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04 Dec 2025

Call for Individual Presentations Now Open!

Conference

Share your insights, research, experience or new ideas about practices for participatory sciences with colleagues from around the globe. Submit an idea for an individual presentation at our Virtual 2026 Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences (CAPS). Share Your Work This year's virtual event will take place online across four half days, 26-29 May 2026, and is your opportunity to expand and connect with science professionals, engagement specialists, funders, app designers, community leaders, and others can help you focus on and enhance your work in this field. The submission process is quick and we welcome submissions from the many approaches to this work-citizen science, community…

20 Nov 2025

By J_Shirk

AAPS Community Read–Science with Impact

Uncategorized

Join us this winter for the first-ever AAPS community read! AAPS member Dr. Anne Toomey published her highly acclaimed* 2024 book, Science with Impact, in a more optimistic political climate, but the topic could not be more timely. Subtitled, How to Engage People, Change Practice, and Influence Policy, this is a highly readable and informed reflection on ways (and reasons why) scientists and the public often see things differently. Drawing both on her own experiences and on insights from experts (community leaders and academics alike), Anne suggests ways that participatory sciences can provide a route towards solutions we can all…

19 Nov 2025

By AAPS Board

Thank you from the AAPS Board to the participatory sciences community

Uncategorized

At our November AAPS Board meeting, we discussed the importance of recognizing the continued progress made across the participatory sciences -- the results of the dedicated work of AAPS members, partner organizations and the multitude of volunteers across the country that participate in and contribute to participatory science projects. Our Board members recognize that despite extraordinary challenges, colleagues across the field of participatory sciences continue to make valuable contributions to science and society. Your hard work and dedication are truly appreciated, and your contributions do not go unnoticed. As one testament to this, we are delighted to note that press…

19 Nov 2025

By Reanna Putnam

Virtual Fishbowl Tips from AAPS

Uncategorizedvirtual events

We successfully adapted the fishbowl format to a fully virtual setting for our 2025 Fall Meeting and Community Conversation. Here are four strategies we used that can help you plan your next virtual fishbowl: Pre-select your first round of participants. This group received prompts in advance and had a meeting to discuss expectations and talking points. Having a group model the format helped others know how to engage. Use a virtual background to display discussion prompt and timer. This helped keep the prompt visible without a shared screen, and kept the timer front and center. We leveraged the pre-set features…

19 Nov 2025

By Reanna Putnam

Building Resilience in the Participatory Sciences: Insights from Our Community Conversation

Uncategorized

The path forward for science is rarely straightforward—especially in times of funding uncertainty. Yet, by coming together, we can uncover new ways to strengthen our work, partnerships, and resilience. Last month, AAPS hosted a dynamic community conversation on project resilience, exploring strategies to sustain vital programs during lean funding cycles. Common Challenges in a Tight Funding Landscape We shared a pre-event survey in lead up to the event that highlighted shared challenges: maintaining staff capacity, engaging communities, disseminating results, and sustaining infrastructure, equipment, and DEI efforts. Funding uncertainties have amplified these issues, forcing many to rethink how they support their…

16 Oct 2025

By Veronica Del Bianco

Introducing AAPS Membership Value Fellow: Veronica Del Bianco

Fellowshipsevaluation, member value, people

Over the past year, AAPS has begun piloting an early-career Fellowship program, one that has revealed the breadth of expertise and passion shaping this movement's future. Dr. Veronica Del Bianco, our second AAPS Fellow, has been a member of this Association since her early grad school days, and we are pleased to know that she forged significant connections via our conferences to expand her project evaluation skills. Through this Fellowship she has used those skills and insights to help better understand what AAPS members value, and inform next steps for AAPS to build on that. You may have already connected…

16 Oct 2025

By Reanna Putnam

Conversation with Platform Leaders: 4 December 2025

Uncategorized

Curious about platform features? Want to hear what’s new? No matter where you are in your project’s lifecycle and whether you are on a custom or shared platform, this conversation with platform developers will give you insights, ideas, or inspiration for your project’s next steps. In this webinar, we walk you through some key considerations for choosing the right platform and hear from the six most commonly used web platforms for data collection/classification supporting participatory science projects in North America: CitSci.org; Zooniverse; FieldScope; Anecdata; iNaturalist; and GLOBE Observer. While we spend some time on platform features and updates, we will…

16 Oct 2025

By Sadie Coffin

Four Highlights from the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series

FellowshipsNASA Cit Sci Leaders Series, project design, stories

Over my 12 month fellowship, I had the opportunity to watch all 35 hours of event recordings on the NASA Cit Sci Leaders series. For my final post as AAPS fellow, I want to share four highlights from the series that shaped how I approach my own project, to inspire you to explore the series and see what resonates most with you and your project. Highlight 1: Equity isn’t an outcome, it’s part of project design Watch ????: Keynote, Raj Pandya Keynote: Discovery, Learning, Equity and Action: Unleashing the Power of Citizen Science Of all the great things Dr. Raj…

16 Oct 2025

By Sadie Coffin

3 Questions that Changed How I think About Volunteers/Audience

FellowshipsNASA Cit Sci Leaders Series, project design, stories

https://youtu.be/4t_hrjinR3w In my time as the NASA Cit Sci Leaders series fellow, I’ve come across advice, lessons, and tools that have already helped improve the quality of our science and my understanding of our audience. In this video, I’m sharing a review of one of the tools I’ve found most useful as a researcher and project leader: the Anticipated Volunteers Reflection Tool. This resource helps project leaders think intentionally about who they’re trying to engage, where to find them, what they need, and what motivates them. Understanding and connecting with your audience is about more than just sharing information, it’s…

15 Oct 2025

By Reanna Putnam

Call for Abstracts Policy and Decision-Making

Journalspecial collection

CITIZEN SCIENCE: THEORY AND PRACTICE Special Collection: Citizen Science for Evidence-based Policy and Decision-Making Call for Abstracts Issue editors: Muki Haklay1,2, Smriti Safaya3,4, Jay Benforado5, Peter Elias6, Marius Oesterheld7 University College London, UK Learning Planet Institute, France Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, UK CitizenScience.Asia Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences, USA University of Lagos, Nigeria Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Germany Citizen Science: Theory and Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal providing a central space for cross-disciplinary, scholarly exchanges aimed at advancing the field of citizen science by providing a venue for citizen science…