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During a cold week at the end of January 2025, 30 early career researchers from 14 countries joined our Citizen Science Winter School at the University of Zurich (UZH) and ETH Zurich. It was the fourth edition of our Citizen Science School, jointly organized by Citizen Science Zurich and the UZH Graduate Campus. This year’s theme was: "Participation, Power, and Perspective – Opening Up Research Through Citizen Science."
Author: Julienne Karzig
Photos: Julienne Karzig, Alessandro Rearte, Ursina Roffler
As hosts, our goal of the Citizen Science Schools is to introduce participants to different Citizen Science approaches, to encourage reflection on useful tools for their own projects, and to create opportunities to connect and learn from each other. This year, we introduced a new e-learning module that participants completed beforehand.
The program was a mix of keynote speeches, interactive workshops, showcases of local Citizen Science projects, and a bar camp – a participant-led mini conference. Long lunch breaks allowed for networking, and optional shared dinners provided additional opportunities for connection.
This edition of our school emphasized power and perspectives, inviting participants to reflect on:
In her keynote, Katja Mayer made a case against treating consent forms in research as “just a box to check” necessary for obtaining ethical approval. Instead, especially in Citizen Science, informed consent can become a fundamental tool for the exchange between academic scientists/project leaders and citizen scientists. If treated as a process, negotiating informed consent ensures that everyone understands the project’s scope, benefits, and possible risks. And ideally, it is developed collaboratively. To reach different audiences, it might be necessary to deviate from the classic consent form and instead use creative ways of communication projects specifics like levels of participation, data protection or ethics. Instead of lengthy forms, researchers could use videos or posters. This way, informed consent can become an empowering tool and enable trust and equity in knowledge production.
Yvonne Riaño’s workshop on researcher positionality and participatory methods offered participants valuable insights into feminist and postcolonial approaches to research. The session began with an exploration of how these theoretical frameworks challenge traditional knowledge production by questioning power dynamics between researchers and the people they study. The Minga methodology, developed by Yvonne Riaño, was introduced as a concrete example of a participatory approach that fosters spaces of mutual learning and collaborative knowledge production. Participants engaged in reflections on conducting socially responsible research, considering how to build inclusive spaces and meaningful partnerships. Group work encouraged attendees to apply these concepts to their own projects, culminating in a lively plenary discussion about the possibilities and limitations of participatory methods.
Mirko Bischofberger introduced attendees to key communication strategies, focusing on storytelling as a powerful tool for science communication. He emphasized that every compelling story features (A) a protagonist, (B) a clear goal or desire they wish to fulfil, and (C) an obstacle creating conflict. Crucially, the protagonist is someone every reader can relate to on a human level. Mirko also introduced templates to help structure narratives. Through exercises and short presentations, attendees explored these storytelling devices and techniques. They critically examined existing texts and practiced to craft clear and compelling messages, ultimately shaping how they communicate the story of their own projects.
Wednesday’s bar camp started with an extended morning meeting where we collaboratively developed a schedule for the day. Participants proposed topics they wanted to discuss or skills they wished to share. After some back and forth, we settled on 10 sessions that were scheduled across two time slots. As organizers, we had been concerned about how well the co-created schedule development would work out given the limited time – but it turned out surprisingly well! The sessions covered a range of topics, including a roundtable on Citizen Science in health research, a session on co-creation in urban projects, and a debate on the hierarchies between academics and citizen scientists.
Wednesday afternoon also saw the poster pitches of five local Citizen Science projects:
ZuriACT (Zurich Accessible CiTy)
Care PartIES
The "Borys Malkin Collection" in the view of Wounaan in Colombia
Wild River
FELIDAE: Finding Elusive Links by Tracking Diet of Cats in Environment
On Thursday, Ruth Förster explored with participants foundational frameworks for designing participatory research, discussing key phases, principles, and the roles of different actors. Through interactive exercises and plenary discussions, attendees reflected on how this framework compares to traditional disciplinary research processes and brainstormed ways to implement it in their own projects. The integration of participants' application contexts — from research initiatives to policy development — enriched the discussions, allowing for a multi-layered exploration of research design. By the end of the workshop, participants had gained a solid understanding of Citizen Science approaches.
Annette Jenny’s session started by pointing out that researchers and project managers sometimes fail to distinguish between different levels of impact, which can lead to frustrating experiences. She presented the so-called I-O-O-I model (Input-Output-Outcome-Impact) to help clarify this distinction. Annette also introduced participants to the Target Tree tool, which helps further differentiate goals according to target groups.
Pia Viviani returned to the Winter School to hold her community management workshop, which had already proven popular in the previous Summer School. Pia emphasised that successful Citizen Science projects require understanding the key actors and organisations involved. Through a practical checklist, she guided participants through the process ofconducting a stakeholder analysis. Pia encouraged participants to use creative approaches throughout the session. The workshop included an exercise where participants walked in a circle to brainstorm ideas, which inspired several new project name suggestions.
In parallel, Rosy Mondardini held an introductory session on our two digitals tools for researchers: the CS Logger which enables you to create a mobile phone application that citizen scientists can use to collect data, and the Project Builder, a platform for the analysis and interpretation of data. Both tools are open source and free to use. Read more at the link below and contact us if you need them tailored to your project!
Link to Tools
On the final evening, we gathered for a farewell dinner at Ziegel oh Lac, the cooperatively run restaurant at Rote Fabrik, a former factory turned vibrant cultural center by the lake. With its relaxed atmosphere and community-driven approach, it was the perfect setting to reflect on the week’s experiences.
Max Maina Muniafu held the keynote on Friday which marked the final session of our school. As the Chair of the CitSci Africa Association and an Associate Professor of Natural Sciences at the United States International University-Africa, Max has extensive experience in sustainability research in low-income communities. In his presentation, he highlighted the need for community awareness and context specific approaches and discussed chances and challenges of citizen science projects in different African countries. He critically remarked the need for co-research stating that "without co-designing, you will just be another research group that moves through, satisfying themselves with their data”. During the subsequent discussion, Max gave more examples highlighting the range of participatory projects from biodiversity, food security and water quality to health and community-driven concerns. One of the winter school participants added The Friendship Bench (link below), a highly successful co-created project that was developed in Zimbabwe and replicated in many other countries to make mental health counselling more accessible.
Link to Friendship Bench Project
The Mercator Foundation Switzerland made it possible for us to organize the Citizen Science Winter School. We are very grateful for their support and are looking forward to the next Citizen Science School in June 2026!
