Knowledge for Change: A decade of Citizen Science

This conference is an official event of Germany’s 2020 EU Council presidency. The conference will present, evaluate and discuss the exciting contributions that citizen science makes in framing and achieving sustainable development, specifically the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conference will bring together expertise from policy makers, institutional and citizen scientists, economists, NGOs and civil society to implement mechanisms and processes for the transition towards a more sustainable future.

The conference addresses topics around citizen science such as:

• Citizen science for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, e.g. good health and well-being, quality education, life on land and below water
• Policy and scientific methodology of citizen science to implement the SDGs
• Scientific benefit of citizen science networks and platforms and their impact on society

Virtual and innovative formats

The current challenges in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic are extraordinary and we are making contingency plans in case it prevents our conference from being held as planned in October. We are exploring ways for holding a hybrid conference and complementing the live conference with digital formats, such as video streams and webinars, and virtual participation opportunities for both conference participants and speakers to enable remote participation. We are also exploring possibilities to hold a fully digital conference in case this turns out to be our only option. In light of this, we welcome in particular contributions that can be adapted for showcasing and presenting digitally while engaging remote audience meaningfully.

Welcoming words by

• Dr Michael Meister, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany

Confirmed plenary speakers

• Anna Panagopoulou, Director of the Common Implementation Centre and Acting Director of the Research & Innovation Outreach, DG RTD, European Commission, Belgium
• Jillian Campbell, UN Convention on Biological Diversity
• Josep Perelló, Associate Professor in the Department of Fundamental Physics at the University of Barcelona and head of the OpenSystemsUB research group, Spain
• Muki Haklay, Professor of Geographic Information Science at University College London (UCL) and founder and Co-director of the UCL Extreme Citizen Science group, United Kingdom
• Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou, President of the Association pour la Promotion de la Science Ouverte en Haïti et en Afrique (APSOHA), Cameroon