Discover the Citizen Science Office
The mission of the Citizen Science Office of Barcelona is to support research carried out, in part, by non-specialists and taking place in Barcelona and its surroundings.
Its mission is to assess, accompany and promote scientific projects that have an object of study or an area of application in the city and its metropolitan area. Likewise, the office develops actions aimed at bringing citizenship and research closer together, as well as fostering connections with new civic and cultural agents.
Through these actions, the office aims to increase citizen participation in the scientific research process in any of its stages and in the most extensive, inclusive and intense way possible. And it does so with an orientation in favour of social transformation and the improvement of the city.
What can the Office do for you?
Tour of the Office
The Citizen Science Office of Barcelona was established in 2012, driven by the Institute of Culture of the Barcelona City Council, to consolidate citizen science projects in Barcelona and support their deployment to address the city's socio-environmental challenges.
Since 2012, the office has organized events for dialogue and reflection and to promote citizen science among the city's residents. Thus, it has organized technical workshops, demonstrations, and sessions at the Science Festival and the City and Science Biennial, where, together with the Ibercivis Foundation, the Citizen Science Manifesto is promoted.
Since its creation, numerous research groups have joined this movement and opened their research to the public. Currently, some projects have been completed, others have evolved and grown, and some are just starting. Various actions and cross-cutting programs have brought citizen science to many of the city’s districts, involving over 14,000 residents and students, who have collected more than 10,000 valuable data points for scientific research. Additionally, (the Office) organizes events for dialogue and reflection, and for promoting participatory research in the city.
Office Timeline
Launch of the Office and piloting of five citizen science projects.
Citizen Science in Schools pilot and celebration of the first Citizen Science Day.
Creation of the Decalogue of Good Practices in Citizen Science and publication of the Citizen Science Project Catalog.
Launch of Citizen Science in the Neighborhoods.
The table of agents with representatives from city entities is established.
Development of the Project Deployment Map in the city.
Publication of the Citizen Science and Service Learning Guide.
The office joins the European project CitiMeasure, led by Eurocities.
The Plan for the relaunch of the Citizen Science Office 2022 is published.
Mapping of scientific, civic, educational, and municipal agents to drive a new city project on the impact of heat.
Community of Practice
The group of scientific professionals developing (or who have developed) citizen science projects linked to the Citizen Science Office of Barcelona form the Community of Practice.
Through three or four annual meetings, the Community of Practice shares interests, needs, and concerns related to the practice of citizen science, fostering cross-cutting learning and collaborations between different research groups.
As a result of this joint work, the Community of Practice developed the Decalogue of Good Practices, which all projects wishing to be linked to the office must adhere to.
Decalogue of good practices
All projects interested in collaborating with the Barcelona Office of Citizen Science must subscribe to the following points:
Projects and their members must follow the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) behavioural guidelines promoted by the European Union and respond to the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by UNESCO.