Queensland citizen science strategy

    About the strategy

    A strategy for Engaging Queenslanders in science was developed by the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist in 2016 to fulfil the vision of creating a Queensland population that engages in and recognises, supports and advocates for science.

    The Queensland citizen science strategy (PDF, 3.7MB) was developed to support this vision and encourage Queenslanders to be aware of and participate in citizen science projects.

    The Queensland citizen science strategy outlined the following three goals:

    • Raise awareness: work together to ensure the Queensland community has an understanding of citizen science and the projects which are relevant to Queensland
    • Make it easy for our community to find and participate in projects and for scientists to recruit and train citizen scientists; let’s also make it easy to upload, find and use the data
    • Grow the community of citizen scientists and scientists working together to make scientific discoveries.

    This strategy has now been incorporated into the refreshed Engaging Queenslanders in science strategy 2021–24.

    Do you want to get involved in citizen science?

    There are many different types of citizen science projects underway in Queensland. You can participate in projects focused on ecology, the environment, biology, astronomy, biochemistry, health, social science and archaeology—to name just a few!

    You can read more:

    Members of the Australian Citizen Science Association can join the Queensland Chapter by emailing info@chiefscientist.qld.gov.au.

    Grants

    If you’re involved in running a citizen science project that affects Queensland or Queenslanders, you can apply for funding under the Engaging Science Grants program. For this round, grants of up to $20,000 each (excluding GST) are available to support applicants over a 12-month period.

    Read about the 43 recipients from the 2019 and 2020 rounds and the projects you can get involved in.

    Research to develop the strategy

    To inform the development of the Queensland citizen science strategy, research was undertaken to understand Queenslanders’ perceptions and attitudes towards science.

    The research involved a 10-minute online survey of approximately 1200 residents aged 18 years and over, spread across Queensland.

    As part of the research we also mapped the citizen science projects in Queensland and those that have an impact on Queensland. You can read the Citizen science in Queensland: a review of the current landscape (PDF, 2.5MB) to learn what we found out.

    Projects and progress

    We developed a teacher toolkit so that educators can incorporate citizen science into the classroom. It contains a searchable list of resources that includes teacher guides and lesson plans as well as how to deliver a bioblitz in a school.

    In conjunction with the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Citizen Association (ACSA) we introduce people to citizen science at events and activities including World Science Festival Brisbane.

    Check out our blog, which provides ten good reasons to try citizen science.

    For more information

    Previous strategy

    If you are interested in citizen science across Australia read the Mapping Citizen Science in Australia – Participant Report prepared by Yaela Golumbic (2020) which presents findings from an online questionnaire aimed to map citizen science in Australia and determine its diverse goals, stakeholders and practices.