COST Actions join forces to address evolutionary biology through citizen science

Fostering multidisciplinary collaborations amongst researchers is essential to help address the complex challenges our society is facing. And sometimes, it only takes one workshop to spark a breakthrough idea. This is exactly what happened when representatives of three COST Actions, EuroScitizen, ALIEN-CSI and CS-EU, met during a workshop in Berlin in 2020 and decided to put their common expertise together to tackle the need to promote a better understanding of evolutionary biology.

With Citizen Science as a common ground to their research fields, these three COST Actions agreed on its potential to tackle the lack of public understanding around evolutionary biology. This resulted in the publication of a brand-new scientific paper that makes a case for incorporating evolution education into Citizen Science.

Members of the three Actions, Prof Till Bruckermann and Dr Miriam Brandt from both COST Actions CS-EU and EuroScitizen, Prof Helen Roy and Dr Quentin Groom from COST Action ALIEN-CSI, and Dr Tania Jenkins and Dr Dusan Misevic from EuroScitizen, answered our questions to depict the critical aspect of this topic and the value of their collaborations.

Citizen Science to improve understanding of evolutionary biology

What we call the ‘evolutionary processes’ shapes all aspects of the natural world, from the human microbiome to zoonotic diseases and antibiotic resistance. Central to biology, evolution is a topic that has implications on a wide range of areas. Looking at the big picture, it touches upon complex global challenges, such as food security, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Understanding the ins and outs of evolutionary processes is therefore crucial to making informed decisions about such important societal issues.

Taking stock of this aspect helps us grasp how limited understanding of evolution can profoundly weaken one’s ability to make rational decisions. And the truth is that evolution is generally poorly understood and not always accepted by the public. As a matter of fact, scientific literacy in evolution is necessary for the general public to realistically understand its importance for daily life issues.

And it is exactly here that Citizen Science (CS), understood as “the participation of non-professional scientists in research”, offers an immense potential. The network of researchers involved in these three COST Actions, EuroScitizen, ALIEN-CSI and CS-EU, have experience with CS in their research activities and are therefore each well aware of the solutions it can offer.

“It is timely as few Citizen Science projects tackle evolutionary topics. We consider this to be a missed opportunity as CS projects provide a good context for learning. For example, invasion biologists are often asked why they need to control species. Explaining to the public about the value of biodiversity and unique ecosystems is difficult without a foundation in evolution. Concepts such as ‘competition’, ‘selection’, ‘genetic drift’ all help people’s understanding.” the group of researchers tells us.

This article was first published on 4 October by COST Association.