Publications

A Practical Approach to Assessing the Impact of Citizen Science towards the Sustainable Development Goals

Parkinson, S.; Woods, S.M.; Sprinks, J.; Ceccaroni, L. (2022). A Practical Approach to Assessing the Impact of Citizen Science towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability, 14, 4676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084676

This paper presents a collection of 51 questions and a corresponding set of answers which can be used by citizen science projects to self-assess their impact towards the SDGs. The questions and answers were originally derived from the official UN description of the SDG targets and indicators and were refined through a workshop and series of nine interviews with citizen science project coordinators.

How to measure the impact of citizen science on environmental attitudes, behaviour and knowledge? A review of state-of-the-art approaches

Somerwill, L., Wehn, U. (2022) How to measure the impact of citizen science on environmental attitudes, behaviour and knowledge? A review of state-of-the-art approaches. Environ Sci Eur 34, 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-022-00596-1

In an attempt to bridge the gap between the state of the art in relevant scientific fields and citizen science, this systematic literature review identified best practices and approaches in the field of environmental psychology for measuring environmental attitudes, behaviour and knowledge.

Coordinator Perceptions When Assessing the Impact of Citizen Science towards Sustainable Development Goals

Sprinks, J.; Woods, S.M.; Parkinson, S.; Wehn, U.; Joyce, H.; Ceccaroni, L.; Gharesifard, M. (2021). Coordinator Perceptions When Assessing the Impact of Citizen Science towards Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability, 13(4), 2377. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042377

To better understand the issues and prospective solutions surrounding impact assessment towards SDG progress, this work presents the outcomes of semi-structured interviews with citizen science project coordinators.

Impact assessment of citizen science: state of the art and guiding principles for a consolidated approach

Wehn, U., Gharesifard, M., Ceccaroni, L. et al. (2021). Impact assessment of citizen science: state of the art and guiding principles for a consolidated approach. Sustain Sci 16, 1683–1699. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00959-2

Based on a systematic review of 77 publications, combined with empirical insights from 10 past and ongoing projects in the field of citizen science, this paper presents guidelines for a consolidated Citizen Science Impact Assessment framework to help overcome the dispersion of approaches in assessing citizen science impacts

The value of citizen science for flood risk reduction: cost–benefit analysis of a citizen observatory in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment

Ferri, M., Wehn, U., See, L., Monego, M., and Fritz, S. (2020) The value of citizen science for flood risk reduction: cost–benefit analysis of a citizen observatory in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci 24, 5781–5798. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5781-2020

A cost–benefit analysis of a citizen observatory was undertaken to demonstrate the value of a citizen observatory for flood risk management in monetary terms. Although not yet fully operational, the citizen observatory is assumed to decrease the social vulnerability of the flood risk. By calculating the hazard, exposure and vulnerability of three flood scenarios (required for flood risk management planning by the EU Directive on Flood Risk Management) with and without the proposed citizen observatory, it is possible to evaluate the benefits in terms of the average annual avoided damage costs.