Citizen science
Citizen science – exploring and making change together
Citizen science refers to research in which non-researchers can participate, for example, by brainstorming research topics, collecting observations or otherwise generating knowledge. This makes it possible to reach new perspectives and discover research objects that might not have been explored without the participation of citizens.
In line with the recommendation for citizen science (in Finnish) published by the Committee for Public Information and Federation of Finnish Learned Societes, we enable and support citizen science as part of our research activities. We believe that the participation of citizens increases our understanding of various topics, for example those of local importance.
Ambition
At HAMK, we cooperate extensively with a wide range of actors in research. Citizen science is part of our multidisciplinary research activities. Together with citizens, we research and produce practical solutions. We see citizen science as a means to regional development by interacting with local people and opening doors to our diverse communities and partners as an invitation to participate in our research. We also look for solutions internationally via, our RUN European University networks, while providing citizens and organisations new opportunities for cooperative research and development.
We want to promote openness and diversity in research by involving different perspectives. For us, citizen science is an avenue for participation, learning and impact, for changing the world step by step.
Objective
Our applied research will deliver practical solutions that strengthen the vitality, well-being and sustainability of our society. By engaging citizens, we find new research topics and perspectives while developing our research activities. We aim to strengthen our regional impact while opening up our international networks to local actors. Through RUN European University, we will connect people across national borders in our research and development work to ensure economically, socially, culturally and ecologically sustainable development in the operational areas of RUN-EU partner higher education institutions.
Citizen science brings research and society closer together: scientific thinking and principles become familiar and embedded in everyday life when citizens are involved in the design and implementation of research. The impact of research is enhanced when citizens are involved, and thus engaged, in research and in the exploitation of its results. Multidisciplinary applied research is strengthened through dialogue and action.
Practice and development
We have considered citizen science in our Strategy of top excellence. The strategy summarises the objectives, strengths and direction of our research activities. It is supplemented by annual milestones and continuously evaluated in relation to changes in the operating environment.
We are already conducting research and development projects together with people. We have existing guidelines for this type of collaboration in areas such as research ethics, data protection, communication and partnership management. Currently, aspects of citizen science manifest in our research and development work through the following forms:
- planning research together with citizens
- citizen participation as collectors and recipients of information
- citizens acting as agents of change, as “bettermakers”, exploiting research results.
In 2024, we will produce a guide for researchers on what citizen science is, how to promote it and what issues to consider. At HAMK, we do citizen science responsibly, following the principles of responsible conduct of research. We acquire and produce data and evaluate research using ethically sound methods. We communicate science and our research results in an open and understandable way.