What does a citizen science researcher do? We asked Smriti Safaya, who is part of the Inclusive Citizen Science group at our York centre. Here she gives us a flavour of the (hugely varied!) activities that can make up her working week.
I get the week off to a fun start with a piece of interdisciplinary work that requires me to think creatively. I’m part of the research team for CHILI, a project on air quality in schools, and today I’m tapping into my lesson-planning prowess from my time as a classroom teacher in Hong Kong, before joining SEI. I’m mapping the ways the inquiry activities we’re providing for participating schools align with the national curricula and also with environmental accreditation schemes. This will help us make the research relevant to pupils and give schools an incentive to partner with us.
In the afternoon I have an online meeting with the rest of the leadership team of CitizenScience.Asia. I’m a co-director of Education for this group, which was set up to support and promote citizen science in Asia. Most of us are volunteers, juggling multiple time zones and workload constraints, so our discussions include how to build greater capacity.
I close the day by putting the finishing touches to a poster on designing citizen science projects to foster nature connectedness which I’m due to present at a conference next week. I’m making it as interactive as I can (think mentimeters, stickers & sticky notes), to encourage discussion about how we can do this more creatively.
Smriti at the European Citizen Science Association conference (ECSA26), using her poster to initiate discussion on ways to design citizen science projects to foster nature connectedness.
This morning I’m writing. One of the things that really matters to me is forming closer connections between citizen science practice and research and I’m working on a book chapter on applying co-creation and co-authorship in environmental and sustainability education. I’m also writing up some research I’ve done on using citizen science in schools to support students’ pro-environmental behaviour. Today I’m finalising a summary for the teachers involved and am mindful to keep it brief and avoid the more technical language I’ve sometimes used to share the results with other researchers.
The book Smriti is contributing to is available to pre order.
Image: Emerald Publishing
After a break to eat lunch with other colleagues in the office, I join our regular Inclusive Citizen Science research group meeting. After sharing round-the-room updates, we discuss potential new projects that match our collective interests and the funding calls currently open.
I’m glad it’s a bright day as the rest of my afternoon is spent outdoors working with a group of University of York students who have agreed to help facilitate events as part of this year’s York City Nature Challenge. I teach them how to use the iNaturalist app to help members of the public identify wildlife they see, and give them some general tips on public engagement. Thanks to these training sessions, our campus has some of the highest concentrations of Alder Leaf Beetle observations in the UK!
This morning I’m on a call with a school teacher. Supported by an RGS Innovative Geography Teaching Grant, we’re collaborating to design a geo-environmental toolkit to support citizen science approaches in geography lessons. This work is fully co-created with teachers: in a survey we ran, teachers identified a need for resources exploring more unique ways to support students doing experiential enquiry, and a mix of new and experienced geography teachers will trial the toolkit to help us ensure it meets their needs.
Next it’s time to catch up with my duties as co-editor role at the journal ‘Routes’. I send the latest manuscripts written by students out for review by geography teachers and researchers, and summarize reviews that have come in. I aim to provide supportive and constructive feedback to the authors to help them publish.
Before heading home, I check in with the archives team at the University of York library. To encourage people to connect with nature and participate in the York City Nature Challenge, we’re organizing an interactive visual exhibition at a student-run gallery on campus. Bringing together items from the archives with contributions from staff and students, we’ll be able to showcase old field notes and local specimens, introduce people to nature in literature, encourage them to play nature-based board games, and doodle in nature journals.
In the evening, my co-organizers and I head to the Fulford Arms pub to drum up interest in the challenge at the annual Pint of Science festival. We’re equipped with colorful stickers of the endemic and famous Tansy beetle to share with the public, so it’s bound to be a success!
The beautiful but rare tansy beetle is only found in North Yorkshire and Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire.
Photo: Smriti Safaya
Erin McDonagh designed this beautiful sticker promoting the York City Nature Challenge and featuring the rare tansy beetle.
Image: Erin Donagh
Slides, slides, slides! I recently ran a workshop for geography teacher educators about using citizen science for youth engagement and environmental agency. On the back of that, I’ve been invited to present on citizen science as educational pedagogy to student teachers around the world at the annual Green Space conference at Warwick University. I start the day by updating my presentation to suit this year’s theme and incorporate new insights I’ve learned from research and my own practice.
Smriti's presentation at the 2026 Green Space conference at Warwick University
Image: Smriti Safaya
At our project meetings for SAMHE and CHILI, related projects on indoor air quality in schools, we reflect on the experience of co-creating the CHILI logo with primary school students in Wales, and discuss feedback on the scoping review. This was a big piece of work (3 researchers over 8 months, sourcing, reading and analyzing the literature) to understand and evaluate the range of educational, behavioural and communication interventions used in schools to address air quality and thermal comfort. To help researchers and others use the most effective methods, we’ve written up the results in a research paper and are now producing an accessible summary for the wider project team, policy-makers and the public.
This evening I’m out again, but this time I walk along a tree-lined stream to a local environmental centre where I lead a Community of Practice workshop, supporting people to apply behavioural psychology insights to create engaging nature-based experiences to encourage people to care and take action for nature.
It’s another international video call this morning. I’m meeting researchers in France and other parts of the UK to organize an in-person get together to explore how citizen science fosters nature connection. I’m excited by this new collaboration, supported by a British Council Springboard grant. We discuss incorporating mini-presentations and feedback sessions with interdisciplinary colleagues across the university, nature walks to experience developing nature connection, and collaborative ideation workshops to write new ambitious grant proposals to apply citizen science for personal and societal good.
Instead of a traditional lunch break, I head to a green space on campus with coloured pencils, nature-themed bookmarks, dried lavender sachets (handmade by me!) and a bespoke nature journal I designed. I’m leading a multisensory nature walk for staff, students and the public and we’re going to do some soundscaping and nature journaling, record campus wildlife on iNaturalist, and reflect on concepts of biomimicry, place-based learning, citizen science and activism. We’re ‘interrupted’ by a distinctive noise which one attendee identifies as a woodpecker, and I try to memorize it as I head back to the office for my last meeting of the week.
Smriti leading a multisensory nature walk.
Photo: Smriti Safaya
I’m back with my colleagues in Inclusive Citizen Science to draft a grant proposal. We’re designing a project with citizen science practitioners and facilitators to explore using arts-based methods to engage school students and teachers about air quality. Fingers crossed we get funding: I’d love to learn about using theatre and citizen science in novel ways to build student and teacher agency!
And with that, another week is done. It’s been jam-packed but hugely rewarding! Now time for a break, and maybe a little cat therapy.
Feature / Learn how citizen science methodologies can be valuable at different stages of the research process, and the benefits (and costs) of different approaches.
Past event / Access materials on how to embed equity, accessibility and diversity across citizen science projects and design projects to foster nature connectedness.
Collection / Everybody counts: discover how we use, develop and promote participatory approaches to empower communities to protect their health and environment.
