Considering it is difficult for professional scientists to reach public decision makers in a normal policy setting, the Commons Lab and the Environmental Law Institute assumed these disconnects might occur for citizen science projects as well.

As a step towards identifying and remedying this, we designed a research paper that would illustrate the many legal and administrative procedures in the United States that dictate whether certain data and research conclusions can be used and relied upon to make decisions about air quality, land use, water quality and many more environmental factors.

Knowledge of these procedural qualifiers can greatly enhance the quality assurance and control factors in citizen science project design and ideally reach intended decision makers more effectively.

In addition, we will explore the role of citizen science in the policymaking process within the Convention on Biological Diversity based on research conducted by Rob McNamara.

The event will be live webcast and you can tweet us, @STIPCommonsLab, with questions using the hashtag #impactcitsci.

Please join us for the launch of this research paper and a panel discussion with the author on some of the key findings. Paper copies of the report will also be available.

Moderator: David Rejeski, Director, Science and Technology Innovation Program

Panelists:

James McElfish, Senior Attorney, Environmental Law Institute 

Rob McNamara, Adjunct Professor, International Environmental Studies, Sierra Nevada College