’Every research project improves if you add some citizen science’

Fleur Froeling showing the map of IJburg in Amsterdam, one of the research places (photo by Laura Hompus, Pixels en Passie) - More and more often Utrecht researchers experiment with citizen science, research that involves collaboration with citizens. For instance, by having them collect data. PhD candidate Fleur Froeling went one step further: she asked Dutch people which subject they would like to research scientifically, and involved a group of citizens in every step of the process. What effects does smoke from wood-burning stoves have on the health of Dutch people? That is the question that Fleur Froeling from the Institute for Risk Assessment Services (IRAS) tried to answer in her PhD research project. The special thing about her study is that she not only carried it out with fellow-researchers; also volunteers played a decisive part. Doing research in this way is called citizen science. A well-known example is the Dutch National Bird Count , an annual study in which the Dutch participate by counting birds in their gardens during three days and pass on the results through a webapp after which the researchers process this data.