The Role of Stakeholder Engagement in Citizen Science Policy Development in Finland
- 2025-09-16 14:00
- 14:00
- Room: 81/R-003B - Science Gateway Auditorium B
- Speaker:
- Elena Svahn, , Elena Svahn is a doctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics, and Law, specialising in information studies with a focus on citizen science. She served as Chair of the Citizen Science Working Group at the Open Science Coordination in Finland for 5 years and held an expert panel position in the same organisation for 2 years. Her research explores participatory approaches to knowledge creation, particularly in policy development and the role of public libraries in supporting citizen science. With a professional background in library services, she brings interdisciplinary insight into information governance and public engagement. , Åbo Akademi University, https://www.abo.fi/en/, Finland
- Jonni Karlsson, , Jonni Karlsson is a Senior planning officer at the Secretariat for the National Open Science and Research Coordination in the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. Secretary for the ‘Culture of Open Scholarship’ expert panel and several working groups including ‘Citizen Science Support and Services’, ‘Funding Open Science’ and ‘Open Science for Learned Societies’. Editor for www.openscience.fi. , Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, https://www.tsv.fi/en, Finland
The presentation explores open science policy development in Finland in the context of stakeholder engagement and the creation of the first national policy recommendation for citizen science with focus on measuring impact and community engagement.
The presentation is based on two 2025 studies. First study is established on the shift of responsibility for coordinating open science in Finland from the Ministry of Education and Culture to the Finnish research community, specifically the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV). We examined documents from the TSV citizen science working group, including meeting notes, survey results, and the final policy paper, to understand how stakeholder participation influenced the policy-making process.
The second study examines the impact that the recommendation had on the stakeholders. We examined survey results, and the performance of citizen science indicators based on the recommendation from the national open science and research monitoring results from 2024 to explore the impact of the recommendation.
The results show that involving stakeholders helped shape policy recommendations, especially in improving institutional support, guidelines, and funding visibility for citizen science. However, challenges like uneven awareness and engagement among stakeholders could limit the effectiveness of participatory approaches. By placing these findings within the context of participatory policymaking and stakeholder theory, the presentation provides insights into how inclusive policy design works and how participatory governance and science policy development can be integrated into institutional frameworks to drive change.