CS Co-labs: Collaborative Citizen Science labs

Citizen science and adjacent participatory methods are increasingly encouraged by funders and important for producing meaningful and trusted knowledge. These approaches help ensure that research reflects the needs and experiences of communities. They are central to SEI’s work on environmental and social sustainability and used widely in research across the University of York. 

Although interest in these methods is growing, researchers can find them difficult to use in practice as designing an inclusive project and working with participants ethically and with sensitivity can be challenging, especially within the constraints of research funding. 

CS Co-labs has been set up to respond to this challenge by creating a shared space for those interested in using these citizen science methods  to access support, learn from experience and explore new approaches. It is run by Inclusive Citizen Science, the citizen science research group at our York centre, which has been using, evaluating and developing citizen science methodologies since 2008.

We aim to strengthen capacity, particularly across SEI and the University of York, to deliver high quality, inclusive, and robust citizen science and adjacent participatory approaches.

We will do this in two ways.

1. Establish ‘clinics’ to help colleagues develop proposals, refine project plans, solve mid-project problems, and support evaluation methods. The clinics will serve as a practical entry point for colleagues who would like support in using citizen science methods but need advice on where to begin, with more detailed support to be provided on a bespoke basis.
2. Create a set of open-access resources based on team members’ expertise and drawing on recurring questions, examples, and insights gathered through the clinic sessions. 

We plan to launch the clinics in summer 2026.