Banner for the 2027 Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences in Louisville, Kentucky; invites participation as exhibitor, sponsor, or partner.

Science needs everyone. CAPS brings everyone together.

Millions of people worldwide collect data, analyze information, and share knowledge through participatory sciences. Whether called volunteer monitoring, community science, crowdsourced science, or something else, these partnerships engage more perspectives to enhance research inquiries and impacts.

The Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences (CAPS) convenes professionals and other leaders who are making these projects possible. Together, we’re changing how we think about and do research for our shared future.

CAPS serves as a touchstone and point of connection for all who work in this rapidly innovating field. Reaching across research disciplines and engaged traditions, an audience of academics, educators, community leaders and many others will meet in Louisville, Kentucky, in May of 2027. With a theme of Healthy Places, five days of activities will bring together the colleagues, resources, and inspired new ideas we need for this work to thrive.

 

Your support of CAPS 2027 is an investment in research as a shared human endeavor.  When science relies on all of us, inquiry becomes a pathway to enrich understandings, inspire discovery, build relationships, and improve our local and global communities. Join us in leading this movement.

About the CAPS audience  >>

About the CAPS event  >>

Get in touch now for program leadership opportunities

Early 2026
Explore ideas
Aug-Sept
Propose a strand or session topics. Early supporters recognized.
October
Deadline for submitted sessions. Pay now for added benefits.
Nov-Dec
Connect early for your choice of sessions to support.
January 2027
Registration opens: widespread promotion.
Spring 2027
Attendee emails, pre-conference online events, social media stories.
MAY 2027
See you in Louisville!

Donations at any level are welcome and are recognized; engagement options start at $1,000. Traditional exhibitor and sponsor opportunities are available, as are program partnerships and underwriting relationships. Some options have deadlines, and perks are available for funds received by Oct. 31st, 2026. Email director @ citizenscience.org.

Matrix of options

This year's priorities and big ideas

Healthy Places

Photo: An asthma patient in Kentucky uses a Propeller Health sensor on her inhaler. Art Howard/CROWD & CLOUD

Align with this year's theme

The spaces we share need the best possible knowledge for healthy communities, ecosystems, and futures. Funds for media attention and conference documentation will elevate sessions showcasing the power of participatory sciences.

Community Engagement

Photo: CitSci2019 (Raleigh, NC), copyright Marilu Lopez-Fretts. Mural "Dare to Dissent" by Dare Coulter.

A conference for all leaders

Insights from leading volunteers and community experts are critical for participatory science success. Funds are needed to support sessions, events, travel, and honoraria to ensure meaningful engagement by all.

Scientists of Today and Tomorrow

Photo: Flickr photo Lisa Cox USFWS Pacific SW Tagged monarch butterfly in Encinitas CA

Pathways for engaged research

Early-career scientists, and K-12 teachers of tomorrow's scientists, are building pathways for publicly engaged research careers. Support is needed for networking events, mentorships, and stipends, and curated content for a classroom learning strand.

Innovation Spaces

Photo: 2024 Kentuckiana Meeting for Advancing Participatory Sciences, Envirome Institute, UofL

Co-creating new ideas

Just like participatory sciences, innovation spaces mobilize many minds around shared challenges. Support a session highlighting participatory approaches to instrumentation or data models, or inspire a hackathon for the conference community to bring an innovation mindset to advancing the field.

Science for Solutions

Photo: community invasive species removal. Brent Lawrence, USFWS.

Asking the big questions

Where can relationships be improved, policies changed, or frames shifted to re-craft a new compact for science and society? Funds can support inspired speakers, collaborative sessions, or attention to tools and strategies that align science with solutions from the start.
Which big ideas can we advance together?
Get in touch
Donate
♥
All levels of support are welcome.
Advertise/Exhibit
$1,000+
Engaged options whether or not you can attend.
Learn how >>
Support
$3,000+
Experiences that attendees remember.
Partner
♥
Underwriting for shared impacts.
Download full details

available soon – email us today

The CAPS audience.

A global community of influential and emerging leaders gathers to forge collaborations, share successes, exchange ideas, and inspire each other and new work in this field. At our events you will find technologists, policy makers, community leaders, educators, academics, students, volunteers and many others: people from all disciplines, all places, and all participatory sciences learning from each other.
Informational graphic about CAPS, listing the groups it engages and what participants are seeking, such as data tech, equipment, curricula, storytelling tools, learning, and inspiration.
A stylized globe with text: Our 600 attendees are just 10% of our 6,000–8,000 subscribers who engage and inspire 1,000,000+ project participants across the globe. Logo in bottom right.

What makes CAPS different?

To invite and engage expertise from many sectors, CAPS marries the strengths of a traditional academic conference with strategies for engaged learning. Intentional discussions and connections are fostered across three and a half days of core programming, two shoulder days of workshops and field trips, and special events throughout. Support enables CAPS to engage high-level speakers, inspire attendees with new media or technologies, provide dedicated networking or mentorship opportunities, and ensure those who have the most to share or to learn are able to attend.
AAPS is committed to providing equitable and high-caliber opportunities for all critical collaborators to share expertise, engage in challenging and generative conversations, and enrich the power and purpose of the science we can do together. We are grateful to generous partners and sponsors who help make this possible.
A schedule for the 2027 CAPS conference in Louisville, KY, listing daily events like workshops, keynote, exhibits, talks, symposia, refreshments, and plenary sessions from May 17-21.

CAPS exhibitor spaces are central to both program and social activities. Traffic flows around the exhibit hall to all ballroom events, including plenary talks, poster sessions, and coffee breaks.

Past partners, supporters, and sponsors have included: