Written answer
Research and Development
The Minister confirmed no standalone citizen-science project, participation or data targets, county allocations, dedicated budget or cost-per-record metric had been approved.
4040. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the measurable citizen-science deliverable that will exist by end of 2026 (details supplied); the members of the public targeted to participate, as a number and as a percentage of the population; the geographical scope of that participation, by county; the number of observations or data records targeted; the total budget allocated and resulting cost per observation or data record produced; the responsible official / body and implementation timetable; if no such deliverable, participation target or budget has been approved, to confirm each position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60681/26]
Comment on this
My department's reference to a strong focus on citizen science throughout Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union relates to activities aimed at strengthening the policy and research environment supporting citizen science, public engagement and participation in research and innovation.
These activities include Presidency-linked Horizon Europe events and engagement initiatives that bring together researchers, policymakers, funding organisations, civil society organisations and citizens to exchange knowledge and consider how research and innovation can better address societal challenges.
No single citizen science project has been approved with specific participation targets, county-level participation allocations, observation or data-record production targets, or a dedicated budget linked to the generation of citizen science data records. Accordingly, no cost-per-observation or cost-per-data-record metric has been established.
The Presidency activities concerned help contribute to the development of the enabling environment for citizen science, including policy development, stakeholder engagement, collaboration, open science, knowledge exchange and dissemination activities, consistent with the OECD's recommendations regarding the role of governments, funding agencies and research organisations in supporting citizen science, and with Horizon Europe's approach to public participation in research and innovation.
These Presidency events help strengthen the enabling environment for citizen science, rather than delivering a standalone citizen science data-collection project.