How Does Citizen Science "Do" Governance? Reflections from the DITOs Project

Citizen science (CS) is increasingly becoming a focal point for public policy to provide data for decision-making and to widen access to science. Yet beyond these two understandings, CS engages with political processes in a number of other ways. To develop a more nuanced understanding of governance in relation to CS, this paper brings together theoretical analysis by social science researchers and reflections from CS practice. It draws on concepts from Science and Technology Studies and political sciences as well as examples from the "Doing-It-Together Science" (DITOs) project. The paper develops a heuristic of how CS feeds into, is affected by, forms part of, and exercises governance. These four governance modes are (1) Source of information for policy-making, (2) object of research policy, (3) policy instrument, and (4) socio-technical governance. Our analysis suggests that these four dimensions represent different conceptions of how science and technology governance takes place that have not yet been articulated in the CS literature. By reflecting on the DITOs project, the paper shows how this heuristic can enrich CS. Benefits include project organisers better communicating their work and impacts. In its conclusion, the paper argues that focusing on the complexity of governance relations opens up new ways of doing CS regarding engagement methodologies and evaluation. The paper recommends foregrounding the broad range of governance impacts of CS and reflecting on them in cooperation between researchers and practitioners

A framework for analysing blockchain technology adoption: Integrating institutional, market and technical factors

The adoption of blockchain technologies require the consideration of a broad range of factors, over and above the predominantly technology focus of most current work. Whilst scholarly literature on blockchain technology is only beginning to emerge, majority are focused on the technicalities of the technology and tend to ignore the organizational complexities of adopting the technology. Drawing from a focused review of literature, this paper proposed a conceptual framework for adoption of blockchain technology capturing the complex relationships between institutional, market and technical factors. The framework highlights that varying outcomes are possible, and the change process is focal as this shapes the form blockchain applications take. Factors presented in the framework (institutional, market and technical) interact and mutually influence each other. The proposed framework can be used by organisations as a reference point for adopting blockchain applications and by scholars to expand, refine and evaluate research into blockchain technology

Large reorganizations in butterfly communities during an extreme weather event

Drought events are projected to increase in frequency and magnitude, which may alter the composition of ecological communities. Using a functional community metric that describes abundance, life history traits and conservation status, based upon Grime’s CSR (Competitive-Stress tolerant-Ruderal)¬ scheme, we investigated how British butterfly communities changed during an extreme drought in 1995. Throughout Britain, the total abundance of these insects had a significant tendency to increase, accompanied by substantial changes in community composition, particularly in more northerly, wetter sites. Communities tended to shift away from specialist, vulnerable species, and towards generalist, widespread species and, in the year following, communities had yet to return to equilibrium. Importantly, heterogeneity in surrounding landscapes mediated community responses to the drought event. Contrary to expectation, however, community shifts were more extreme in areas of greater topographic diversity, whilst land-cover diversity buffered community changes and limited declines in vulnerable specialist butterflies

Housing supply and brownfield regeneration in a post-Barker review world: A comparison of policy and practice in England and Scotland

The findings of the Barker review, which examined the reasons for the undersupply of UK housing, have important implications for the devolved constituents of the UK, including Scotland. This paper traces the emergence of the brownfield regeneration policy agenda across the UK and examines how the Barker review connects with this brownfield policy focus. The paper compares housing and brownfield policies and practices in England and Scotland, places them in an international context and elicits wider lessons for devolved governance in relation to housing policy, in terms of `centrist—local' tensions. Estimates based on published data suggest that Barker's emphasis on increased housing supply cannot easily be reconciled with the current emphasis on brownfield development and is likely to require a return to greenfield development in both countries

Hydrogen storage in porous geological formations – Onshore play opportunities in the Midland Valley (Scotland, UK)

Hydrogen usage and storage may contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by decarbonising heating and transport and by offering significant energy storage to balance variable renewable energy supply. Underground storage of hydrogen is established in underground salt caverns, but these have restricted geographical locations within the UK and cannot deliver the required capacity. Hydrogen storage in porous geological formations has significant potential to deliver both the capacity and local positioning. This study investigates the potential for storage of hydrogen in porous subsurface media in Scotland. We introduce for the first time the concept of the hydrogen storage play. A geological combination including reservoir, seal and trap that provides the optimum hydrogen storage reservoir conditions that will be potential targets for future pilot, and commercial, hydrogen storage projects. We investigate three conceptual hydrogen storage plays in the Midland Valley of Scotland, an area chosen primarily because it contains the most extensive onshore sedimentary deposits in Scotland, with the added benefit of being close to potential consumers in the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The formations assessed are of Devonian and Carboniferous age. The Devonian storage play offers vast storage capacity but its validity is uncertain due to due to a lack of geological data. The two Carboniferous plays have less capacity but the abundant data produced by the hydrocarbon industry makes our suitability assessment of these plays relatively certain. We conclude that the Carboniferous age sedimentary deposits of the D’Arcy-Cousland Anticline and the Balgonie Anticline close to Edinburgh will make suitable hydrogen storage sites and are ideal for an early hydrogen storage research project

Ocean acidification

The increasing amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is acidifying the oceans. The resulting changes to ecosystems and marine biodiversity may have negative impacts on fisheries and food security and reduce the coastal protection provided by coral reefs. This POSTnote outlines the science behind ocean acidification and summarises the threats to the marine environment. A global reduction of carbon emissions is the only certain way to minimise these risks

Characteristics and health implications of fine and coarse particulates at roadside, urban background and rural sites in UK

Recent studies have pointed to evidence that fine particles in the air could be significant contributors to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and mortality. Epidemiologists looking at the health effects of particulate pollution need more information from various receptor locations to improve the understanding of this problem. Detailed information on temporal, spatial and size distributions of particulate pollution in urban areas also is important for air quality modellers as well as being an aid to decision and policy makers of local authorities. This paper presents a detailed analysis of temporal and seasonal variation of PM10 and PM2.5 levels at one urban roadside, one urban background and one rural monitoring location. Levels of PM10, PM2.5 and coarse fraction of particulates are compared. In addition, particulate levels are compared with NO2 and CO concentrations. The study concludes that PM10 and PM2.5 are closely related at urban locations. Diurnal variation in PM2.5/PM10 ratio shows the influence of vehicular emission and movement on size distribution. This ratio is higher in winter than in summer indicating a build-up or longer residence time of finer particulates or washout due to wet weather in winter. In the second part of this study, a disease burden analysis is carried out based on the dose-response relationships recommended by the UK Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution. The disease burden analysis indicates that if Marylebone Road levels of PM10 were prevalent all over London, it will result in around 2.5% increase in death rates due to all causes. Whereas, if Bloomsbury levels were prevalent in London, which is more likely to occur as this is more representative of the urban background environment to which people in London are likely to be exposed, the corresponding increase would be around 1.7%. Considering this, in London, at Bloomsbury levels 973 deaths and 1515 Respiratory Hospital Admissions (RHA) are attributable to PM10 while 2140 RHA are attributable to NO2. After deducting the disease burden due to background levels at Rochester, PM10 emission caused by anthropogenic activities in London equate to 273 additional deaths and 410 additional RHA while NO2 account for additional 1205 incidences of RHA

Allocation of the science budget 1993-96 Advice to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:0793.76(1993-96) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo