April is Citizen Science Month!

April 2021 marks an entire month where people around the world are celebrating Citizen Science Month. The citizen science project I co-founded and manage – FjordPhyto – is celebrating too by sharing our work and collaborations occurring in Antarctica between scientists and travelers on tour ships.

Collaborations in this part of the world are incredibly important for increasing our understanding of changes in the polar regions. To get a sense of this importance, my colleague and FjordPhyto scientist Martina Mascioni and social scientist Daniela Cajiao wrote a post about the role of Tour Operators in Polar Research.

I hope you enjoy watching these interviews. I think I’m getting better and better at this each time 😉 Please share the links with a friend, a colleague, your kids, or fellow traveler! I would love to know your thoughts and questions if you want to comment below.

Interview 1  – Viking Cruises TV

Follow an informative conversation focused on citizen science as Dr. Damon Stanwell-Smith, Head of Science and Sustainability for Viking Expeditions, is joined by polar guide Laura Smith and biological oceanographer Allison Cusick. We discuss the role of future expedition voyages, understanding how citizen science contributes to research, what factors make it successful, how guests can participate and why it is relevant to global environmental conservation.

Interview 2 – Hurtigruten Expeditions on SciStarter

SciStarter’s Caroline Nickerson speaks with Tour Operator Hurtigruten Expeditions’ Chief Scientists Dr. Verena Meraldi and citizen science project FjordPhyto co-founder and PhD graduate student Allison Cusick about how Antarctic travelers are contributing to polar research through ship-based citizen science

Interview 3  – Citizen Science Around the World on SciStarter

SciStarter’s Caroline Nickerson leads us around the world speaking to project leaders from Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America (for Antarctica see minutes 17:07 to 25:55)!

How can you get involved:

For projects occurring around your neighborhood, be sure to check out the web-based catalogue of thousands of project at SciStarter.

Whats in a name?

For those of you wondering why there are so many terms for people-powered science – “citizen science” , “community science” , “crowdsource science” – take a look at this blog post and publication in Citizen Science: Theory & Practice on which name to use and why terms matters.

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