Citizen Science Sustainability
Dialogue and Practice

“…we need the observational skills of both humanists and scientists to appreciate what comes together—and therefore, too, what might yet emerge.”

-Anna Tsing

Critical intersections, such as literary eco-criticism, between scientific knowledge and humanities discourse can inform and enrich our understanding of environmental issues. Collaborative citizen science projects will foster interdisciplinary research and community engagement approaches, provide real-world applications, and foster a deeper connection to environmental thinking and action.

Citizen Science Sustainability Dialogue and Practice aims to bring different research and practice disciplines from the natural sciences and humanities to dialogue on the urgent issue of climate change in the global discussion of the Anthropocene. The key partners to foster this cross-disciplinary dialogue will be natural scientists from the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in HK, as well as humanities scholars from EduHK and other local environmental humanities scholars. By “dialogue,” we mean an array of knowledge exchange and debate, as well as hands-on collaboration through documenting, reading, walking, touring, and immersive learning. Involving university students and the general public, this will be centered on a citizen science project that (a) examines the vulnerabilities of local plants and animals under climate change, (b) produce participatory social art to map the biodiversity in HK, and (c) a themed publication emerging from the cross-disciplinary dialogue of the project.

#Marine environment fieldwork

#Forest walks

#Reading seminars

#More-than-human Art zine

#Farming-educational workshops

Projects in Action

HK water biodiversity under climate change

Forest walking tours with conservation scientists

A cross-disciplinary reading seminar on new perspectives in climate change and the Anthropocene

A participatory social art project to map HK’s biodiverse homes and communities

Immersive learning workshops and green tours on DIY farming and mental wellbeing

This project contains three fieldwork sessions in partnership with a local NGO to study Hong Kong offshore islands’ coastal ecology, marine environment and current challenges facing climate change and biodiversity loss.

This subproject will feature two forest walking tours in partnership with local organisation conservation scientists at the restored forest site of KFBG. During the walking, participants will be guided by the scientists to learn about Hong Kong’s forest ecology and their conservation efforts to plan indigenous species facing Hong Kong’s deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate challenges in the past decades.

This subproject will feature 6 sessions of high-level reading seminar over 6 months on climate change and sustainability across the humanities and natural science.

This subproject uses interdisciplinary methods of citizen science (species recognition app like iNaturalist), more-than-human storytelling and artmaking to reconceptualize and engage with our home space in Hong Kong. It invites participants to document the broader co-living species, big or small, loud or quiet, in our intimate home surroundings to paint a picture of micro biodiversity in our society.

Targeted Participants: university students + general public

Targeted Participants:

researchers, postgraduate students, and general public

This sub-stream will organize and run public farming-educational workshops and green tours in collaboration with local partners in Hong Kong. In these immersive events, participants can explore do-it-yourself (DIY) farming practices and their connection to mental well-being.

Engaged Parters:

community members

Engaged Parters:

general public

Targeted Participants:

schools + general public