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2026 Conference for Advancing the Participatory Sciences
This online conference brings together researchers, facilitators, and project and community leaders for four exciting days of inspiration.
Our event highlights leading voices within the participatory sciences and facilitates dynamic discussions. With an online format, you’ll connect with a broad range of people and perspectives that won’t be convened anywhere else.
Posters are the heart and soul of this event–presented in a media-rich online platform designed specifically to facilitate engagement.
Be a part of this event!
Share your insights, research, experience or new ideas about practices for participatory sciences with colleagues from around the globe.
Partner with us! Highlight your leadership and bring new dimensions to the attendee experience.
There is still time to partner to convene a topical strand to bring critical attention to priority topics throughout the week long event. If you are interested in supporting attention to a topical area of practice, contact us for options (director@citizenscience.org).
We are also looking for sponsors interested in supporting translation services for the event. If you would like to help make conferencing accessible for Spanish speaking colleagues in the Global South (and elsewhere), please contact us ASAP.
Past Partners Have Supported:
- A Biodiversity Beyond Borders special strand that brought global leaders and project innovators together to inform and inspire collaborative problem solving to improve how the participatory sciences are leveraged to confront the biodiversity crisis.
- Translation services in both Spanish and Portuguese to facilitate North-South exchange of practices via this event.
Conference overview:
Daily Symposia provide big ideas to discuss, while, throughout the conference, small group Collaborative and Topical Discussion Sessions provide specific opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with participatory science professionals from around the globe.
Multimedia posters are presented in an online poster hub designed to spark engagement and will be available for the entire month.
This collaborative conference utilizes an easy-to-use virtual space that encourages collaboration and discussion. A single Zoom link provides easy access to the conference.
What to expect:
CAPS Breaks Down Silos
This event offers time to connect, collaborate, and innovate with colleagues from around the world. Join us as we dismantle boundaries in the participatory sciences.
This conference champions radical collaboration: uniting disciplines, communities, and technologies. We'll explore innovative approaches that transcend traditional divisions, fostering a truly interconnected and impactful global citizen science movement for a better future.
An Engaged Virtual Format
This collaborative conference utilizes an easy-to-use virtual space that encourages collaboration and discussion. A single Zoom link (with ample use of breakout rooms) provides easy access to the conference.
The core program includes Keynote presentations and panel-style Symposia on cross-cutting topics. Each day will feature a block of Collaborative Sessions to turn inspiration into action, as well as Topical Discussion Sessions and open time for networking.
Join us in thanking the following sponsors and exhibitors for making this event possible:
Program Highlights:
This year's event is made possible by the following sponsors, supporters, and partners:
Your organization can be a leader for future events. Contact director(at)citizenscience.org for details.
This year’s speakers
Nominated by people across this field, speakers will address pressing issues and priority questions to help advance our work.
Maui Hudson
Director, Te Kotahi Research Institute, University of Waikato
Opening Keynote:
CARE and the use of Indigenous Knowledge in Open Science
Prof. Hudson will present June 3rd, launching a conversation about work in this field at the intersection between big data and local knowledge.
Ideas to Action session will immediately follow.
Insights from across this field and beyond
Biodiversity Special Strand
Woven throughout the conference are strategies to engage and share new knowledge to address the biodiversity crisis.
Find discussions on improving the relevance of biodiversity data, better reflecting local values, improving partnerships, and more in sessions across all four days.
Individual Presentations:
There’s no need to feel like you’re missing any content or conversations with multiple ways to access the deep program of projects innovations and research outcomes.
Live topical discussion sessions will feature over 125 presenters in 18 small break-out groups, where lightning talks lead into facilitated Q&A with poster presenters.
Our media-rich virtual poster platform lets you easily scroll through all of the posters and chat with presenters on your own time – even from your phone
What people are saying about CAPS Virtual:
Registration rates*:
*To facilitate globally equitable access to this event, practitioners who are based in the Global South (as defined by UNESCO) are eligible for a 50% off of the relevant registration rate. Additionally, members of RICAP (the Ibero-American Association for Citizen and Participatory Sciences) and CitSciAfrica are welcome to register at the rate offered to AAPS Members. All details will be facilitated by the registration form.
Commitments To Equity And Inclusion:
AAPS has, over the years, worked towards creating conferences (and other programming) that acknowledge and address the needs of all people to be welcome, comfortable, and empowered to share their unique insights and contributions. Participatory sciences depend on, and thrive because of, the diversity of perspectives and knowledge people bring together. We know that not all people in this field have the same opportunities, access, or support to participate fully, and that there is still work to be done. The Association is committed to the ongoing process of learning and improving for inclusive conferences.
AAPS is also committed to leading this field’s awareness to how all aspects of the participatory sciences are affected by issues of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access, and that everyone’ s successes are diminished when we don’t address these. This may look like how tech designs are usable, who is encouraged or discouraged to pursue science careers, how data are used and understood (and who controls that), or many other things. Improvements won’t happen without awareness and intentionality. At a time when others are telling us to look away, we ask: how can AAPS help you keep this as an active part of your work?
If you are passionate about shaping a more inclusive future in the participatory sciences, we invite you to join us. Please contact us for options to join our planning team, partner on these efforts or directly support specific initiatives: info@citizenscience.org