Citizen science during emergencies: Brazilian initiatives to face the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the possibilities, limits, and new challenges for Open Science. This article presents the results of research that sought to contribute to the understanding of the role of citizen science, one of the axes of Open Science, to deal with issues posed by the pandemic. In addition to a literature review, the study involved identification and categorization of these citizen initiatives in Brazil during the COVID-19 outbreak. Mutual learning can be seen between citizen science approaches and participatory actions to reduce risks from disasters. On the one hand, this learning strengthens the role of citizens’ production of data, information, and knowledge relevant for the prevention, resilience to, and management of these risks;and, on the other hand, it broadens the scope of citizen science to confront emergency and disaster situations while reinforcing the situated character of this approach. © 2021 CSIC.