Building Capacity for Citizen Science Amongst Policy and Practice Stakeholders in Public Health

Abstract

Interest in citizen science approaches is growing amongst stakeholders in public health, but there is a lack of resources to support the use of citizen science in policy and practice settings. The Citizen Science in Prevention project is a co-produced program of work that seeks to build capacity in the application of citizen science amongst policy and practice stakeholders in public health. Working in partnership with four Australian health promotion agencies, we are 1) supporting the development and implementation of stakeholder-led citizen science projects, 2) conducting a developmental evaluation of each of these projects, and 3) providing a range of capacity building activities and resources, including a community of practice. Through this project we aim to provide practice-based insights around the design, management, and impact of citizen science approaches in prevention, and support capacity building in the use of citizen science approaches in public health. In this seminar we present an overview of the program of work and share early insights from our ongoing evaluation.