An effective roadmap for training and engagement of citizen scientists and community groups investigating freshwater quality: Urban Citizen’s 6.3.2 (Dublin, Ireland)

Citizen science can considerably assist researchers in collecting environmental data, expanding the scope of projects and serving an educational purpose. However, there has been considerable debate on the importance of establishing proper methods to ensure data quality, and providing adequate training and engagement of volunteers, to maximise their participation. In this paper, we present the framework that we developed during Urban Citizen’s 6.3.2, a citizen science project monitoring water quality and macroinvertebrate biodiversity of urban rivers and streams in Dublin, Ireland. This framework was utilized for establishing the surveying methodology, recruiting our volunteers, training them as citizen scientists, engaging and supporting them during the data collection, and communicating results. We provide an overview of the citizens’ participation, their background and motivation, and their feedback on our training and engagement methods. Finally, we present a discussion of lessons learnt, including choosing proper methodologies, ensuring flexibility to maximise participation, the role of local community groups and of a multi-directional knowledge transfer, and the social impact of the project. The innovative aspects of this methodology include engaging with existing networks, and the ethical considerations of citizen science.