Citizen Science in European Research Infrastructures

TL;DR

This paper discusses a transformative approach to citizen science in European research infrastructures, emphasizing direct public involvement in research activities through large-scale data mining, which enhances scientific impact and stakeholder engagement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model of citizen science integration in Horizon projects, moving beyond traditional dissemination to active research participation involving hundreds of thousands of volunteers.

Findings

Citizen science significantly increases scientific and societal impact.

Large-scale volunteer data mining provides millions of classifications.

Engagement of the public in research is feasible and beneficial.

Abstract

Major European Union-funded research infrastructure and open science projects have traditionally included dissemination work, for mostly one-way communication of the research activities. Here we present and review our radical re-envisioning of this work, by directly engaging citizen science volunteers into the research. We summarise the citizen science in the Horizon-funded projects ASTERICS (Astronomy ESFRI and Research Infrastructure Clusters) and ESCAPE (European Science Cluster of Astronomy and Particle Physics ESFRI Research Infrastructures), engaging hundreds of thousands of volunteers in providing millions of data mining classifications. Not only does this have enormously more scientific and societal impact than conventional dissemination, but it facilitates the direct research involvement of what is often arguably the most neglected stakeholder group in Horizon projects, the science-inclined public. We conclude with recommendations and opportunities for deploying crowdsourced data mining in the physical sciences, noting that the primary goal is always the fundamental research question; if public engagement is the primary goal to optimise, then other, more targeted approaches may be more effective.