Water Wheel March/April 2023: Citizen Science

Abstract

Building confidence, hope and dignity in communities through citizen science “Quit mystifying science, rendering it accessible only to academics.” That’s the message from anthropologist Prof Jacqueline Goldin to water researchers and practitioners who need to change the way they work with and talk to communities. “If you are going to make a better world, where people are managing their planet in a wiser and better way, you have to use different tools,” said Goldin. The process of research must be “shared with people who are going to make a difference… ordinary people who are going to look after rivers and groundwater. They want to be part of the solution.” Goldin, who was speaking to the Water Wheel after the January 2022 publication of her WRC-funded report, Polycentricity, pluralism and citizen science: A nexus approach to water resources management (WRC report no. 3042/1/22), advocates “slow science” . Researchers, especially in the social sciences, should take time finding out who to talk to and about what. They must engage with society and build trust.

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