The Trust Factor. Ensuring Data Quality in Citizen Science

This seminar addresses a crucial challenge in citizen science: ensuring the reliability and credibility of citizen-generated data. Drawing on successful international case studies, experts will discuss frameworks, validation techniques, and data governance approaches that have enhanced the uptake of citizen science results in research and policymaking. The session aimed to build mutual trust between citizen scientists, academia, and institutions through transparency, collaboration, and shared standards. During the session, participants also were introduced to the European Union’s CS-MACH1 project, aimed at developing the Marine Citizen Science Data Network, in which both AUA and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) are actively participating.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Jaume Piera is the research group leader of Environmental and Sustainability Participatory Information Systems at the Department of Physical and Technological Oceanography of the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC).

Dr. Piera holds a Ph.D. in environmental sciences (University of Girona), M.S. in biology (University of Barcelona), and B.S. in telecommunications engineering (Technical University of Catalonia). He has over 20 years of experience in multidisciplinary research programs and 15 years in the management of national and international research projects (seven as principal investigator and one as coordinator). His research interests revolve around information technologies applied to environmental monitoring technologies. His current research focuses on designing and evaluating scientific and technological infrastructures for environmental monitoring, particularly those based on citizen science approaches  (known as Citizen Observatories). Dr. Piera’s research interests also include designing and evaluating technologies to facilitate citizen participation and engagement in scientific research, promoting the use of local and traditional knowledge in conservation and education programs, and developing new methods for analyzing citizen science data.

He is currently leading the design of Do-It-Yourself instruments for water quality monitoring in the European Union projects (FP7-CITCLOPS, Citizens’ Observatory for Coast and Ocean Optical Monitoring, and H202-MONOCLE), and is now coordinating the development of innovative services for citizen observatories in the European Open Science Cloud within the framework of the H2020-COS4CLOUD project. Dr. Piera is also a member of the steering committee at the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), where he chairs the “Data, Tools and Technologies” working group. He has participated in many outreach activities: ICM Science Week and national outreach projects such as MARDUINO (My buoy, our data, and the sea).