On October 10th 2016, a full day meeting, organised jointly by the BIR, RSS ecological statistics section and the BES (British Ecological Society) took place at the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge. The meeting was attended by 40 people.

Citizen science data are data collected by amateur or non-professional scientists. Some citizen science schemes are organised in such a way that data collection is regularised so that surveys are consistent from one year to the next – for example the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (Butterfly Conservation), whilst others allow the general public to report sightings throughout the year – for example National Biodiversity Network, Wildlife Trusts and Environmental Records Centre.

Citizen science data can be challenging to analyse due to the type of data recorded and the difference in approaches of collecting and reporting the data.

This meeting will start with a tutorial session introducing the audience to citizen science data and the general difficulties of analysis and then a range of speakers will discuss modern methodological approaches for citizen science data. Discussion sessions will be incorporated into the day to allow the sharing of perspectives from both ecologists and statisticians.

A list of the speakers is available here