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    Home > Resource hub > Exploring opportunities for citizen science in policy and practice in preventive health

Exploring opportunities for citizen science in policy and practice in preventive health

How are citizen science approaches perceived and applied in policy and practice in preventive health?

Leah Marks delivered this presentation at the Public Health Association of Australia’s (PHAA’s) annual prevention conference in Brisbane, 11-13 May 2022.

Citizen science approaches, which actively involve the public in scientific research, are increasingly being utilised in preventive health research. However, little is known about whether and how citizen science may be used to address the needs of policy and practice organisations. Insights gained from this project will inform further research aimed at supporting and embedding citizen science approaches within policy and practice settings. Much potential is offered by citizen science approaches to strengthen partnerships between communities, researchers, practitioners and policymakers to develop and address shared research agendas that reflect communities’ needs, and ultimately, to inform policy and practice.

Using a mixed-methods approach, this study conducted an online survey and semi-structured interviews with policy and practice stakeholders working in preventive health in Australia. The survey explored familiarity with citizen science approaches and perspectives of their benefits, opportunities and challenges. Participants were largely familiar with and supportive of citizen science approaches in preventive health, with over half of survey respondents indicating they see a role for citizen science in their work (56%) and prevention policy and practice more broadly (82%). Many participants saw these approaches complementing and strengthening their existing community engagement strategies and discussed opportunities for citizen science to contribute valuable data, increase community acceptance of and advocacy for actions to improve health, and to bring together key stakeholders to address complex health problems. Participants identified a range of challenges to using citizen science approaches, including data quality and ownership, governance and a lack of resourcing and/or expertise.

Details

DATE 13 May 2022

TYPE Videos

Prevention experts

  • Leah Marks

    The University of Sydney
    Headshot of Leah Marks
  • Professor Ben Smith

    The University of Sydney
    Headshot of Ben Smith
  • Adjunct Associate Professor Jo Mitchell

    The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre
    Headshot of Jo Mitchell
  • Dr Samantha Rowbotham

    The University of Sydney
    Headshot of Samantha Rowbotham

Prevention methodologies

  • New methods and tools ,

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  • Harnessing the power of citizen science for prevention

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.

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The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre is funded by the NHMRC, Australian Government Department of Health, ACT Health, Cancer Council Australia, NSW Ministry of Health, Wellbeing SA, Tasmanian Department of Health, and VicHealth. The Australian Government also contributed through the Medical Research Future Fund. Queensland Health became a financial contributor in 2022. The Prevention Centre is administered by the Sax Institute.

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