The role of Citizen Science in the National Biodiversity Future Center in light of the first year of the NBFC Citizen Science Working Group, a community that now involves about 150 researchers. Ecological citizenship education, awareness, empowerment and environmental responsibility.
A year ago, in Palermo, one of the most ambitious experiences in the Italian participatory science landscape took shape: the birth of the National Citizen Science Working Group “within the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), during the center’s first national forum (May 2024). T” he objective? To coordinate, bring to light and support the numerous Citizen Science initiatives already active “within the different spokes of the NBFC, to build a” common action that is more structured and visible. I spoke about this with Andrea Sforzi, zoologist, director of the Maremma Museum of Natural History and coordinator of the working group.
“From the beginning we moved to make a sort of list of existing realities, of Citizen Science projects already developed by NBFC researchers”, he recounts. “We identified over twenty initiatives, but we are certain that there are many others that will be able to join our work in the coming months”.
The logic of the working group was not only reconnaissance, but above all generative. Twelve months later, during the second national NBFC forum held in Milan in May 2025, the consolidation of this network was celebrated. The community built around the working group now involves about 150 researchers, who participate with different levels of involvement: those who already have direct experience in projects, those who are in the startup phase, those who are driven by a deep interest in the educational, social and environmental implications of participatory science.
