Citizen Science
Citizen Science is the broad term given to scientific investigation conducted by people who are not professional scientists. If you are embarking on an expedition or other form of adventurous travel there are many ways in which you can collaborate with the scientific community to collect data, contribute to active research or even become study subjects yourself!
Citizen Science projects can cover a wide variety of methods and subject areas, from recording the sounds of the jungle, to collecting snow in the Arctic, to observing seabirds during a sailing voyage. The level of committment can be equally diverse.
There are many expedition projects out there who would be willing to invest considerable time and effort to collect knowledge in a useful way in the form of citizen science - and there are many research scientists in need of information from the field who are unable to gather it themselves. The Foundation seeks to enable these two groups to find each other for meaningful and productive collaboration.
Our primary tool in this aim are the databases below. If you would like to add your project to the listings please follow the link to the submission form.
Please note that the Foundation bears no responsibility for any of the projects listed and the inclusion of a individual or project on these lists does not imply any recommendation or guarantee. If responding to a listing, please act responsibly and do sensible research before committing to a project or collaboration.
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Expeditions seeking science...
Listed here are individuals, groups and organisations that are planning an expedition or adventurous travel and are wanting to conduct or contribute to some form of scientific investigation / data gathering as part of the journey.
This is the resource for you if you are a scientist looking for collaborations in order to gather data or if you already operate a citizen science project and are looking for additional participants.
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Scientists / projects seeking participants
Listed here are professional scientists and existing projects with a citizen science element who are looking for expedition teams and travellers with whom to collaborate.
This is the resource for you if you are an expedition team currently planning a journey and would like to add a data gathering aspect or other knowledge gathering purpose to your endeavour.
There are opportunities here for all levels of participation, from generating a project from scratch in a direct collaboration, to participating in an existing project alongside many others that is already well established.
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Citizen Science project libraries and volunteer opportunities
There are a number of websites that collect information about existing citizen science projects which are available to the public. These projects tend to be on a regional, national or international level and are organised by large institutions and organisations. They require varying degrees of comittment from one off contributions of a few hours to significant investments of time. Some require training or specific skills.
These sites frequently include volunteering opportunities with projects in the UK and overseas conducting scientific research. These opportunities are usually residential and can require minimum commitments of a few weeks to a few months. It is common for volunteers to be asked to cover the cost of their own travel, board and lodging as well as paying a participation fee.
Many of the sites listed provide good information about best practises and what to look out for when choosing to participate in a citizen science project.
The B.I.G. Arctic Research Expedition
Find out about the Expedition project that inspired the Foundation. Via the link below you can access the original project website with maps, stories and details of the science projects completed…
