The deed of incorporation of the association
The Citizen Science Italia ETS Association was established on 17 February in Rome, at the botanical garden, which will be based in Grosseto at the Maremma Natural History Museum. Citizen science is a growing reality, which has been defined as "the involvement of volunteers and scientists in collaborative research activities, to generate new knowledge based on scientific evidence"; a virtuous process that guarantees valuable sources of information and can generate informed and aware companies. By encouraging the active involvement of citizens, citizen science represents an innovative tool for research, social inclusion and sustainable development. Its location at the interface between science and society gives it scientific, social, educational and environmental policy orientation values. Its interdisciplinary nature manifests itself in a wide diversity of approaches and solutions. The active involvement of millions of people around the world contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge through the collection, analysis and interpretation of data in a shared way.
The Italian projects of the last few years
With a view to developing operational networks at an international level, associations based in the United States (CSA), Europe (ECSA) and Australia (ACSA) were founded between 2013 and 2014, which promote the exchange of good practices and the involvement of decision makers and politicians. In many European countries, national coordination networks have also been established, increasing the level of operations and visibility of projects and making citizen science an increasingly important reality. In recent years, numerous citizen science projects have also been born in Italy and a growing interest in this way of doing science has developed. For some time now, a group of scientists and citizen science supporters has been working for the dissemination and development of coordination projects and initiatives at local, national and European level. Since 2017, two national conferences have been organized and the "Guidelines for the development of a national citizen science strategy" have been drawn up.
The goals to be achieved
From these experiences the Citizen Science Italia ETS association was born, with two ambitious objectives:
– promote the full development of citizen science in Italy, creating a community that through the exchange of experiences and networking can give unambiguous answers to political decision makers.
– represent the Italian community at national and international level, facilitating the communication and dissemination of projects, networking activities and the exchange of experiences.
Citizen Science Italia ETS is the result of a national network of initiatives, experts, universities, research centres, scientific museums, associations and Italian public bodies. The President Andrea Sforzi (Director of the Natural History Museum of Maremma), the Vice President Gaia Agnello (Director of the Sicily Environment Fund and ARPA Sicily consultant), the Secretary Chiara Vitillo (PhD student of the University of Siena) and the seven members of the first council board will work to build inclusive and collaborative tools and solutions, in an open science perspective, in close contact with other international experiences in this rapidly expanding sector. The first board of directors includes, in addition to the three people mentioned above: Alessandro Campanaro, Researcher at CREA (Defense and Certification Research Centre, Florence) Stefano Martellos, Associate Professor at the University of Trieste Bruna Gumiero, Adjunct Professor at the University of Bologna Cristina Castracani, Technician (TA staff) at the University of Parma Caterina Bergami, Researcher at CNR – ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, Milan) Alessandro Oggioni , Researcher at CNR – IREA (Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, Milan) Domenico D'Alelio, Researcher at Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, Naples. Contacts: [email protected] Facebook Repository of citizen science projects in Italy (source: FIDC).