Urban air quality citizen science. Project overview report

In early 2013, SEPA issued a call for proposals with the overall aim of designing a local air quality programme which would engage the public through the use of Citizen Science. Citizen Science involves the participation of the wider community (particularly non- scientists) in scientific projects. The benefits of Citizen Science include the facility for extensive data collection and the interaction between scientists and the community. In addition citizen scientists get a chance to inform scientists, and in the process, learn more about their environment. Information gained through Citizen Science projects can change public perceptions of the natural world, promote interaction with nature, and engage the community in the management of natural resources. The overall aim of the work was to help build further capabilities in the area of Citizen Science, as a follow-on to existing work in this area, building on existing projects and networks including Scotland’s Environment Web, CAMERAS and Scotland Counts. To carry out the work, SEPA commissioned a consortium of scientific organisations led by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in collaboration with the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and the Respiratory Group within the University of Aberdeen (RGA).