Citizen Science for the 2030 SDG Agenda

Aims and Objectives

This GYA group was established as an Incubator in July 2018, and was promoted to working group status from July 2020. It aims to harness the potential of citizen science as an approach for increasing the GYA’s public engagement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Leveraging citizen science is necessary for achieving the SDGs as highlighted by many organisations focused on data requirements for sustainable development, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research projects and initiatives worldwide (such as the Open Seventeen platform, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and the Citizen Science Global Partnership, to name a few).

Although the SDGs have been discussed widely during the GYA’s Annual General Meeting in 2018, work by the GYA and its members in the SDG field could be better structured. There is also a need to raise awareness of the SDGs among young scientists, and to enhance the capacity of young scientists to contribute to the achievement and the monitoring of the SDGs.

Join now!

GYA members and GYA 2021 incoming members can join this working group by clicking the link and letting the group co-leads know why you are interested and what you could bring to the group.

Project Leaders

Ibrahim Sidi Zakari

Contact

Ibrahim Sidi Zakari

sidizakariibrahim@gmail.com

Active Members

Isil Kurnaz

Sandra Lopez-Verges

Renard Siew

Dipak Pinjari

Sophie Carenco

Tyrone Grandison

Rothsophal Nguon

Stefan Kohler

Akihiro Kishimura

Mirabbos Hojamberdiev

William Godsoe

Robert Lepenies

Malan Ketcha Armand Kablan

Udi Sommer

Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo

Paul Mason

Shalini Arya

Followers

Lisa Herzog

Past Members

Koen Vermeir

-

Abdeslam Badre

-

Mimi Haryani

-

Abel Polese

-

Progress

2019

February 2019 : Group members participated in the setting up of a crowdsourced household energy use photos database (as part of bachelor students ICT course and hand-ons homework at Faculty of Science and Technics, Abdou Moumouni University). This activity registered 610 photos from 305 contributors and aims at monitoring access to affordable, clean and reliable energy services (SDG 7) in Niamey, the capital of Niger.

January 2019 : Participation in the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) “Transformers Roadshow Competition” in Niger. This international event dedicated to Science, Technology and Innovation promotes the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7.

2018

December 2018: Promotion of citizen science during the Niger Science Week (as part of the Next Einstein Forum Africa Science Week)

November 2018: Training Workshop on Citizen Science, Open Data and UN SDGs for 60 Bachelor Students from the Faculty of Sciences and Technics (Abdou Moumouni University). This activity has been conducted as part of the Scientific and Cultural Week’s activities.

November 2018: Photos competition on science and sustainable development to introduce Abdou Moumouni University students to the concept of citizen science as a mean of collecting, disseminating data and information in a collaborative manner. Photos needed to be linked with one or several of the 17 SDGs.

November 2018: Public Conference (at Abdou Moumouni University) as part of the UNESCO World Science Day for Peace and Development. The theme for 2018 was “Science, a Human Right”, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers.

September 2018: Participation in the 1st edition of the ReSAKSS Data Challenge. A self-graded data literacy quiz (which integrates some aspects of the UN SDGs) has been proposed and is available here.

August 2018: Group members were involved in the identification of Niger National Priorities (targets and indicators) for the implementation of the SDGs and data gaps from the national voluntary review of June 2018.

This GYA Incubator has started work in July 2018.

Outcomes

In this video on “Harnessing the Data Revolution for reducing the impact of air pollution in Niger”, group lead Ibrahim Sidi Zakari (Niger) talks about his research and contribution to cleaner air in Niger, and also about the activities of the GYA Incubator.

See a detailed activities report here.