Citizen science and biodiversity research

(Kopie 2)

Citizen science gives people the opportunity to actively contribute to research into and the conservation of biodiversity and nature. At the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), we are committed to strengthening, researching and further developing citizen science for the protection of biodiversity.

To this end, we ask the following questions, amongst others: 

• Who takes part and why? 
• How can the collected data be used effectively and supplemented? 
• And how can citizen science be professionalised for nature conservation?

Projects and key partnerships

In the project “Social, economic and ecological effects of participatory, sustainable food production [pane]”, we are carrying out bird monitoring together with citizen scientists. www.tu.berlin/spronare/pane

Together with partners from the National Biodiversity Monitoring Centre, we are developing success criteria and professionalising citizen science for official biodiversity monitoring. https://www.monitoringzentrum.de/ 

Together with colleagues from the MfN, as well as from the education sector, we are researching the drivers and barriers that influence different groups of people’s participation in citizen science projects in nature conservation

(Kopie 3)

Feasibility study: Development and testing of a citizen science centre for nature, sustainability and digitalisation

The activities represent a targeted continuation of the previous work funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) on the feasibility study for a Citizen Science Centre (2022–2024) at the MfN. The aim of the project was, during the course of its development – based on the needs and requirements of the community – to create spaces for exchange, to bring together and mobilise existing structures and networks, and to strengthen innovative capacity.