Coop-Science: A Horizontal More Inclusive Approach to Citizen Science for Rural Communities in Kenya

Abstract Citizen science aims to engage citizens in research projects to address everyday problems. However, it should not be assumed that citizen science promotes public participation per se. To bridge the gap between citizens and science, deliberate effort needs to be made. For example, finding ways to support citizens who have an interest in public participation but live under social and cultural conditions that constrain their ability to engage in science. We are interested in exploring how to tackle these inequalities in public knowledge co-creation. Thus, we propose an alternative to citizen science, thinking in terms of collectives, in particular cooperatives, instead of individuals/citizens. Engaging cooperatives in science could help expand our understanding of the collective dimension’s power in solving real-life problems. We refer to this approach as coop-science . It could be argued that when cooperatives are involved in science as a collective process, people see the advantages of working collectively to achieve scientific outcomes whilst caring for the common good. In times of polycrisis, particularly in the Global South where the consequences are devastating, cooperatives have the potential, we argue, to resist and flourish. Thus, we explore how coop-science can be articulated and implemented as an alternative to Western, more individualistic approaches to citizen science.