BMBF project "SensEM - Citizen Science Toolkit for researching air quality in public spaces"

• Funded by: BMBF - Innovative SMEs
• Duration: March 2023 - February 2025
• Cooperation partners: Scholz & Volkmer GmbH, Fraunhofer IZM
• Staff Member: Melanie Jaeger-Erben, NN

SensEm is a citizen science project for the participatory, comprehensive and continuous measurement, analysis and visualization of air quality in public spaces by citizens and the utilization of this data for the general public (open data).
The aim of the project is to develop a reusable, digital toolkit that supports the entire citizen science research cycle, from publicizing and acquiring users to defining the research question, planning, coordinating and conducting the measurements, evaluating and exploiting the data, and ensuring compliance with certain methods and best practices in the process. Supporting and accompanying the development of the toolkit by Scholz & Volkmer together with Fraunhofer IZM with experience, methodological and conceptual knowledge is a first sub-task of BTU Cottbus. A second sub-task relates to the formative and summative evaluation of the implementation of the joint research with regard to participation, involvement and impact of participation. The focus here is on the question of how participation formats affect participation and what effect this in turn has on the identity and competence of the citizen scientists. Related to this is a third sub-task, which relates to the effect of participation on one's own everyday actions, in particular in the area of everyday mobility.