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Citizen Science Around the World
Join the global movement.
Citizen science provides many ways to explore topics you are curious or concerned about, from anywhere in the world.
Find a project near you using the SciStarter Project Finder. Enable the “near me” feature to find local projects in need of your help.
Below, we highlight projects and outcomes from every continent.
Cheers!
The SciStarter Team
Citizen Science in North America
Ian Davies, a 26-year-old bird watcher in Canada, reported sightings of more than 700,000 warblers to eBird …in ONE DAY last year. Yet, data from citizen scientists like Ian resulted in a disheartening but important report: North America’s bird population is dwindling. Download the eBird app to organize, share, and search bird observations while helping scientists learn more about ecology and biodiversity.
Location: Global
Image credit: eBird
Citizen Science in South America
The fires in the Brazilian Amazon this summer irreversibly changed the rainforest and the smoke has affected air quality in South America. Help scientists learn more about the atmosphere by groundtruthing satellite data with GLOBE Observer: Clouds.
Location: Global
Image credit: NASA
Citizen Science in Asia
The Pakistan Air Quality Initiative enables people to monitor and report air quality using AirVisual monitors. This project provides a valuable dataset for a country where 59,241 deaths are caused by air pollution each year.
Location: Pakistan
Image credit: Pakistan Air Quality Initiative
Citizen Science in Antarctica
Travel to the Antarctic with scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to collect samples of phytoplankton to understand the base of the food web. You can book a trip and then work with the FjordPhyto project while on board. And if you can’t make it to Antarctica, you can study the ocean near you by joining an ocean-centric project listed on SciStarter.
Location: Antarctica
Image credit: FjordPhyto
Citizen Science in Africa
Animal selfies from a camera traps are so much fun to see (like this one that made the news). Participate in Snapshot Serengeti to classify online animal images recorded by camera traps and learn how communities of animals interact in the wilds of the Serengeti.
Location: Online Only
Image credit: David Slater via Wikimedia Commons
Citizen Science in Europe
iNaturalist, the app for nature lovers to share and identify images around the planet, has doubled the number of observations every year since 2008 resulting in more than 150 scientific papers! Download the free app and start exploring nature near you.
Location: Global
Image credit: iNaturalist
Citizen Science in Australia
Dive into the Great Barrier Reef with Virtual Reef Diver, where divers upload images so you can help classify the types of biodiversity present on the Great Barrier Reef.
The Atlas of Living Australia lists many citizen science projects in Australia. The database is also shared on SciStarter! Learn more about this, the Australian Citizen Science Association, and some cool new projects!
Location: Global
Image credit: Virtual Reef Diver
The Field Guide to Citizen Science
The Field Guide to Citizen Science —by the expert team at SciStarter and published by Timber Press—makes it easier than ever for those new to citizen science to get involved! You can pre-order your copy today.
SciStarter Calendar
Check out SciStarter’s online and printable monthly calendar of events and holidays linked to relevant citizen science projects. Great for the classroom!
Discover more citizen science on the SciStarter calendar. Did you know your SciStarter dashboard helps you track your contributions to projects? Complete your profile to access free tools. Want even more citizen science? Check out SciStarter’s Project Finder! With citizen science projects spanning every field of research, task and age group, there’s something for everyone!
About the Author
Lea Shell
Lea worked at North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences before coming to SciStarter. As part of the SciStarter team, she manages education initiatives, authors SciStarter’s bi-weekly newsletter, and leads the edit team in reviewing and approving projects added to the SciStarter database. Lea is also a co-founder and co-owner of Essential Montessori, where she designs and hand-crafts learning Montessori-inspired materials for young children.
