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Define challenges for the IMPETUS accelerator call
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Nominate projects, and a jury member for the European Union Prize for Citizen Science
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Be ambassadors for the project
The IMPETUS Citizen Panel gathers citizen science practitioners and it is essential to the way IMPETUS wants to design, plan and execute its work plan. The panel will be growing over time, adding 10 members each year, until 2024. Its main roles are:
Meet the members of our citizen panel here!
Maria Leão
She/her
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, ITQB NOVA, Oeiras Valley
Oeiras, Portugal
Your involvement in citizen science
Coordinator of the Citizen Science Programme “Ciência + Cidadã”, in a close partnership between Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, ITQB NOVA and Oeiras Municipality. We aim to implement a Citizen Science strategy at an institutional level in a multidisciplinary approach with the support of partners from different sectors of society. We also collaborate with the Portuguese Network for Citizen Science.


Katarzyna Pydzińska Azevedo
She/her
Porto, Portugal
Your involvement in citizen science
I am actively involved in the activities of the Portuguese Network for Citizen Science and in organisation of some local events for CS promotion. My current doctoral research at the University of Porto (Department of Sociology) is also related to CS, with my PhD thesis focused on the potential of citizen science for better local policy making and SDGs monitoring, especially in urban context.
Over the years trough my professional work at INOVA+ I have been involved in numerous European projects, often in the related areas (citizen engagement, co-creation, open innovation & open science, science communication and promotion) and my interest in citizen science grew stronger. On the other hand, long-term participation in the CIVITAS initiative and similar urban-focused projects increased dedication to the theme of sustainable and liveable cities, hence leading to my current priority area of CS and active citizenship.
Zuzana Stožická
She/her
Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information, Bratislava, Slovakia
Your involvement in citizen science
I promote citizen science in Slovakia. With my colleagues from Department of open science support in SCSTI we created first Slovak introductory course on citizen science and the list of CS (or participatory research) projects in Slovakia. We translate educational materials, write articles about CS in Slovak, lecture and invite people from the participatory projects to have webinars and talks to public. Our aim is to establish citizen science platform in Slovakia.


Seán Lynch
Founder OpenLitterMap
Geographer, Developer
Your involvement in citizen science
I started studying litter mapping in 2008 when I was introduced to GIS at University as I was inspired to combine my experience gaming with real-world data. After working as a divemaster in the tropics for 6 months I gained loads of experience with biodiversity, sustainable tourism and beach cleans. I returned home to Ireland to do a masters in GIS + Remote Sensing in 2013 to study coral reef mapping and plastic pollution. There, I was introduced to OpenStreetMap. Unable to find a similar platform for plastic/litter mapping, OpenLitterMap was born. I did a second masters in NUIG studying Coastal & Marine Environments where I reviewed all available litter mapping platforms, policy, and wrote the OpenLitterMap dissertation. After teaching myself how to code and building OpenLitterMap from scratch, I spent the last few years working as a software developer for various startups to gain the skills needed to continue developing citizen science independently because of the 100s of millions of tonnes of plastic rotting in the oceans. I got my first funding from Project Catalyst, a decentralised crypto funding instrument on Cardano to build Littercoin, the first token rewarded for the production of geographic information.
Monika Maciuliene
She/her
Vilnius, Lithuania
Your involvement in citizen science
Head of Lithuanian Citizen Science Association (www.pilieciumokslas.lt). I’m also a researcher at Vilnius Tech and together with our team, we are involved in several projects focused on Citizen Science (e.g. INCENTIVE). In both of these roles, my job is to raise awareness about Citizen Science in Lithuania through the preparation of training materials, support resources and organization of events.


Anna Verones
She/her
Berlin
Your involvement in citizen science
I heard about citizen science for the first time in the context of marine protection, as an emerging approach to raise awareness around climate topics and inspire collective actions.
In 2021, I led the development of the citizen science project Open Soil Atlas, an open source co-learning center, where participants are trained on how to test soil and make results available to the scientific community in the form of a high-resolution soil quality map. Based on the correlation between healthy soil and healthy communities, we wanted to increase soil literacy and promote soil conservation practices at the local scale.
I’m interested in citizen science as a tool for promoting and legitimating civic engagement and public participation in the definition of common strategies to face the crisis of our times and collectively design solutions. I work at the Federal Network for Civic Engagement in Germany (in German, Bundesnetzwerk Bürgerschaftliches Engagement) and I believe in collective action as the way to pursue fair and sustainable socio-ecological transformations.
Dr. Rhoda Schuling
Groningen, the Netherlands
Hanze University of Applied Sciences / Centre of Expertise Healthy Ageing
Your involvement in citizen science
Our Applied Sciences University is practice-oriented in both research and education. Therefore, it is ideally positioned in local and regional settings to work with Citizen Science: this is where our networks are. In recent years, it has become clear that to bring about necessary transitions in (thinking about) health care in particular, much more bottom-up innovation, i.e. innovation co-created with citizens, is needed.
To facilitate our teachers, researchers, students and external partners in the region, a small task force has been formed within the University. As postdoc researcher Citizen Science, I head this taskforce. I am responsible for research and educational strategy in Citizen Science, and number of individual Citizen Science research projects. I’m also involved in CS networks maintained with other Universities and health related RPOs, as well as the Citizen Science in Health workgroup from the European Citizen Science Association.
