Award for research involving citizens
Our chair staff members Tanja Aal and Dennis Kirschsieper from the Collaborative Research Center “Media of Cooperation” at the University of Siegen have been awarded for a joint research project with citizens. The researchers, led by socio-informatics specialist Tanja Aal, won second place in the “Knowledge of the Many – Research Award for Citizen Science”.
Together with citizens in Switzerland, researchers from the University of Siegen developed a help platform for older people. To start, the team conducted interviews with elderly people in a rural community near Zurich, as well as with caregivers, to identify needs and requirements. Based on the findings, a prototype of a community platform was developed, aiming to facilitate the search and offer of help in a low-barrier way. Older individuals were actively involved as co-researchers throughout the entire process and were equally integrated. The team has now been recognized for this form of “Citizen Science” (collaborative research with citizens): The researchers, led by Siegen-based socio-informatics specialist Tanja Aal, won second place in the “Knowledge of the Many – Research Award for Citizen Science” and received a prize of 10,000 euros.
“Of course, we are very pleased with this recognition of our work. Actively involving citizens in research is an important concern for us. Technologies like our help platform only work in practice if they are accepted by future users and are precisely tailored to their needs,” says Tanja Aal. Citizen science in qualitative social research is “very close to people” and therefore places special demands on scientists: “Processes have to be negotiated together again and again, which requires sensitivity and a high degree of self-reflection. At the same time, this type of research is very social and enriching.”
The development of the help platform for older people was carried out as part of a subproject at the Collaborative Research Center “Media of Cooperation” at the University of Siegen, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller. Together with Dennis Kirschsieper, Prof. Müller and Tanja Aal are investigating cooperative and practice-based design approaches for sociotechnical infrastructures for aging societies. The platform, which emerged from the Swiss citizen science project, has since been further developed in Germany and is soon to enter its trial phase as a real platform. The “Knowledge of the Many – Research Award for Citizen Science” was presented at the “Forum Citizen Science” conference in Hamburg. The award winners were selected by a jury of interdisciplinary professors. First place went to biologist Julia von Gönner from Friedrich Schiller University in Jena for a citizen science project on stream water quality. Third place was awarded to historian Prof. Dr. Boris Dreyer from FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg for a book project about an ancient Roman boat from the 1st century.
Background: The “Knowledge of the Many – Research Award for Citizen Science,” first announced in 2023, honors scientists for outstanding scientific achievements in the application of citizen science. The award is endowed with prize money of 20,000 euros for first place, 10,000 euros for second place, and 5,000 euros for third place. The prize money enables the award winners to further expand their activities in the field of citizen science. The award is presented by the organization “Science in Dialogue” and the Museum of Natural History Berlin, and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The award will be presented again in 2025.
Contact: Tanja Aal (Collaborative Research Center Media of Cooperation) Email: tanja.ertl@uni-siegen.de Tel.: +49 271 740 4036
