The project will work on strengthening education of all partners involved through:
- Mapping current status and strengthening citizen science/ community engagement in education. We aim to :
- First, map the existing use of citizen science and community engagement in the partner universities.
- Secondly, several activities will be organised to stimulate the integration and mainstreaming of citizen science/ community based monitoring into education in the partner universities.
- Additionally, we will organize university-wide seminars for staff, students, and experts to showcase the added value of CS/CBM and action research. These seminars will provide a platform for different actors to share and document success stories of integrating citizen science into education and research, fostering co-creation within HEIs. The seminars will also facilitate networking and enhance learning among stakeholders
- First, map the existing use of citizen science and community engagement in the partner universities.
- Further develop the joint course in community based monitoring/ citizen science currently organised by IOB & Mzumbe university. The climate change resilience aspect will be further integrated and strengthened building on the partnership with Nelson Mandela University. Students from all three HEIs are invited to participate in the CBM course, research internships, and dissertation work aligned with the joint research agenda on CS/CBM in water and climate change.
- Integration of Artificial Intelligence in citizen science education: AI use in HEIs is currently still limited due to a lack of expertise, infrastructure, and misconceptions. In the nexus between the research and education of this project, we aim to explore AI's potential in both social and natural sciences, as well as in monitoring and evaluation. To achieve this, we will map the potential of CS/CBM and identify ways to integrate water, climate, and AI knowledge into the CBM course.
- Facilitating an exchange between the expertise from the citizen science hub and the partner institutions can strengthen the nexus between education and outreach. Inviting scientists and actors with CS/CBM expertise as guest speakers enrichens the education with interdisciplinary and societally embedded expertise.