Beyond Data Collection: Reflecting on Community-Based Participatory Practices in Environmental Science

Environmental challenges are not only ecological but also deeply social, shaped by values, power relations, and the ways in which knowledge is produced and shared. While citizen and participatory science are often associated with public data collection, participation also takes place through dialogue, creative and artistic practices, agenda-setting, and long-term community engagement. This contribution reflects on community-based public engagement initiatives in marine and polar research as participatory practices that sit at the intersection of environmental and social sciences.

Drawing on experiences from early-career–led scientific communities and engagement initiatives, this reflective case study explores how participatory approaches are enacted in practice beyond formal citizen science frameworks. These initiatives create spaces where researchers, students, practitioners, and members of the public interact, exchange perspectives, and co-develop understandings of environmental issues, often through creative, artistic, and narrative-based formats. In this context, art-based engagement grounded in place and materiality foregrounds sensory experience and cultural context, highlighting how environmental knowledge is embedded in relationships between people, landscapes, and histories. By combining scientific perspectives with artistic and experiential approaches, such initiatives create inclusive environments in which participants are encouraged to reflect on environmental change not only intellectually, but also emotionally and culturally.

From an early-career researcher (ECR) perspective, the contribution examines both the opportunities and challenges of fostering meaningful participation in environmental science contexts. Opportunities include the ability to experiment with inclusive formats, lower hierarchical barriers, and integrate social-science perspectives such as reflexivity, co-creation, and community building into environmental research cultures. At the same time, challenges persist, including limited recognition of engagement work, uneven participation across social groups, and the tension between short-term project timelines and the long-term commitment required for participatory approaches.

The presentation reflects on lessons learned regarding what enables participation to be meaningful rather than symbolic. Key factors include creating safe and welcoming spaces for dialogue, valuing different forms of knowledge, and acknowledging that participation is a process rather than an outcome. Importantly, this contribution avoids framing participation as the responsibility of a specific career stage or actor, instead emphasizing that participatory environmental research benefits from shared responsibility across researchers, institutions, and societal partners.

By situating community-based engagement practices within broader social-science discussions on participation and public engagement, this contribution offers insights for researchers interested in integrating participatory approaches into environmental studies. It highlights how reflective, practice-based perspectives can support more inclusive and socially grounded pathways toward sustainable environmental action.