Engaging communities through research

Connecting people with nature is one of the most effective means of changing people’s perception and enthusiasm for the environment. Citizen science initiatives provide the ideal chance for people to get involved directly in conservation and through doing so gain a greater understanding and respect for it.

Also known as crowd science or crowd-sourced science, citizen science engages members of the public to take part in scientific research studies by assisting to collect data about wildlife or natural areas. This enables a range of people, from those with little prior knowledge of Australian wildlife to experienced amateur naturalists, to make a difference to the environment around them.

All of our programs are carefully designed to be rigorous and systematic and achieve clear outcomes, such as addressing important scientific questions and providing vital information to decision makers. This means that the data people collect has a real impact on preserving our biodiversity.

What do our citizen scientists do?

If you take part in one of our citizen science projects you will be collecting data about wildlife or natural areas. Any records you make are added to the publically accessible, Atlas of Living Australia, where you can view all of the data you have collected, as well as that collected by other participants. This also means that the data from our citizen science surveys can be viewed and used to inform decision makers.