On 3 October 2022, citizen science networks and practitioners from around the world welcomed the formation of the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP), a newly established association which seeks to promote and advance citizen science for a sustainable world.
The partnership's mission is to coordinate the collaboration of existing citizen science practitioners with international organizations and governments, and support the use of citizen science data and tools as a key contributor to the global effort towards sustainable development. It will establish diverse and inclusive partnerships across geographies, cultures, and research domains, promoting citizen science as a unifying, enabling, and multiplying force for change.
At the partnership's core is a network-of-networks of six citizen science associations that cover most of the globe: the Australian Citizen Science association (ACSA), Citizen Science Africa Association, CitizenScience.Asia, the US-based Citizen Science Association (CSA), the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), and the Ibero-American Network of Participatory Science (RICAP).
The CSGP is incorporated as a non-profit association in Austria hosted by IIASA, with the University of Geneva and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna as founding partners. The interim secretariat has been established at IIASA.
"IIASA is pleased to be the founding host member of the Citizen Science Global Partnership. Citizen science is important to strengthen societal participation and understanding of the scientific process, but also to contribute to the democratization of science around the globe," says IIASA Director General Albert van Jaarsveld.
At the first general assembly of the CSGP association, experts from UNEP, UNESCO, and UNICEF emphasized the importance of this partnership to help their organizations connect with the wider world of citizen science. An initial set of board members from the six citizen science associations and the founding members were elected. The elected Chair of the Board is Martin Brocklehurst, representing ECSA, and the Vice Chair is Libby Hepburn, representing ACSA.
© CSGP
"I am delighted to be elected to chair the board of the Citizen Science Global Partnership. We are seeing the birth of a major change in the way global environmental challenges are tackled. Through citizen science, every person on the planet will have the opportunity to be part of the solution," notes Brocklehurst.
The CSGP is looking forward to welcoming more citizen science associations as members, as well as civil society and private sector organizations active in the area of citizen science.
