Science by, with and for citizens: rethinking ‘citizen science’ after the 2011 Fukushima disaster

Abstract: This study illustrates how citizen-driven radiation monitoring has emerged in post-Fukushima Japan, where citizens generate their own radiation data and measurement devices to provide public with actionable data about their environments. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in and around Fukushima Prefecture, it highlights the multifaceted character of these bottom-up, citizen-led efforts, contrasting these initiatives with the emergence of “citizen participatory” science policy discourses in Japan. Recognizing the contested nature of citizenship in Japan and in the nuclear arena, the article considers how terms and definitions shape the participation of citizens and other stakeholders (local communities, public authorities, regulators, and professional scientists) in science and technology in culturally and historically specific ways. It builds on these observations to open up new spaces of expertise, which engage all stakeholders through social-scientific intervention

Democratic research: Setting up a research commons for a qualitative, comparative, longitudinal interview study during the COVID-19 pandemic

The sudden and dramatic advent of the COVID-19 pandemic led to urgent demands for timely, relevant, yet rigorous research. This paper discusses the origin, design, and execution of the SolPan research commons, a large-scale, international, comparative, qualitative research project that sought to respond to the need for knowledge among researchers and policymakers in times of crisis. The form of organization as a research commons is characterized by an underlying solidaristic attitude of its members and its intrinsic organizational features in which research data and knowledge in the study is shared and jointly owned. As such, the project is peer-governed, rooted in (idealist) social values of academia, and aims at providing tools and benefits for its members. In this paper, we discuss challenges and solutions for qualitative studies that seek to operate as research commons

Citizen science after the Fukushima nuclear accident: An encounter with bottom-up crisis management and post-disaster recovery

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Managing uncertainties through citizen science: the case of Fukushima

Citizen science is a form of science developed and enacted by citizens, with citizens collecting or analyzing various kinds of data. Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster (11 March 2011), citizen science has demonstrably contributed to filling information gaps and enabled citizens to gain more control over the situation, as residents in the affected areas monitor radioactivity in the environment and communicate about environmental risks (e.g. http://en.minnanods.net/, http://blog.safecast.org/ ). By developing new, innovative ways of assessing risks using existing and new technologies (e.g. self-assembled Geiger counters), these citizen scientists highlight discrepancies between expert and lay appreciations of risk, initiate contextual learning about disasters, and assist in post-disaster recovery. In this paper, we discuss various types of uncertainties (technical, conceptual, epistemological, social and ethical) citizen scientists in Japan face today. We analyze how such uncertainties are collaboratively managed and which opportunities and concerns they embed or give rise to. Findings are drawn from extensive ethnographic research (interviews, participant observation, participation in activities) conducted in and around Fukushima in February-April 2018. The study has been conducted in the framework of doctoral research at SCK•CEN and KU Leuven, in cooperation with Osaka University and the European project CONFIDENCE

Living apart together: a case study of the interaction between citizen science and institutions in the field of radiation monitoring in Japan

In the field of radiation monitoring, the 1986 Chernobyl and 2011 Fukushima nuclear disasters triggered an upsurge of bottom-up citizen-led responses. As the advent of new technology and media helped the bottom-up movement to overcome spatial boundaries and gradually lowered the threshold for citizens to participate, they have boomed over the past decades. Interest from institutions in the potential of citizen participation has likewise risen from attempts to explore the potential of citizen monitoring after the Three Mile Islands accident to an increasing valorization of citizen participation in research and innovation by the European Commission. However, at the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese grassroots organizations were set up in a very different environment, overshadowed by the “nuclear village” (genshiryoku mura), a powerful interest group of advocates of nuclear energy. Notwithstanding this independent citizen laboratories have successfully created platforms, such as Minna no Data Site, to interconnect and exist alongside official policies and pressures. Yet others, such as Safecast, are actively seeking recognition from the Japanese government and are reaching out to official institutions. Drawing on research literature and empirical data collected fromfieldwork in Japan, this presentation explores the interaction of these citizen scientist laboratories with institutional actors, showcasing the diversity of grassroots organizations and demonstrating how different grassroots organizations and institutions are generating diverse responses at the challenges at hand in a postnuclear accident environment

Workshop Report. Learning from Citizen Science after Fukushima: Probing the Role and Potential of Citizen Science in Nuclear Science and Technology Governance in Japan and Belgium

Citizen science is a form of science developed and enacted by citizens, with citizen volunteers collecting or analyzing various kinds of data. Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster (11 March 2011), citizen science has demonstrably contributed to filling information gaps, as citizens in the affected areas monitor radioactivity in the environment and communicate about environmental risks. By developing new, innovative ways of assessing risks using their own technologies (e.g. self-assembled Geiger counters), citizen scientists highlight discrepancies between expert and lay appreciations of risk, initiate contextual learning about disasters, and assist in post-disaster recovery. In these processes, they voice ardent criticism of nuclear safety authorities (governmental agencies, oversight bodies, regulators) and nuclear power plant operators, as these institutes are seen to deliberately spread biased information to sustain an illusion of safety. Citizen science thus challenges conventional approaches to nuclear safety management, opting instead for inclusive governance, defined as the opening of knowledge and knowledge making to all members of society. Against this backdrop, a research team of Belgian and Japanese social scientists organized a stakeholder workshop on 27 February 2019 in Brussels for Belgian and European radiological protection researchers, members of safety authorities, civil society representatives, and policy makers. The workshop aim was to explore with these stakeholders opportunities to integrate citizen science concepts and approaches in the governance of nuclear incidents/accidents in emergency preparedness, response and post-disaster recovery. It built on findings from the team’s two-year (2017-2019) social science research project After and Beyond Fukushima: Probing the Role and Potential of Citizen Science in Nuclear Science and Technology Governance in Japan and Belgium, funded by the Research Fund - Flanders (FWO) and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); and was motivated by a concern shared by scientists, governments, regulatory bodies, and citizens to heed lessons from the Fukushima disaster and sustain a more fruitful dialogue between all concerned actors. A concise overview of the project aims, methods, and findings can be found in Appendix A of this report

Workshop report Learning from Citizen Science after Fukushima - Probing the Role and Potential of Citizen Science in Nuclear Science and Technology Governance in Japan and Belgium

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Ways of not forgetting: Japanese citizen scientists’ artistic responses to the 2011 Fukushima disaster

Eight years after “3/11,” Japan is still coming to terms with the human, environmental, and economic damage wreaked by a deadly earthquake, devastating tsunami and multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Whereas some officials in Japan call to put the memories of these disaster to rest, various groups in Japanese society vow never to forget what happened. The latter include local community residents, who to this day monitor radioactivity in the affected areas and communicate about environmental risks. These citizen scientists, as they are sometimes called, use artistic techniques and communication tools (posters, pamphlets, brochures, cartoons, and theatrical art) to convey how radiation has penetrated the everyday lives of citizens, and urge residents to share their experiences in dealing with the effects of radiation from the disaster. In this presentation, we bring into focus these artistic representations and link them to longer traditions of Japanese art culture, including manga and the cuteness aesthetic known as kawaii. In homage to these traditions, we deploy the burgeoning science-art format known as the cartoon abstract, which transforms academic research into a visually appealing cartoon strip ( http://explore.tandfonline.com/page/est/cartoon-abstracts ). Our aims are to: 1) acknowledge the value of intimate and imaginative knowledge in the context of long-lasting exposure to radiation, and 2) open up a dialogue among artists, citizens, and scholars who share a normative commitment to not forgetting