Dr Slawson shares his insights as OPAL network approaches 1 million participants

Dr David Slawson

The Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) network is a UK-wide citizen science initiative that allows everyone to get hands-on with nature.

‘Citizen science’ refers to scientific work undertaken by members of the public, often in collaboration with professional scientists. Essentially, it means a lot of people can get involved in exciting projects with real-life benefits – in areas as diverse as medical research and the environment.

Popular examples include Cell Slider, which invited members of the public to help scientists identify human cancer cells and Galaxy Zoo, which has been using people power to classify galaxies since 2007.

The whole idea of engaging lots of people is particularly pertinent when it comes to research on the environment. As OPAL Director, Dr David Slawson observes: ‘We all breathe the air, drink the water, eat the produce of the soil and seas; this makes the environment everyone’s business.”

“Imperial has been a pioneer of citizen science and is building a worldwide reputation in the area” says David. “Our base in the Centre for Environmental Policy means there’s a real focus on citizen science as a means to generate the evidence needed by local and national policy-makers.”

The benefits of citizen science

The citizen science projects initiated by OPAL have much to offer – as Dr Slawson, explains:

“Members of the public benefit from learning new skills and being more informed. Educators benefit from having free teaching resources, which give them the confidence to deliver outdoor learning and to inspire children in science. Scientists benefit from a huge increase in the quantity and range of data available and a tool to increase the impact and outreach of their research. And policy-makers benefit, not only from having the data but also from the benefits of engaging people and raising their awareness of some of the key threats.”

Racing towards the million marker

Since it was founded in 2007, OPAL has involved almost 1 million people in hands-on and desk-based science.

“Our biggest legacy is around inspiring that next generation of environmentalists; it is so important that everyone has a part to play in the health of our environment, not just politicians and business but society as a whole”, says Dr Slawson.

‘We have already engaged over 3,500 schools and many people from hard-to-reach communities” he explains. “Our follow-up evaluation questions have shown that 92% participants learnt something new and amazingly, 64% changed the way they think about the environment.”

The next step is to secure OPAL’s sustainability into and beyond 2017. This is likely to involve several strands. For example, OPAL could become a hub to connect the public with scientists and policy-makers to ensure research answers local concerns, while OPAL’s proven methodology could be used to help people value nature in urban green spaces, or be applied to new subject areas such as health and wellbeing, or used in other countries.

Participation is key

Dr Slawson is keen for Imperial alumni in particular to become ambassadors for OPAL and where appropriate, to apply the same approach in their own work:

“A few committed and influential benefactors certainly wouldn’t go amiss in helping us to pull off that treasured goal of long-term sustainability”, he says. To find out how to get involved please contact Patrick Stewart, Head of Development for the Faculty of Natural Sciences, on +44 (0) 20 7594 2667 or by email to patrick.stewart@imperial.ac.uk.