PhD Topic/Title: Children’s Citizen Science and the Natural World: Motivations, Experiences and Outcomes.
Research
Citizen science is where volunteers are engaged in some aspect of scientific research such as in data collection or data processing. The volunteers are often, but not always, people with little or no academic background in science. Citizen scientists can be involved in research from a wide number of disciplines including astronomy, ecology, chemistry and social science. Some well-known projects include the Big Butterfly Count, Garden BirdWatch and Zooniverse. The PhD examines the motivations of children partaking in citizen science, what experiences they gain from assisting in the research and if the data they collect is accurate and reliable.