Citizen science and community-based approaches are increasingly used in disaster risk reduction (DRR), particularly where formal monitoring networks are sparse, resources are constrained, or locally observed changes are poorly captured by conventional systems. Yet their potential extends far beyond filling observational gaps or recruiting communities as data collectors. When genuinely participatory and co-created, citizen science can influence what questions are asked, what is monitored, whose knowledge is recognised, how decisions about risk are made.
This session explores citizen science as a process of knowledge co-production, rather than simply a method of data collection. We therefore invite empirical, methodological and conceptual contributions that examine citizen science and participatory approaches to natural hazards across the Global South and other data-scarce, remote or marginalized contexts.
We welcome studies addressing, among others:
- Community-based hazard monitoring, forecasting and early warning for hazards such as floods, landslides, droughts, earthquakes, volcanic unrest…;
- Co-design and co-production of monitoring systems and risk-reduction strategies – moving beyond communities as data collectors towards participation in interpretation, decision-making and action;
- Relationships between scientific, local and Indigenous knowledge, and their integration into institutional risk management frameworks;
- Ethical and equity considerations – power, trust and data ownership – in co-designing citizen science with communities experiencing high hazard exposure;
- Citizen-generated data – from low-cost technologies to qualitative, non-digital and place-based approaches – for filling observational gaps in data-scarce regions;
- Capacity strengthening and community ownership as pathways to the long-term sustainability of participatory monitoring networks;
- Comparative and transferable lessons (what can/cannot be transferred across different geographical, cultural and institutional contexts);
- Examples of failure, unintended consequences, contested knowledge and lessons learned, alongside successful practice.
By bringing together researchers, practitioners, and those working directly with communities, this session will create space for critical reflection on citizen science practice. Alongside presentations, we propose dedicated discussion time to identify shared challenges, evidence gaps and priorities for future research and collaboration.