ABSTRACT
Ecological research, education, and community engagement were interrupted globally in the spring and summer of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To allow for continued data collection and to provide opportunities for people to interact with nature, we developed a community science project focusing on pollinator visitation to gardens and lawns. To evaluate the accessibility of this project to volunteers, we conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with people who participated in the project training. Interviewees experienced a number of barriers to participation, the most common of which were difficulty with the data collection procedure (n = 22), challenges using technology (n = 11), and lack of access to technology (n = 9). However, components of the online training and data collection procedure helped overcome some of these barriers. Strategies such as using a hybrid training format, simplifying the use of technology during training, and incorporating active learning into online workshops could increase participation in community science projects, both in the context of the pandemic and moving forward. © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Public Health registrars (SpRs) were an important component of the workforce that contributed to the COVID-19 response. This study explores their contribution and the impact the early stages of the pandemic had on their learning and training. METHODS: Data were collected from SpRs in the London and Kent, Surrey, Sussex training programme between July and September 2020 through a mixture of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was undertaken to identify themes. RESULTS: 35/128 SpRs responded to the survey and 11 were interviewed. SpRs were placed across a range of organizations and made a significant contribution to the COVID-19 response. Overall, SpRs learned important skills but working on the response may for some have impacted negatively on training. A number of facilitators and barriers to learning were identified. CONCLUSION: The study findings highlight the opportunities for learning created by the pandemic. However, changing projects and the desire of SpRs to contribute to the response meant the impacts on training were mixed. Future deployment of SpRs should consider the balance of responsibility and pace when delegating work, as well as the need to supervise effectively and support remote working to maintain good mental wellbeing.