Participatory Science

Participatory science means the use of scientific techniques by members of the general public to gather information about environmental issues such as air quality, water quality and biodiversity. Other terms like citizen science or community science are also used to refer to public engagement in the scientific processes. While the term participatory science is relatively new, it best represents the inclusive and accessible nature of public involvement in science to support environmental protection.

Activities such as bird counts go back a century, but new technologies have enhanced the role of participatory science in environmental protection, by informing the public and influencing policymakers. Agencies are learning to capitalize on this resource to support their programs, and environmental justice communities are using scientific tools to support their advocacy.

Participatory science is a rapidly evolving field, especially with regard to the use of data by environmental agencies, or by communities to influence agency policies and decisions. The potential for community-generated data to have an impact on policy and action and to fill information gaps by providing valuable information to the public, is significant.

ELI focuses its work in this arena on the interface between communities, participatory science, and policy, and the use of participatory science to influence government actions or support agency programs. Its work can be found here.

However, issues remain that must be overcome for the full potential of participatory science to be realized, including:

• Ensuring that data is of high quality, so that it can support government decisions.
• Educating the public about potential uses of data and about how to ensure data is adequate for each type of use.
• Identifying ways to use the data generated that does not meet traditional expectations, such as identifying potential problem areas for further investigation, improving the state of the art in terms of technology for data management, formatting and display (e.g., use of the FAIR principles).
• Building common understandings between state and local agencies and communities to ensure that community-generated data is used.
• Bridging western science with traditional and local ecological knowledge.

In 2020, ELI provided a set of recommendations to EPA on steps to take to address these issues and accelerate the use of citizen science in environmental programs.

ELI is seeking to identify participatory science efforts that aim to influence government action, or are used in government programs. Its hope is that by doing so it can be helpful to others who are carrying out projects with similar goals. A list of such projects can be found in the Participatory Science Database. [link to webpage for database]. Suggestions of other projects that could be added to this list are welcome, and can be sent to citizenscience@eli.org.