Resources
Past Events
February 2024 Gathering
On February 15, CitSci Alberta hosted its nineth gathering – Bee A Part of Something: Citizen Science and Pollinators. This gathering highlighted citizen science initiatives aimed to develop public awareness and conservation of pollinator species across Alberta. This webinar included three presentations from University of Calgary, Alberta Native Bee Council, and Alberta Forestry and Parks followed by a panel discussion of audience questions. The recording of the presentation is available below.
The recording of the presentation is available below:
April 2023 Gathering
On April 12, CitSci Alberta hosted its seventh gathering – Wildfire Smoke Monitoring Through Citizen Science. This talk, presented by Greg Wentworth (Senior Atmospheric Scientist, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA)), described a pilot project being conducted by AEPA to monitor the impact of wildfire smoke on air quality throughout Alberta. To fill air monitoring gaps, AEPA is working directly with communities and other stakeholders (e.g., Airshed Organizations, Environment and Climate Change Canada) to deploy low-cost air quality sensors that monitor pollutants in wildfire smoke in real-time.
The recording of the presentation is available below:
October 2022 Gathering
On October 12, CitSci Alberta hosted its fifth gathering - Tales of Snow and Ice: Citizen Science in Alberta's Winter! The gathering featured a panel of citizen science researchers and practitioners highlighting winter projects and the challenges of winter citizen science in Alberta. Projects featured include Calgary Captured, IceWatch, Winter LakeKeepers, and the Christmas Bird Count. Following the panel presentations there was a facilitated discussion led by members of the CitSci Alberta Steering Committee.
The recording of the panel presentations and discussion is available below:
March 2022 Gathering
On March 2, 2022, CitSci Alberta hosted its third gathering, 'Building Community-Based Water Research Projects'. The event featured a presentation by Dr. Patrick Hanington, an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. In this presentation, Patrick highlighted examples of projects that touch on ways in which community-partnered and school-partnered research is undertaken by his team.
The recording of Dr. Hanington’s presentation is available below.
September 2023 Gathering
On September 27, CitSci Alberta hosted its eighth gathering - Indigenous Voices in Environmental Monitoring. This well-attended gathering included two presentations by Alvin First Rider, an environmental technician with Blood Tribe Land Management, and Elliot Fox, a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) First Nation (Blackfoot Confederacy). Alvin’s presentation, Kainai Ksisktakii Coexistence, discussed how Blood Tribe Land Management is exploring the historical and contemporary relationship the Blackfoot people have with Ksikstakii (Beaver). Elliot's presentation, Blackfoot Confederacy Tribal Council Native Trout Recovery Project, described Blackfoot shared leadership and capacity support in native trout recovery addressing climate change, non-native species and habitat loss. Following the webinar, Tracy Lee (Mistakiis Institute) conducted an interview with Elliot Fox to go through some of the questions arising from his presentation.
The recording of the presentation is available below:
March 2023 Gathering
On March 1, CitSci Alberta hosted its sixth gathering – Wading Through Aquatic Citizen Science Projects! The gathering highlighted Alberta's water-based citizen science projects, with a focus on what is involved in the planning and designing a citizen science project. Projects featured include Stream Temperature Monitoring with Trout Unlimited Canada, LakeObserver with the Pigeon Lake Watershed Association, LakeWatch with the Alberta Lake Management Society, X-Stream Science with the Battle River Watershed Alliance and DataStream. The event included ‘Ask an Expert’ breakout sessions to discuss questions and concerns ahead of the summer field season.
The recording of the panel presentations is available below:
May 2022 Gathering
On May 26, 2022 CitSci Alberta hosted a Watch Party as part of the 2022 C*Sci Conference! This event featured a viewing of C*Sci Conference keynote speaker Dr. Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta. Dr. Ramírez-Andreotta is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. Using an environmental justice framework and participatory research methods, she investigates exposure pathways and communication strategies to translate environmental health research to action and achieve structural change.
The recording of Dr. Ramírez-Andreotta’s presentation is below.
September 2021 Gathering
On September 21, 2021 CitSci Alberta hosted its second gathering, 'Expanding the Impact of Citizen Science.' The event featured a presentation by Rick Bonney, from Cornell University. The event focused on the challenges facing citizen science and what’s next for the field. The presentation was followed by a series of breakout sessions led by members of the CitSci Alberta Steering Committee. The themes for the breakout sessions were based on topics discussed in Rick Bonney's recent publication - Expanding the Impact of Citizen Science.
April 2021 Gathering
To celebrate Global Citizen Science Month, CitSci Alberta hosted its first gathering on April 21, 2021! The meeting answered the questions, 'What is a Community of Practice?' and 'Why a Community of Practice in Alberta?' The meeting featured a series of presentations by citizen science practitioners who explained why they want a Citizen Science Community of Practice in Alberta. Opportunity was additionally provided to give feedback on the draft purpose, objectives, activities and topics of interest for an Alberta Citizen Science Community of Practice.