Mapping tick dynamics and tick bite risk using data-driven approached and volunteered observations
2015-2019
Point of contact: Raul Zurita-Milla
Human activities have induced global changes, which among other impacts are leading to the re-emergence of vector-borne diseases. In the Northern hemisphere, the tick-borne disease known as Lyme borreliosis (LB) has experienced a substantial spatio-temporal expansion in the last 20 years.
During the period 2006-2012 the educational phenology platform Natuurkalender, linked to Wageningen University, gathered nearly 10,000 volunteered tick bites. This pioneering project attracted the attention of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), and in 2012, the platform Tekenradar was launched by these two organizations. Tekenradar has collected over 50,000 volunteered tick bite reports in the Netherlands. To the best of our knowledge, these initiatives constitute the first citizen science projects that specifically focus on ticks and tick-borne diseases.
In this PhD project, we focus on extracting spatial patterns and temporal trends from these volunteered data collections with two objectives in mind: modelling tick dynamics to identify the major drivers of tick populations, and modelling human activities to identify potentially risky factors and regions for LB.
For more information, please see: https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036548595
Geocomputational Workflows for Analysing Spring Plant Phenology in Space and Time
2014 – 2019
Points of contact: Raul Zurita-Milla and Ellen-Wien Augustijn
Changes in plant phenology have both global and substantial implications for our planet. Because of this, several (inter)national networks have been set up so that citizens can contribute to phenological by collecting phenological observations in their surroundings. This data collection exercise does not only help scientists to better understand plant phenology and its drivers, it also helps citizens to become more aware of environmental changes. In this PhD work, we designed novel geocomputational workflows to explore spring plant phenology at large scale and over long periods using volunteered phenological observations (VPOs) and temperature-driven phenological models. These workflows focus on 1) checking the consistency of VPOs using contextual geo-information and domain knowledge and 2) analyzing the impact of the type of phenological model as well as of its input data sources and their spatial resolution on phenological patterns and trends.
For more information, please see: https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036547178
Citizen Science to promote creativity, scientific literacy, and innovation throughout Europe - EU Cost Action 15212
2016 – 2020
Points of contact: Frank Ostermann, Rob Lemmens
The main aim of this Action is "to bundle capacities across Europe to investigate and extend the impact of the scientific, educational, policy, and civic outcomes of citizen science with the stakeholders from all sectors concerned (e.g., policy makers, social innovators, citizens, cultural organizations, researchers, charities and NGOs), to gauge the potential of citizen science as enabler of social innovation and socio-ecological transition. The Action will explore the potential transformative power of citizen science for smart, inclusive, and sustainable ends, and will provide frameworks for the exploitation of the potential of European citizens for science and innovation. The relevance and timeliness of the Action derive from the recent explosion of activity around citizen science, as ordinary people and researchers begin to understand the power of technological devices which allow them to record the environment around them and share and collectively interpret data and knowledge to advance science and society." (source: project website)