Narrative
My research feeds directly into public awareness of biodiversity and I also use citizen science data extensively to carry out fundamental research, so adding real value and worth to these data as well as perceived value for the citizen scientists. I study birds in real world systems that can easily be related to by the public: almost everyone engages with television natural history programs and both my behavioural ecological work on predation risk management and my work on migrants in Africa feed into these (how does David Attenborough know?). I communicate my science and enthusiasm for biodiversity at all levels from my community based research projects and blog, talks to local and national natural history groups and through radio and newspaper articles. My collaboration with the British Trust for Ornithology and its network of thousands of amateur bird ringers and surveyors allows me to directly add value to the uniquely extensive quantitative data they collect. For example my use of mass data collected during bird ringing to investigate population declines and climate change highlighted in the papers above were never remotely considered as reasons for collecting the data in the first place. These results have been fed back to the citizen scientists through talks at ringing conferences and articles in local journals and magazines to further promote the process of citizen science.| Impact status | Open |
|---|---|
| Category of impact | Social Impact |
| Impact level | Involvement - mid or active stage |