Institute for Technoscience & Society Virtual Seminar Series with Sarah Blacker

Register and join us for an ITS virtual talk “Counting herons, photographing melting ice: Public participation in climate change research” with Sarah Blacker (York University) on April 22 from noon till 1:30 p.m.

Blacker is a sessional assistant professor in the Department of Social Science at York University.

Amidst cuts to research funding for climate science and the weakening of environmental regulation, public participation in climate change research through citizen science projects – and the data they produce – can provide a critical resource to climate scientists. Public participation in science can address data gaps and counter hierarchies by centering the experiential knowledges of historically marginalized communities; it can also extend a false promise of agency to participants.

This talk discusses the study design and methods used by three participatory climate science projects, including a community-led project practicing data sovereignty, non-profit and a public-private partnership. Blacker will argue that while these projects can support environmental education and climate justice, the data collected through these projects is sometimes used towards ends that run counter to the aims of the participants.