Other forms of open engagement
Open engagement in research can take many forms apart from citizen science. It can involve collaboration with local communities, on-going evaluation and research, accessible research communication, and crowdfunding, where people and organisations outside the research community contribute to research they regard as valuable. What these forms have in common is that research and research findings are opened up to more actors, more forms of knowledge, and more ways of creating, using, and disseminating knowledge.
In addition to the forms of participation in research associated with citizen science, there are many other ways in which actors outside the research community can be engaged in research. Such engagement includes, for instance, different forms of collaboration between researchers and communities or community members. An example of this is participatory action research, in which a community with a specific problem to solve works together with researchers to understand the problem, generate knowledge, and support practical change. Another example, particularly in healthcare research and medical research, is user involvement or patient and public involvement, PPI. Users participate in the research in ways that go beyond providing samples, answering surveys, or being examined, tested, or interviewed. User involvement can be described as an active partnership between the researchers and the people included in the study. (For more information in Swedish, see Forte’s [Forskning i korthet #5 (2015).)
On-going evaluation and research is research that is expected not only to generate new knowledge but also to evaluate a project or process within an organisation on an ongoing basis. The research project results not only in research publications or a final report; it also provides continuous feedback to the organisation.
Reaching the public with research findings that concern them is another form of open engagement. Accessible communication of research means presenting research in understandable and engaging forms. Examples include podcasts, virtual exhibitions, public scholarship, and creatively reworked data that can support wider knowledge exchange, impact, and accountability. Accessible communication is particularly relevant when research is carried out with external parties, such as a company, a civil society organisation, or a particular community, when the findings may be of interest or value to those parties.
Crowdfunding can also be regarded as a form of open engagement. Research projects can be wholly or partly funded through small donations from individuals and organisations that regard the research as particularly worthwhile. In some countries, including Sweden, there are major research funders that raise funds for research in specific areas, such as the Swedish Cancer Society and the Swedish Brain Foundation. It can be argued that such funders are a systematic form of crowdfunding.
The above examples are only a few of the forms that open engagement can take. For more information, see, for instance, the UNESCO Open Science Toolkit, particularly the guide on engaging societal actors in open science.