Rosy Mondardini
Ms Rosy Mondardini, managing director of the ETH/UZH Citizen Science Center, focused her intervention on the data generated by citizens and how this kind of data can play a role for the SDGs. She explained that citizen science describes the collaboration between citizens and scientists on scientific research. Traditionally, scientists define the project, citizens are involved in data collection, and scientists then do the data analysis. However, now citizens are more and more involved in the data analysis and throughout the overall process. She gave examples of citizen science from the areas of biology and physics, such as involving citizens in checking water quality and classifying galaxies. Mondardini then gave examples of three projects that put citizens ‘at the heart of the activity and the data collection’ in the area of development: safecast (link is external) which saw citizens monitor radiation levels after the 2011 earthquake and Fukushima accident in Japan; foldit (link is external) an online puzzle video game about protein folding; and hot (link is external), a humanitarian open street map team which engaged volunteers in checking satellite images to identify damages to buildings and other infrastructure in the aftermath of major disasters. Mondardini argued that projects like these fill gaps in science and provide substance to make informed decisions to support development and monitoring as part of the SDGs
Courses
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Open Seventeen Spring 2018
APPLICATION DUE:
Open Seventeen is a prize-backed challenge to reward and invest in those developing innovative and implementable projects that leverage OPEN DATA and CROWDSOURCING to tackle the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This spring, the challenge targets "SDG #3: Healthy Lives and Well-Being for All at All Ages", and it is run in collaboration with Be He@lthy, Be Mobile, a joint program between the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Open Seventeen Spring 2019
APPLICATION DUE:
Open Seventeen is a prize-backed challenge to reward and invest in those developing innovative and implementable projects that leverage OPEN DATA and CROWDSOURCING to tackle the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This challenge targets "SDG #4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all". This edition of O17 is inspired by the Geneva Trialogue, organized by University of Geneva, the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and XuetangX, China’s leading MOOC platform.
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