Training and Research Initiative in Citizen Science

Citizen Science involves public participation in scientific research by amateur volunteers who collect or process data

Citizen Science has the potential to:

• Broaden the skills base and workforce available to a scientific project 
• Enable analyses of large volumes of data 
• Enhance public understanding of science 
• Equip and empower volunteers to contribute to scientific research 
• Facilitate scientific literacy and training 
• Change attitudes towards science 
• Reward unpaid volunteers with scientific training, participation, acknowledgement and co-authorship 
• Foster a sense of shared goals and values between professional and citizen scientists

Citizen Science Projects at Queen Mary, University of London

OMEGA–LOCATE 

C oordinator: Dave Horne ( d.j.horne@qmul.ac.uk) 
Nonmarine ostracods, tiny crustaceans with an excellent fossil record, are common in aquatic ecosystems. The Ostracod Metadatabase of Environmental and Geographical Attributes (OMEGA) facilitates access to global geographical and environmental distributional data for nonmarine ostracods, supporting applications in biodiversity auditing, biogeography and the calibration of species as fossil proxies for past environmental and climatic change. Citizen Scientists can help improve accuracy and coverage of datasets by adding, correcting and validating the geographical coordinates of localities. Click here for more information.