and Citizen Science
This blog post, authored by Ryan Meyer, Heidi Ballard, and Lila Higgins, originally appeared on the Blue Sky Funders Forum blog.
When do experiences with science lead young people to create change in their lives, landscapes, and communities? Consider this reflection from Rachel Anne Arias, a 12-year-old living in La Crescenta in Southern California:
Center for Community and Citizen Science
Through its research and programming, the Center for Community and Citizen Science helps scientists, communities, and other members of the public collaborate on science to address environmental problems as a part of civic life. The center researches ways to broaden and improve participation in science by diverse communities, use citizen science to effectively improve scientific learning, and develop resources and tools for building successful citizen science programs.
