Citizens science and citizens contribution to science are crucial to the understanding of the natural world. Professor Helen Roy, an ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, will discuss the benefits of Engaging People in Recording Wildlife, in her relevant online talk, which will be delivered on Thursday, January 19, 2023, in the context of the 5th Lecture Series “Women and Environmental Sciences”.
The talk will start at 18:00 (GMT+2), and it will be broadcasted live through the OUC eLearning Platform at this web link: https://bit.ly/3fJUO3K.
The Lecture Series is co-organised by the Postgraduate Programme “Environmental Conservation and Management” and the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Laboratory of the Open University of Cyprus, and is supported by the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment of the Republic of Cyprus.
Centuries of biological recording in the UK have given rise to taxonomically diverse datasets of unprecedented spatial and temporal scale. Observations from volunteers documenting when and where they see species continue to provide invaluable information on the changing status of wildlife across the UK and beyond. Traditional monitoring approaches underpin biological recording but new and emerging technologies are providing many opportunities from increasing participation, enhancing dataflow and advancing analysis and interpretation to support research, policy and conservation. As the online talk will document, it is inspiring to consider the contributions of volunteers to our understanding of the natural world. Collaboration and co-development are critical to ensure the relevance of ongoing innovations to the biological recording community.
Professor Helen Roy is an ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Her research focuses on the effects of environmental change, particularly biological invasions, on biodiversity and ecosystems. She leads many collaborative national and international research projects on biological invasions with a focus on enhancing information flow to inform understanding of the impacts of invasive alien species. She also enjoys science communication and public engagement with research which led to her interest in citizen science; an approach that she has implemented in a number of contexts. Prof. Roy is currently leading a global assessment on invasive non-native species for the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Registration for certificates of attendance: https://forms.office.com/r/hbPwKpsGsK
