Citizen Science in Luxembourg

Collecting data together on the impact of people and technology on the environment and creating knowledge for action.

Need, Goal, and Purpose

The aim of transformative sustainability research, as practised by the Sustainability Science Team at the University of Luxembourg, is to create spaces and concrete opportunities for thinking and participation, while offering scientific support. New and locally adapted ideas for action, knowledge, and spaces for engagement should be developed so that every citizen can actively contribute to the regeneration of natural resources and the basis of life for all of us. The regeneration of water and biodiversity are key concerns for us.

Citizen science is an important approach in transformative sustainability research. It provides the opportunity to democratise knowledge generation for decision-making, so that not only general expert knowledge but also detailed knowledge about local circumstances can be collected and utilised together. New developments in inexpensive measuring tools and data processing, for example using mobile phones, open up opportunities to contribute to important data collections on the state of the environment and human interactions with it, even without prior expertise.

Citizen science is particularly useful in the area of water! Not only do we supplement official data in areas that are not currently measured, such as smaller bodies of water with a catchment area of less than 10 km², but the opportunity to help collect data also offers avenues for active participation. This also highlights the need and opens up new possibilities for action in water management—because the transformation of a society can only succeed if everyone participates.

Collecting Data and Experimenting Together Is Possible:

• Making sense of our environment and our relationship with it.
• Gaining personal experience through and about science: What is measured, how it is measured, and what these measurements mean.
• Building local expertise: If action is needed in my community, local people often know best about the conditions of water bodies and what needs to be done.
• Creating a national, comprehensible pool of data that many people can contribute to—"co-creation" of knowledge as a common basis for action.
• Recognising fields of action and becoming aware of the consequences of personal actions.
• Learning to better understand the complex, rapid changes in the state of the environment caused by various factors.

The Methods:

The Citizen Science toolset can be used to document individual observations of the condition of water, relating to a wide range of factors such as the environment, human activities, or infrastructure and technology that might influence water quality at a particular location. This involves taking photos and describing the water (e.g. the presence of sediment, algae, or waste), the shoreline, and the type of land use around the water body. Additionally, nitrate and phosphate content can be measured using easy-to-use indicators.

Nitrate and phosphate levels in the water provide information on whether the water, as a habitat, supports biodiversity or, if the nutrient content is too high, only favours species that can tolerate these conditions (such as certain algae and cyanobacteria), thereby displacing other species like fish, river mussels, and insect larvae. Other factors of interest include personal observations, which describe the interaction between humans and nature at the monitoring site. Are there any pipes discharging wastewater into the river? Is there a road or railway nearby? Do you feel comfortable in nature at this location, and if so, why?

Since nutrient levels in surface water are highly variable and depend on many factors, such as weather and human activity, a single measurement point is rarely meaningful. It's like trying to judge an entire opera based on a single note. Therefore, it makes sense to examine a broader picture of measurements spread over space and time. Measurement errors can occur, for example, when reading indicator strips to measure nutrient levels, which are sometimes unclear. As a result, every measured value carries a degree of uncertainty. This is why more data is better, and why a participatory approach to data collection through citizen science is so important.

Results and Content

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Additionally, there are three further ways to plan a longer-term citizen science project with the University of Luxembourg research team:

• Repeated data collection with schools or companies as part of a corporate social responsibility programme.
  With a little preparation time (around 3 weeks), the Citizen Science team can facilitate various possibilities. We are happy to collaborate with interested teachers, companies, students (and parents), and employees over an extended period (a minimum of 2 months or even several years) to repeatedly collect data at the same locations. In such cases, a wide range of interesting indicators can also be measured using more sophisticated test kits. We offer a short training session for those willing to take on responsibility.
• Co-design of your own indicator set and internet portal.
  The research team can support a limited number of targeted Citizen Science projects by committed organisations, where a project-specific indicator set is created collaboratively for a specific purpose and group. The prerequisite is that data collection by dedicated participants is ensured over a longer period. Pilot projects have been launched with the Geopark Müllerthal and the municipality of Niederanven (reports on these projects can be found here: Workshop 1 - Müllerthal, Workshop 2 - Müllerthal, Workshop Syr).

The citizen science tool developed in the co-design workshops will facilitate data collection and analysis relating to indicators tailored to the location and informed by local interests. The toolset includes a kit, an app, and a web interface. The kit contains the tools needed for data collection, the app enables data input, and the web interface displays and analyses the data. These components are based on existing citizen science tools. A key focus in the development is on data visualisation and accessibility. The web platform will consolidate all citizen science data collected as part of the NEXUS CITIZEN SCIENCE project. Each group will develop a set of indicators customised to its framework and concerns, and these sets will also overlap.

The WATGOV pilot project (2017-2021) was conducted as part of a dissertation by Karl Pickar at the University of Luxembourg in close collaboration with Prof. Muki Haklay and his Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group at University College London. Karl Pickar is also a member of the NEXUS FUTURES project team. The PhD position was funded by the University of Luxembourg as part of its support for interdisciplinary research projects.

More about WaterBlitz

The WaterBlitz project was conducted in collaboration with Earthwatch, a UK-based NGO, as part of their citizen science project "FreshWater Watch". For more information, please follow this link. A report on the main results of the first WaterBlitz events in Luxembourg in September 2019 and May 2021 can be found here.

The WaterBlitz Luxembourg was organised by the University of Luxembourg in collaboration with Earthwatch and runs in parallel with events in London, Dublin, and Paris. The data collected has already provided valuable information on the state of Luxembourg's waters.

In 2019, over 80 volunteers collected more than 100 data points from around 50 surface water bodies. This data has provided valuable insights into the condition of Luxembourg's waters. The WaterBlitzes are funded by the Royal Bank of Canada as part of its commitment to improving local water quality.