A first approach to citizen science in Greece

Citizen science in Greece is still at a premature level, yet developing potential. Out of the 91 citizen science-related ongoing or recently finished projects recorded by our Environmental Informatics Research Group, 71.11% refer to STEM while 28.89% are linked with non STEM activities. Concerning STEM activities, biodiversity is the main research subject, while air quality, urban environment, and agriculture seem to be high in the research preferences. Regarding the non STEM activities, education is the domain with the biggest influence in citizen science projects. Searching for citizen science projects in Greece one can figure out that the majority of the citizen science projects and activities can be found around educational clusters. A cluster like this is considered to be the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki(AUTh), with active participation in various citizen science projects over the past few years.  In particular, AUTh has participated in at least 14 projects since 2017, 35.71% of which are non-STEM and 64.29% are STEM-related, nine of which are still running. Among them, URwatair was the only one initiated by our team, and the only one also with entire local participation. URwatair (2019-2020) was about air quality assessment(Urair) and rainwater management (URwater) with the aid of the citizens of Thessaloniki, both of which aimed at the amelioration of everyday life. Another project where our team participated was EU-Citizen.Science, an H2020 project (2019-2021), that has the goal to build and advance a sustainable platform and mutual web-based learning space supplying different tools, best practice examples, and relevant scientific results on citizen science. The latest (but not least) project that the environmental informatics research group participated in, is called Incentive, is also an H2020 project that will last for four years (2021-2024), and its purpose is to establish sustainable transdisciplinary hubs for stimulating and supporting excellent citizen science with engaged roles for all R&I stakeholders in line with Responsible Research and Innovation principles. 

 

 

Figure 1. Greece contribution to citizen Science projects

 

Table1. Indicative list with citizen science-related projects with AUTh participation

Projects: CHESS, Heteropolitics, FAirWAY, AfriCultuReS, PTwist, SISCODE, Wreck History, MindSpaces, EU-Citizen.Science, Urwatair, Life Atias, VEO, RESET, Incentive

Editors: K. Karatzas (kkara@auth.gr), K. Bakousi (kbakousi3@gmail.com)

Thank you for sharing this information about citizen science in Greece! It's great to see that there is growing potential for citizen science in the country, even though it is still at a premature level. It's interesting to note that the majority of citizen science projects and activities in Greece can be found around educational clusters, with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki being a prominent example. This suggests that there is a strong focus on using citizen science as a tool for education and engagement, which is a valuable approach to increasing awareness and interest in STEM and non-STEM activities. It's also encouraging to see that biodiversity is a key research subject for STEM-related citizen science projects, as this is an important area of study for understanding and protecting the natural environment. In addition, the focus on air quality, urban environment, and agriculture highlights the potential for citizen science to address pressing environmental issues that affect everyday life. Finally, it's exciting to hear about the ongoing and upcoming citizen science projects that your research group is involved in, including URwatair, EU-Citizen.Science, and Incentive. These projects demonstrate the growing interest and investment in citizen science in Greece, and have the potential to make a significant impact in promoting responsible research and innovation. https://alsolist.com/country/greece/