Scientific literacy is essential for active citizenship in an increasingly complex society shaped by science and technology. All members of society should have access to and influence over scientific knowledge, given its fundamental role in contemporary society. Yet many people find it difficult to relate to science, which is often perceived as inaccessible and irrelevant.

Citizen science, in which members of the public collaborate with researchers on scientific investigations, has been highlighted as a way of creating new forms of participation in science. This project explores how people's relationship with science change when they move from being consumers of research to becoming active participants in the research process. The aim is to understand what this shift may mean for scientific literacy and democratic participation.

To investigate these questions, we follow three groups of citizen scientists—genetic genealogists, climate activists, and patient research partners—who engage voluntarily in research-related activities. Over four years, we use participant observations, interviews, and analyses of networks and relationships to study how citizen scientists’ engagement develops over time. The project examines how participation shapes the participants' understanding of themselves, their role in knowledge production, and the boundaries between those who produce and those who use scientific knowledge.

The project will generate new knowledge about how scientific literacy and engagement with science develop when people voluntarily participate in citizen science outside formal educational settings. This knowledge can inform the development of new ways of fostering participation in science in schools and higher education.

Project design

To understand participants' engagement across the three contexts, the project employs qualitative social network analysis. Relationships between citizen scientists and science are examined through the theoretical lenses of resonance and epistemic communities. We are particularly interested in the emotionally meaningful relationships with science that emerge through encounters with people, materials, and ideas: the qualities of these relationships, how they develop over time, and how they shape how participants relate to themselves and to the world.

The project is organised as three sub-studies:

• The study of genetic genealogy is led by Anna Danielsson, Stockholm University.
• The study of climate activism is led by Anders Johansson, Chalmers University of Technology.
• The study of patient partners in research is led by Anne-Sofie Nyström, Uppsala University.