With the Citizen Science Symposium at Te Papa only 2 (short) weeks away, now is a good time to profile the presenters. The line-up is diverse – from volunteers to researchers to coordinators of large-scale, long-term citizen science initiatives with far-reaching outcomes. Between the 19 presenters is a vast amount of expertise and experience as well as a whole lot of dedication to their citizen science initiatives. Oh, and they’re all movers and shakers in their respective fields too.

#CitSciNZ2018 – the programme

The #CitSciNZ2018 Symposium is a single day of talks at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa on Monday, April 9. You can see the programme here. The first part showcases a cross-section of environmentally-focused citizen science initiatives underway in NZ. The later in the day, we look further afield for perspectives from Australia, Germany and the US on how to grow a cohesive ‘citizen science movement’ that is supported by relevant policy.

#CitSciNZ2018 – the presenters

A typical task for event organisers is bringing together presenter biographies – you can read all about presenters here. It’s been fascinating. A back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals well over a century of skills and experience among presenters in roles that mostly combine people, science and the environment. Presenters cover a spectrum of interests. A few of the topics covered by speakers (not all are included in the following): meaningfully engaging members of the public, school students and hard to reach communities (Siobhan Leachman, Di Christenson); building scientific and ecological literacy (Sarah Morgan, Josh Richardson and most presenters!); addressing issues around data quality (Andrea Wiggins); crowdsourcing data for studies with extended temporal and geographic ranges (Myfanwy Emeny); effectively communicating study findings; evaluating project efficacy (Sally Carson, Ngaire Tyson); citizen science at a strategic level (Jessie Oliver, Susanne Hecker, Lea Shanley); building and maintaining project momentum (Emily Roberts) and the roles technology plays in data collection, analysis, storage and reporting (Tim Park, Victor Anton, Steve Pawson, Parker Jones).

Presenters are from local government, schools, the public and community groups, NGOs/Charitable Trusts, advisory groups, universities, museums, Crown Research Institutes as well as international Citizen Science Associations.

100 Experts in the room

One aspect of the #CitSciNZ2018 Symposium is also to harness the expertise of audience members – that’s why there are panel sessions after longer talks and a series of themed roundtables at the end of the day (Project design; Evaluation; Data Quality; Strategy; Meeting enduser needs). The sessions are designed to help draw out opinion and experiences from participants, rather than the single threads of Q&A that usually occur after individual presentations. A citizen science EXPO in the main foyer of Te Papa, is where participants can display posters/banners about their projects.

Inaugural citizen science workshop at #NZES2015, November 19, 2015

Registering for #CitSciNZ2018 workshops and the symposium

To register for the Symposium (April 9) and practical workshops the weekend prior (Lizard monitoring, using Trap.NZ, bird monitoring, revegetation monitoring, Te Papa BioBlitz and Naturewatch, freshwater monitoring, and data wrangling with Marine Meter Squared), click here.

For further information about any of the events running April 7-9 contact citizenscience@landcare.org.nz

See you there!

Monica Peters (Event Coordinator/Chief Wrangler), Abby Davidson (NZLT Graphic Designer and People Wrangler #2) and Arni Ore (NZLT Techspert)… CitSciNZ2018 pre-party!