Sustainable potential

Citizen science is high on the agenda in Flanders, for scientists as well as for citizens. This was not always the case. Which project has been the trigger for RVO-Society to realise the capacity of a citizen science project?

Jo: “A number of years ago, RVO-society and KU Leuven were working together on a pilot project ‘Bos Online’ (‘Forest Online’); the microclimate around a tree was measured using sensors, and those measurement data were available online for statistical analyses. For me, that project has been the trigger. Meteorologist and public figure Jill Peeters also noticed the potential of Bos Online and asked us, RVO-Society, if we could realise a similar project using weather stations. The department of Economy, Science and Innovation of the Flemish government were also showing interest in new initiatives to involve young people and citizens in science and STEM. This way the STEM-project with young people and citizens on climate and the weather, together with Jill Peeters, took shape.

How did you, as former director, manage to convince the Flemish government to support citizen science in a sustainable way?

Jo: “When the new agreement between RVO and the government was being negotiated, I proposed a number of innovations. I saw e-learning, blended learning, and citizen science as channels to stimulate young people and citizens in their interest in science. Those innovations have been picked up by the cabinet of the minister, the management board of RVO-Society and various researchers of imec. This way, the base was set to work in depth and to set up a professional knowledge centre.”

How do you both see the role of Scivil as a knowledge centre when it comes to citizen science?

Jo: “A good citizen science project delegates steps from the research to citizens, often after training them. This means it goes further than simply collecting data. The aim is to give the participant a better view on the scientific method. This is both a challenge and an enormousadded value. Scivil must protect this focus. A second important task according to me, is supporting the entire process, from preparation of a project to final communication of the results. This way, the selected projects can have their maximal effect. A third task is keeping a finger on the pulse, both in Flanders as well as internationally. This means scouting for opportunities to keep improving the entire process of citizen science.”

Ilse: “After two years, we see that the knowledge centre has earned a lot of real value in the field. A lot of actors, scientists, citizens, and policy makers are currently exploring the growth capacity of citizen science. This is essential, as in society there are a lot of domains with potential for citizen science. Those domains have barely been tapped into, like in health care. The bottom-up approach of citizen science, in which the initiative for a project can come from citizens themselves, has not been fully established either, so far. Can citizen movements formulate a project proposal if they find researchers whose research is in line with their proposal? That concept has a huge potential.”

Jo: “Scivil is like an antenna that picks up these questions. Before presenting these questions to the government or the relevant minister, Scivil can look for similar initiatives abroad to set up a “weighted” advice, in which pros and cons are included. Scivil is, according to me, the partner of the government for policy preparation, monitoring and evaluation of the overall project citizen science.”
 

Focus on interplay

What aspects make a successful and relevant citizen science project?

Jo: “The topic of the project must be in line with high quality scientific research and bring a unique added value to the researcher. The project should work with tasks for citizens that are relevant as well as feasible. Relevant, so the citizen can feel valued and get a better understanding for the research. Feasible, so citizens can be encouraged to get started with the project and follow the scientific protocols correctly. Ideally the project appeals to a wide audience. Finally, a strong project has a professional, dedicated management, because the interaction with citizens requires specific competences and sufficient resources.”

Ilse: “Personally, I strongly believe in the interplay between citizen science and education. Participating in a citizen science project turns a student into a researcher. The role of a student changes, as does their sense of the importance of the role. In other words: the intrinsic motivation increases. Young people are now questioning societal themes more, such as climate change. Supporting them in that, deepening their knowledge and objectives so that they can underpin their opinion and can think about solutions is a strong plus of a citizen science project for young people. Moreover, local governments and cities are showing more interest to involve young people and schools in their policy. We see an ideal match in this between our different areas of expertise. That is why we sharpened and adapted our operation. RVO-Society* is now the umbrella organisation of Scivil, the knowledge centre of citizen science, on one hand, and Brightlab, which bundles our existing STEM-initiatives in education.”
 

Teach the teacher

Has the interest of young people in STEM and technology increased over the years? Are there still some sore points?

Ilse: “It absolutely has. There is much more attention for STEM in education and beyond, with different STEM-initiatives in academies, universities, and companies. But there are still some working points. Participation of girls is substandard. Research shows that girls are more interested in societal application of technology than technology on itself. We can stimulate girls at a young age to try, fail and try again, so they gain more confidence and realise they do have a talent for STEM. With underprivileged young people there is also a lack of real role models."

Brightlab is strong in setting up and developing a STEM-range for teachers. Do teachers play a crucial role in lowering the barrier to study domains in science and technology?

Ilse: "A school is a cross-section of society; all children can be reached. This makes it the ideal place to bring children from a young age in contact with STEM and give them the chance to discover their talents. Next to parents, teachers play a fundamental role in this. The problem is that STEM is a relatively new discipline, and no teacher had a training to become a STEM-teacher. Add to that a quickly evolving STEM context and technologies, and you realise that teachers need specific, custom-made input. Brightlab adds a lot of value in this field. Basic scientific basic concepts are fed into new contexts and mixed with new technologies. We try to reach as many children and young people as possible, through teachers and our teach the teacher concepts. With some teachers we go a step further and involve them in creation of a new product. Their knowledge of the classroom context and curriculum enriches our activities.”

Jo: “I agree. Schools and teachers are primordial in promoting science and technology. I don’t like to think in terms of lowering barriers as that is technically impossible. Studying science and technology has its own intrinsic knowledge barriers. Teachers do have a better awareness of the importance of STEM. With the wide range of STEM-material (such as from RVO-Society), the new way of learning (e-learning) and the pressure from the government (through the new educational goals for schools), they got out of their comfort zone. But we are far from done."

Fishing for talent

Which triggers could make more young people choose for STEM-studies?

Ilse: “On the one hand, there is secondary education: adaptations of the curriculum regarding STEM have started for the youngest students and are now being implemented for older students, have put STEM fundamentally on the map. The exclusive attention for separate disciplines is gone, we see more attention for the integration of sciences and for a shift in focus on research-based and design-based learning. That is an important step to promote STEM for young people. On the other hand, we see in primary education that changes in curriculum have been planned, but not yet executed. It seems very important to me to do this well, so that young talents don’t get lost. Once children turn their back towards STEM, technology, and sciences, it is difficult to get them back. If we enthuse, support, and orientate them well from a young age, it can be crucial for their later choices in education.”

Would you say that through distance learning during corona times, pre-teaching and home-teaching have gained power and credibility? At Brightlab, did you see the interest of teachers increase?

Ilse: “We have been implementing e-learning for years, as well as the principle of the flipped classroom: new subject material is first explored individually online and then deepened or applied in the classroom. This concept is in line with the current concepts of pre-teaching. We strongly believe in the possibilities of making students more responsible for their own learning process and to work in a more differentiated way. During the corona crisis we noticed a larger interest for our e-learning platform as well as for our online workshops. We hope that the use of digital technologies as a teaching tool will become self-evident and that teachers experience that thisis an interesting, alternative way of learning, at least for some of the students.”
 

Looking for added value

Which evolutions would you like to see emerge in the Flemish citizen science landscape?

Ilse: “Personally, I would like to see more projects on the intersection of education and citizen science. In one of our recent projects, we connect the expertise of Brightlab and Scivil. We let students map their own bicycle safety like actual researchers. This way, they take part in a real citizen science project, but also look for STEM-inspired solutions to increase their safety. Moreover, in the working methods we make sure that all young people can participate.”

Jo: “My advice would be to work on a differentiation in support and funding of citizen science projects. Some projects are naturally more long-term and large-scale (climate, air quality...), other projects are possible in a shorter time span. It is desirable to work for one or two years with a universal project call that is similar for all projects, big or small. But the moment is also there to analyse with Scivil which large-scale projects have insufficiently been supported and what the added value and impact of those projects could have been. Based on those insights, the government can rationally decide which effects they want to achieve with citizen science and adjust their funding instrument.”