UCL Citizen Science Academy
The UCL Citizen Science Academy offers community-based, practice-led research training, the UCL Citizen Science Academy empowers communities to create social action, produce useful knowledge, and lead meaningful policy change.
About the Academy
Based at the Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP), the UCL Citizen Science Academy has been designed in partnership with the UCL Office for Open Science and Scholarship, and the cross-faculty Citizen Science Working Group, with the aim of making participation in research accessible and inclusive to people from all backgrounds.
Training programmes are linked to active research projects and delivered in non-academic, community-based settings.
We are committed to making citizen science transformative for those we work with. No prior experience of research, work, or study is required.
A UCL Citizen Science Certificate is awarded at the end of our programmes to recognise the skills and competencies citizen scientists acquire.
What is citizen science?
Citizen science actively involves the public in research that contributes to scientific knowledge.
Many citizen science projects are in life and natural sciences, such as the ZOE Health Study, the Big Butterfly Count, Great British Bee Count or NASA Globe Cloud Gaze. Citizen scientists take part by surveying, observing, mapping and transcribing data.
Involving the public in citizen social science
Citizen ‘social’ science is an emerging area of citizen science that involves the public in research projects focused on complex questions about human behaviour and how societies are organised, like understanding lived experiences of inequality and poverty.
UCL Citizen Science Certificate
Launched in 2023, the UCL Citizen Science certificate recognises the research and team-working competencies citizen scientists acquire (e.g. research methods, ethics, fieldwork strategies, how to code and analyse data, communication and dissemination strategies).
The courses taught include core competency domains that are relevant to all citizen science research projects as well as course-specific competency domains that can be adapted to the specific method each research project requires.
Our Principles
Community-based
Practice-led
Linked to real-world research projects
Inclusive
Making research available and accessible
High-quality
research training
Ethics, methods, analysis & impact
Links to policy & practice
Creating a knowledge production infrastructure
Capacity building
Partnered with voluntary sector organisations
Collaboration
Citizen scientists collaborate with one another, their communities, academics, community partners, and policy makers.
Working with us
Our partners play an important role in shaping the design and the delivery of every Academy programme. They help us create a new kind of knowledge infrastructure where the output of citizen scientists impacts real decision-making.
We collaborate with local authorities to better connect with residents, team with voluntary sector organisations to recruit, employ and support citizen scientists, and help academics make co-production a key part of their methodology.
Projects
Camden Citizen Scientists-in-Residence
A new collaboration with Camden Council, working with seven citizen scientists integrated into the council’s engagement and policy teams.
Coming Soon…
Citizen Science Now! Research by the Community
On 15th June 2024 we launched Citizen Science Now! Research by the Community, an exhibition of the exciting work from our citizen scientists across London.
The showcase, co-curated by Newham-based citizen scientist Twinkle, was part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Institute for Global Prosperity.
Find out more
Maisha Bora study
A community-led research project exploring what prosperity means to people living in three unplanned (often referred to as ‘informal’) settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Mji Mpya, Bonde La Mpunga, and Keko Machungwa.
Coming soon…
Good Life North Kensington
This project brings together eight citizen scientists to research what the local residents of North Kensington perceive a ‘good life’ to mean to them.
Prosperity in the Age of Mass Displacement
PROCOL Lebanon focuses on how we can measure prosperity and growth in Lebanon - a country that is experiencing a massive displacement of people - moving beyond indices like GDP to include measures of wellbeing, health, employment and education.
Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 longitudinal study
A 10-year mixed-methods study tracing the effects of large-scale and long-term urban regeneration on local communities in east London.
Citizen Science Zines
Citizen social scientists tell their personal and community stories about the obstacles to prosperity in east London highlighting the economic, social failures following urban regeneration.
Good Life Euston
We're working together with Camden Council, Camden Giving and Lendlease to understand the experiences of local communities most affected by major regeneration projects in the Euston area, and identify opportunities for local people to prosper while regeneration is underway.
Prosperity in east London: a citizen's view
Developed by citizen scientists, this exhibition invites the audience to witness stories and explore obstacles east Londoner’s have to achieving prosperity.