According to the director of this centre, Dr. Monika Maciuliene, when non-professionals get involved in scientific processes, collaboration with scientists gradually becomes the driving force of progress.
"Citizen science will not answer all scientific questions or solve all the problems of the scientific system, but it can find its place. It is particularly useful in cases when the problem requires more awareness, when more assistance in analysing data is needed or even when it is necessary to collect a lot of data in different geographic locations, and scientists’ efforts are limited by the lack resources," says M. Maciuliene, who also leads the Civic Science Association in Lithuania.
Mutual Benefit
Arguably, the greatest benefit of citizen science is that with the help of people, scientists can collect more diverse data. However, citizen science is beneficial not only to representatives of science.
"For citizens themselves, especially young people, participating in citizen science projects is a great opportunity to develop critical thinking skills, such as selecting information, verifying data. These projects also allow them to take their hobbies to another level - not just to enjoy the process, but also to contribute to scientific progress. In citizen science projects of NASA, people, following the guidelines prepared by scientists, help to explore distant galaxies. Citizens have even discovered exoplanets and thus contributed to the progress of astronomy," says M. Maciuliene.
Society is most involved in citizen science projects in the field of natural sciences. Recently, projects related to environmental protection and the consequences of climate change have been particularly popular. During these projects, citizens and scientists collaborate to collect data on changes in water bodies, biodiversity, air quality, and other areas affected by climate change.
There is also an increase in social and humanitarian science projects. People enjoy transcribing ancient texts, writings of literary authors, letters, or records in archives.
Anyone can contribute
According to Dr. M. Maciuliene, anyone willing can contribute to citizen science projects - there are no age restrictions, required knowledge or relevant experience. Other interested groups - businesses, state, and non-governmental organisations - can also get involved. The most recent citizen science projects in Lithuania can be found at: www.pilieciumokslas.lt.
There is no need to fear making mistakes because in all projects, citizens work under the supervision of scientists.
"Citizens collect, analyse, and compare data based on methodological guidelines and tools prepared by scientists. Also, citizen science projects include additional data selection and cleaning tools, which allow only high-quality data selection," reassures Dr. M. Maciuliene.
However, scientists' opinions on citizen science activities and the quality of collected data differ.
"For skeptics, I like to emphasize that citizen science is just another method in our toolbox. Like other studies, it needs to be thoroughly, consistently planned and well thought out so that the collected data is suitable and of high quality," says the researcher from VILNIUS TECH.
The First Citizen Science Centre in Lithuania
In 2022, VILNIUS TECH established the first Citizen Science Center in Lithuania, involving the public in the processes of scientific research, innovation, and knowledge creation.
"Since the term citizen science and related activities are not well known in our region, the majority of our activities are related to increasing their awareness. As part of citizen science projects or smaller-scale activities for raising citizen involvement, VILNIUS TECH scientists advise university colleagues, as well as scientists from other universities across the country," says Dr. M. Maciuliene, director of the VILNIUS TECH Citizen Science Centre.
During their first year the Citizen science centre managed to establish close ties with Lithuanian scientific institutions that appreciate citizen science ideas and develop relations with academic libraries in Lithuania. And that is not all.
"VILNIUS TECH scientists and the team of the Citizen Science Centre received EU funding for two projects. The ongoing CLIMAS project will carry out citizen science activities in the context of climate change, while the DIGICHer project will encourage citizens to engage in the digitization of cultural heritage," shares the researcher.
