Piliečių mokslas kaip inovatyvi piliečių dalyvavimo forma kuriant gerovės visuomenę

LTŠioje monografijoje autoriai tiria piliečių mokslo potencialą, leidžiantį piliečiams ir bendruomenėms patiems spęsti socialines problemas. Piliečių mokslas yra suprantamas kaip mokslinė veikla, kurioje neprofesionalūs mokslininkai savanoriškai dalyvauja renkant duomenis, analizuojant ir viešinant mokslinių tyrimų rezultatus. Tokie tyrimų projektai akcentuoja profesionalių mokslininkų ir visuomenės partnerystę. Užsienyje piliečių mokslo idėja yra plačiai taikoma, tačiau Lietuvoje piliečių įsitraukimas į mokslines veiklas yra tik pradinių stadijų. Todėl ši monografija yra pirmoji tokio lygio mokslinė publikacija lietuvių kalba, kuria siekiama išsamiau ištirti piliečių mokslo sampratą, Lietuvoje egzistuojančių piliečių mokslo ekosistemą, jos turinį, dalyvius ir procesą bei piliečių mokslo potencialą sprendžiant socialines problemas bei mokslo institucijų vaidmenį puoselėjant tokią veiklą.

ENIn science, citizens are generally considered not as knowledgeable partners in carrying out research projects but rather as passive subjects. Under the auspices of citizen science (CS), dozens of innovative research collaborations have been started in which citizens and scientists are acting in partnership to tackle real-life or scientific questions. During the last decades, digital communication technol- ogies, mobile devices and Web 2.0 have enabled the general public to engage in scientific research activities and actively contribute to science. As a passionate and collaborative way to do research, CS is generating increased interest among policy makers and researchers as the growth of the peer-reviewed publications on CS suggests (Hecker et al., 2018). Its recent popularity is often considered as a reaction to the predominance of epistemic expertise in the world of scientists. It essentially seems that citizen-generated large-scale data collection can now better enable researchers to assist some areas of policymaking as well as solu- tion-seeking to social problems. CS, by now, has become a new field of study and an increasingly fashionable label of research activities practised in a participatory way. As a participatory method of enquiry, the benefits of CS to engage citizens are manifold. Still, we hear less about how research could deploy CS to solve so- cial problems in local communities. Therefore, it is quite desirable to explore the potential of CS in solving social issues in more depth and understand the role of public institutions in fostering such activities.The rapid expansion of CS as a practice in the last decade is spectacular for researchers in any discipline (Hecker et al., 2018). The growing interest is a sign of a novel phenomenon which is fundamentally different from non-professional research for centuries, one conducted by amateur naturalists, before the insti- tutionalisation of science (Strasser et al, 2018). The term 'CS' became popular globally only around 2012, and it refers to the involvement of volunteers in the scientific process as partners or co-researchers. As a more significant trend on the landscape of science and innovation, more and more commonly scien- tists have been seeking opportunities to collaborate with stakeholders and/or volunteers to generate new data and legitimate knowledge. As many expect, this turn toward more open science will lead to better scientific literacy and improved science-society-policy interactions which are currently the key con- siderations in starting such projects. What is the contribution of CS in science? How effective is it? An early example, much before internet-based crowdsourcing, the Great Tide Experiment by Wil- liam Whewell in 1835, started with the ambition to measure ocean tide marks every 15 minutes, for two weeks at both sides of the Atlantic, and with 900 volunteer participants. He managed to coordinate 650 observation points and collectively gather empirical evidence in synchronised measurement.