Citizen laboratories in the federal universities of Brazil: innovation and social contribution in the citizen science scenario

Abstract

Introduction: Citizen science favors social participation in scientific processes. This article seeks to investigate the Citizen Laboratories of the Federal Universities of Brazil from the perspective of citizen science. Objective: To map the citizen laboratories subsidized by Federal Universities of Brazil and to analyze their scope of action, in order to understand their role in terms of social innovation and how they promote the participation of citizen scientists. Methodology: It consisted of a survey of the Federal Universities of Brazil through the institutional site of the Ministry of Education, where sixty-four institutions were identified. The next step was to search the institutional site of each one of the mapped Federal Universities using pre-determined search expressions. The parameters used to frame the initiatives as citizen labs were: 1) openness for social participation; 2) possibility to explore and appropriate technologies aimed at social interests; 3) focus on learning; 4) targeting the promotion of social innovations. Results: The research enabled the identification of ten citizen labs in Brazilian Federal Universities, which are aligned with relevant social issues and generate benefits in terms of innovations that can be socially shared. Conclusion: The citizen labs analyzed enable an approximation between the University and society in general, but do not detail how the social contributions of citizen scientists are incorporated into their actions. Initiatives in this direction are still incipient in the country, but they have the potential to boost citizen participation in scientific research.