Human embryo-like models created from stem cells to understand earliest stages of human development

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

 

IMAGE: DAY 4 EMBRYOID SHOWING AN INNER EPIBLAST-LIKE DOMAIN MARKED IN GREEN SURROUNDED BY HYPOBLAST-LIKE CELLS MARKED IN ORANGE AND TROPHOBLAST-LIKE CELLS MARKED IN PURPLE. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Cambridge scientists have created a stem cell-derived model of the human embryo in the lab by reprogramming human stem cells. The breakthrough could help research into genetic disorders and in understanding why and how pregnancies fail.

Published today in the journal Nature, this embryo model is an organised three-dimensional structure derived from pluripotent stem cells that replicate some developmental processes that occur in early human embryos.

Use of such models allows experimental modelling of embryonic development during the second week of pregnancy. They can help researchers gain basic knowledge of the developmental origins of organs and specialised cells such as sperm and eggs, and facilitate understanding of early pregnancy loss.

“Our human embryo-like model, created entirely from human stem cells, gives us access to the developing structure at a stage that is normally hidden from us due to the implantation of the tiny embryo into the mother’s womb,” said Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, who led the work.

She added: “This exciting development allows us to manipulate genes to understand their developmental roles in a model system. This will let us test the function of specific factors, which is difficult to do in the natural embryo.”

In natural human development, the second week of development is an important time when the embryo implants into the uterus. This is the time when many pregnancies are lost.

The new advance enables scientists to peer into the mysterious ‘black box’ period of human development – usually following implantation of the embryo in the uterus – to observe processes never directly observed before.

Understanding these early developmental processes holds the potential to reveal some of the causes of human birth defects and diseases, and to develop tests for these in pregnant women.

Until now, the processes could only be observed in animal models, using cells from zebrafish and mice, for example.

Legal restrictions in the UK currently prevent the culture of natural human embryos in the lab beyond day 14 of development: this time limit was set to correspond to the stage where the embryo can no longer form a twin.

Until now, scientists have only been able to study this period of human development using donated human embryos. This advance could reduce the need for donated human embryos in research.

Zernicka-Goetz says the while these models can mimic aspects of the development of human embryos, they cannot and will not develop to the equivalent of postnatal stage humans.

Over the past decade, Zernicka-Goetz’s group in Cambridge has been studying the earliest stages of pregnancy, in order to understand why some pregnancies fail and some succeed.

In 2021 and then in 2022 her team announced in Developmental Cell, Nature and Cell Stem Cell journals that they had finally created model embryos from mouse stem cells that can develop to form a brain-like structure, a beating heart, and the foundations of all other organs of the body.

The new models derived from human stem cells do not have a brain or beating heart, but they include cells that would typically go on to form the embryo, placenta and yolk sac, and develop to form the precursors of germ cells (that will form sperm and eggs).

Many pregnancies fail at the point when these three types of cells orchestrate implantation into the uterus begin to send mechanical and chemical signals to each other, which tell the embryo how to develop properly.

There are clear regulations governing stem cell-based models of human embryos and all researchers doing embryo modelling work must first be approved by ethics committees. Journals require proof of this ethics review before they accept scientific papers for publication. Zernicka-Goetz’s laboratory holds these approvals.

“It is against the law and FDA regulations to transfer any embryo-like models into a woman for reproductive aims. These are highly manipulated human cells and their attempted reproductive use would be extremely dangerous,” said Dr Insoo Hyun, Director of the Center for Life Sciences and Public Learning at Boston’s Museum of Science and a member of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics.

Zernicka-Goetz also holds position at the California Institute of Technology and is NOMIS Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Awardee.

The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Open Philanthropy.

Reference
Weatherbee, B.A.T et al.: A model of the post-implantation human embryo derived from pluripotent stem cells. Nature; 27 June 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0000-0

Day 4 embryoid (IMAGE)

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Day 4 embryoid showing an inner epiblast like domain in magenta that has apico-basal polarity (yellow apical, blue basal), similar to the epiblast of the human embryo just after implantation.

Day 6 embryoid (IMAGE)

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Day 6 embryoid showing epiblast marker SOX2 in green, amnion marker ISL1 in purple, and primitive streak marker brachyury in orange. On rare occasions, embryoids such as this one show these aspects of anterior-posterior or dorso-ventral patterning.

CREDIT

University of Cambridge

JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06368-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

A model of the post-implantation human embryo derived from pluripotent stem cells

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jun-2023

Disclaimer: AAAS and Eu

 

Prisoners ‘trading rare jaguar parts for fashion items’

Researchers reveal how inmates in Bolivia are profiting from a deadly trade that threatens wild jaguar populations.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

 

IMAGE: PRODUCTS CREATED INSIDE MOCOVÍ PRISON view more 

CREDIT: PHOTOS: UNKNOWN SOURCE/WORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION

Prisoners in Bolivia are trading in jaguar skins and other wild animal body parts to produce wallets, hats, and belts for sale in local markets. The fangs and bones of jaguars are being illegally exported for use as traditional Asian medicine. 

The trade, which further threatens the future of this species, has been uncovered by researchers investigating reports of illegal trading at Mocoví prison, in Trinidad, Bolivia.

As the largest big cat in the Americas the jaguar (Panthera Onca) has ecological and cultural significance in the landlocked country of Bolivia, but numbers are declining fast due to reasons including habitat loss – as well as domestic and international demand for their body parts. The illegal market exists despite the fact that jaguars have been legally protected against commercial trade internationally since 1975 and nationally since 1986.

Inmates at the Bolivian prison have been buying skins of jaguars and other animals including boa constrictor snakes (Boa constrictor) directly from traders at local markets, and then selling fashion items back    again at a profit in order to provide income for their daily sustenance.

According to the researchers, Neil D’Cruze, Angie Elwin, Eyob Asfaw and Roberto Vieto, writing in the Oryx, published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora, large orders for the wildlife products are being received from non-Bolivian international clients. 

Videos shared on social media as recently as February this year even show the director of Mocoví prison inviting the public to visit a craft fair held at the facility to buy wildlife products – including those from jaguar parts - made by the inmates.

Dr Neil D’Cruze, Head of Wildlife Research at the International NGO, World Animal Protection said: “Our research confirms that Bolivian inmates are paid to produce jaguar wallets, hats, belts and purses from their cells. Contrary to previous anecdotal reports, the footage provided showed no evidence of inmates being coerced into this illegal activity; instead, an inmate stated that they did so willingly to ‘earn a living for daily sustenance’.”

“Illegal wildlife trade is one of the most pressing threats to wildlife conservation. To support existing efforts to protect jaguars and other wildlife in Bolivia, there is a need for improved law enforcement and political will to take action against illegal activities. In addition, awareness must be raised on how wildlife products are being produced and the effect that such production has on the wildlife and the people involved.”

All the information gathered by the authors of the report, which is peer-reviewed and published in Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation, has been passed to the Bolivian authorities.
 

The number of wild jaguars in Bolivia is unknown. But the trafficking of their body parts and skins remains a going problem , placing this ‘vulnerable’ species at increased risk of extinction. Photos of jaguars taken at Senda Verde, June 2022.

CREDIT

Photos: Jaguar at the Senda Verde Sanctuary. Credit: World Animal Protection/Emi Kondo.

Jaguar fangs and products made with their skins are sold in markets like El Campesino. Despite being illegal in the country to kill and sell jaguars and their by-products. Prisoners at the Mocoví prison are creating wallets, hats and belts with illegal jaguar skins inside the institution. These products are then sold in markets like El Campesino. Photos taken at El Campesino Market, June 2022.

CREDIT

Credit: World Animal Protection/Emi Kondo.

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JOURNAL

Oryx

DOI

10.1017/S0030605323000492 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Going over the wall: Insights into illegal jaguar product production in a Bolivian prison

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Jun-2023

COI STATEMENT

All authors are employed by the animal welfare organisation World Animal Protection (NDC holds the position of Head of Animal Welfare and Research; AE is Wildlife Research Manager; EA is Wildlife Investigations Advisor; RV is Global Animal Welfare Advisor). Our results pertaining to this study were in no way influenced by our own personal views on animal welfare.

Disclaimer: AAAS and 

That essential morning coffee may be a placebo

Scientists find that the boost you get from a morning coffee can’t be replicated with plain caffeine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FRONTIERS

For many people, the day doesn’t start until their coffee mug is empty. Coffee is often thought to make you feel more alert, so people drink it to wake themselves up and improve their efficiency. Portuguese scientists studied coffee-drinkers to understand whether that wakefulness effect is dependent on the properties of caffeine, or whether it’s about the experience of drinking coffee.

“There is a common expectation that coffee increases alertness and psychomotor functioning,” said Prof Nuno Sousa of the University of Minho, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience and Field Chief Editor of the journal. “When you get to understand better the mechanisms underlying a biological phenomenon, you open pathways for exploring the factors that may modulate it and even the potential benefits of that mechanism.”

A caffeine kickstart

The scientists recruited people who drank a minimum of one cup of coffee per day and asked them to refrain from eating or drinking caffeinated beverages for at least three hours before the study. They interviewed the participants to collect sociodemographic data, and then did two brief functional MRI scans: one before and one 30 minutes after either taking caffeine or drinking a standardized cup of coffee. During the functional MRI scans, the participants were asked to relax and let their minds wander.

Because of the known neurochemical effects of drinking coffee, the scientists expected that the functional MRI scans would show that the people who drank coffee had higher integration of networks that are linked to the prefrontal cortex, associated with executive memory, and the default mode network, involved in introspection and self-reflection processes. They found that the connectivity of the default mode network was decreased both after drinking coffee and after taking caffeine, which indicates that consuming either caffeine or coffee made people more prepared to move from resting to working on tasks.

Waking up on the right side of the bed

However, drinking coffee also increased the connectivity in the higher visual network and the right executive control network - parts of the brain which are involved in working memory, cognitive control, and goal-directed behavior. This didn’t happen when participants only took caffeine. In other words, if you want to feel not just alert but ready to go, caffeine alone won’t do – you need to experience that cup of coffee.

“Acute coffee consumption decreased the functional connectivity between brain regions of the default mode network, a network that is associated with self-referential processes when participants are at rest,” said Dr Maria Picó-Pérez of Jaume I University, first author. “The functional connectivity was also decreased between the somatosensory/motor networks and the prefrontal cortex, while the connectivity in regions of the higher visual and the right executive control network was increased after drinking coffee. In simple words, the subjects were more ready for action and alert to external stimuli after having coffee.”

“Taking into account that some of the effects that we found were reproduced by caffeine, we could expect other caffeinated drinks to share some of the effects,” added Picó-Pérez. “However, others were specific for coffee drinking, driven by factors such as the particular smell and taste of the drink, or the psychological expectation associated with consuming that drink.”

The authors pointed out that it is possible that the experience of drinking coffee without caffeine could cause these benefits: this study could not differentiate the effects of the experience alone from the experience combined with the caffeine. There is also a hypothesis that the benefits coffee-drinkers claim could be due to the relief of withdrawal symptoms, which this study did not test.

“The changes in connectivity were studied during a resting-state sequence. Any association with psychological and cognitive processes is interpreted based on the common function ascribed to the regions and networks found, but it was not directly tested,” cautioned Sousa. “Moreover, there could be individual differences in the metabolism of caffeine among participants that would be interesting to explore in the future.”

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

DOI

10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1176382 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Coffee consumption decreases the connectivity of the posterior DMN at rest

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Jun-2023

COI STATEMENT

This study was funded by the Institute for the Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) (ISIC_2017_NS); ISIC did not influence the experimental design or data analysis/interpretation.

 The worm that learned: Diet found to affect learning in older nematode

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NAGOYA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: A NEMATODE, C. ELEGANS, EATS BACTERIA AS A FOOD. THE BACTERIAL DIET AFFECTS THE AGE-DEPENDENT DECLINE OF ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING ABILITY OF C. ELEGANS. THE PHOTO SHOWS A HEAD OF C. ELEGANS WITH TWO DIFFERENT BACTERIA: E. COLI (RED) AND L. REUTERI (BLUE) view more 

CREDIT: KENTARO NOMA

A group from Nagoya University in Japan has discovered that when the diet of nematodes, tiny worms measuring about a millimeter or less in length, includes the bacteria Lactobacillus reuteri, the weakening of associative learning ability caused by aging does not occur. These results may suggest ways to use diet to reduce age-related cognitive decline in other animals, including humans. Their findings were published in the journal eLife. 

 

“This research is significant in that it established a method for studying the effects of diet on brain function in aging individuals using a combination of nematodes and bacteria as food,” said Associate Professor Kentaro Noma from the Graduate School of Science at Nagoya University. “Taking advantage of the characteristics of nematodes to measure both individual lifespan and aging of brain function, we found dietary conditions that maintain brain function, but not longevity. We usually think that the decline in brain function is caused by aging, but perhaps the processes of aging of brain function and individual lifespan are controlled by different mechanisms.” 

 

Researchers are interested in how a person can use diet to maintain healthy brain activity. However, since the effects of diet are complex, they remain a difficult topic to study. To get around this problem, researchers study simpler organisms to understand the basic mechanisms behind these processes.  

 

Such organisms include nematodes, tiny roundworms favored by researchers because of their simple anatomy, short lifespan, and ease of genetic manipulation. The research group used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which has a short lifespan of only two weeks, but uses its simple nervous system to exhibit memory-learning behaviors.  

 

Noma was especially interested in the behavior known as thermotaxis, which describes the movement of an organism toward a preferred temperature. “Nematodes seem to learn by associating the presence or absence of food with their rearing temperature,” Noma explained. When C. elegans is reared at a certain temperature with food and then placed on a temperature gradient without food, it will move toward the rearing temperature. However, if it is reared at the same temperature without food, it will not demonstrate thermotaxis toward the rearing temperature. “Therefore,” he continued, “we can use thermotaxis as an indicator of associative learning ability.” 

 

To see whether changing diet influences learning, the researchers screened 35 different strains of lactic acid bacteria owned by Megmilk Snow Brand Co. They sought to identify possible diets that could maintain the associative learning ability of nematodes as they grew older. The researchers identified Lactobaillus reuteri, a probiotic that is studied for its potential health benefits, especially for the management of gastrointestinal disorders. This bacterium was found to be associated with the maintenance of the associative learning ability of the nematodes, while having no effect on their lifespan. 

 

To understand how L. reuteri affects nematodes, the group identified a key protein, DAF-16 transcription factor, that regulates the functioning of neurons of nematodes fed L. reuteri. This was what they had hoped to find because the DAF-16 gene is involved in the regulation of the processes of aging and longevity. 

 

“Since our intestines contain a myriad of bacteria, including E. coli and lactobacilli, the balance of these bacteria may also affect our brain function,” Noma said. “Furthermore, genes similar to those found in this study are also present in humans. This suggests that the mechanism that explained the effect of diet on changes in brain function with age may also exist in humans. With further research, it is possible that maintaining high brain function in old age through diet will become a reality.”  

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.81418 

ARTICLE TITLE

Bacterial diet affects the age-dependent decline of associative learning in Caenorhabditis elegans

Group-based performing arts therapies reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression - review

Performing arts performed in groups appears to lower anxiety and depression, according to a review of available evidence.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Performing arts performed in groups appears to lower anxiety and depression, according to a review of available evidence.

Researchers at the University of Exeter looked at the effect of group-based performing arts-based therapies on symptom severity, wellbeing, quality of life, functional communication or social participation. In a study published in BMJ Open, the researchers reviewed 171 studies, and took 12 forward to inclusion, which met the screening criteria.

Published from 2004 to 2021, the studies involved a total of 669 participants with anxiety and/or depression, from nine countries and covered five broad forms of performance art: dance music therapy, art therapy, martial arts-based therapies and theatre. Dance was the most studied art form, with five studies included in the review.

Led researcher Dr Max Barnish, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “Anxiety and depression are major global health challenges, for which we desperately need non-drug treatments that reduce symptoms. Our review found real promise across a range of studies – but this field of research has stagnated. We now need researchers to work across the performing arts to compare group therapies to each other, so we can establish which type of activity is most effective in reducing symptoms.”

Anxiety and depression severity were the outcomes that received most interest among researchers. A quarter of studies also looked at wellbeing, such as satisfaction with life, or how the arts improved people’s ability to interact socially. Only two studies looked at quality of life, while no studies looked at benefits on everyday communication. The review found that, while the field shows promise, there is plenty room for development in the evidence base.

The paper is entitled ‘Group-based active artistic interventions for adults with primary anxiety and depression: a systematic review’, and is published in BMJ Open.

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JOURNAL

BMJ Open

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Group-based active artistic interventions for adults with primary anxiety and depression: a systematic review’

Why Saudi Arabia's "The Line" isn’t a revolution in urban living

Peer-Reviewed Publication

COMPLEXITY SCIENCE HUB VIENNA

 

IMAGE: THIS IS WHAT THE LINE, SAUDI ARABIA'S SUPERLATIVE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE. view more 

CREDIT: © SHUTTERSTOCK

In October, the excavation work for the superlative construction project began. What some consider an ideal ecological city, others call a promotional gimmick. Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub now show why The Line should not be a showcase for future cities. 

 

"It's the embodiment of the dream to start from scratch and completely rethink a city," says  Rafael Prieto-Curiel, who researches cities at the Complexity Science Hub. The Line is planned to be a city built from nothing in the desert. It is to consist of two gigantic, unbroken rows of skyscrapers, with living space in between. 170 kilometers long. 200 meters wide. 500 meters high, higher than any building in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. String straight ahead from the Red Sea to the east.

TEN TIMES DENSER THAN MANHATTAN

Nine million people are expected to live in it - more than in any other city in Saudi Arabia. This translates into a population density of 265,000 people per square kilometer - ten times denser than Manhattan and four times denser than the inner districts of Manila, currently estimated to be the densest urban neighborhoods on Earth. "How you can attract that many people in a medium-sized country at all is yet to be observed," Prieto-Curiel points out. 

SIXTY MINUTES FOR A TRIP

Further questions arise in terms of mobility. “A line is the least efficient possible shape of a city,” says Prieto-Curiel. “There's a reason why humanity has 50,000 cities, and all of them are somehow round,” he emphasizes.

If we randomly pick two people in The Line, they are, on average 57 kilometers apart. In Johannesburg, which is 50 times larger in area, two random people are only 33 kilometers apart. Assuming a walking distance of one kilometer, only 1.2% of the population is within walking distance from each other. This hinders active mobility, so people will depend on public transport. 

The backbone of public transportation is planned to be a high-speed rail system. "For everyone to be within walking distance of a station, there must be at least 86 stations," explains CSH researcher Dániel Kondor. As a result, trains spend considerable time in stations and will not be able to reach high travel speeds between any two stations. According to the researchers, a trip, therefore, is expected to take 60 minutes on average, and at least 47% of the population would have an even longer commute. Even with additional express lines, gains are limited due to the additional transfers necessary. The result is that people would still be traveling longer than in other major cities, such as Seoul, where 25 million people commute for less than 50 minutes.

A CITY IS MORE THAN A NEIGHBOURHOOD 

Research shows that people want to spend a limited amount of time commuting, so efficient transportation plays a key role in the success of cities. But can these trips through the city be avoided because high density allows everything (jobs, shopping, amenities, etc.) to be available locally? "Cities are more than a collection of semi-isolated 15-minute neighborhoods located next to each other. What sets a city apart from smaller settlements is not just its size but additional opportunities outside the immediate neighborhood - such as concerts or an extended job search. For this reason, we need to consider citywide transportation,” explains Kondor. 

WHY NOT “THE CIRCLE”?

If you take The Line and make it The Circle with a radius of 3.3 kilometers, the distance between any two people would be only 2.9 kilometers, and 24% of the population would be within walking distance of each other. Most mobility could be active (walking, cycling, or similar), making a high-speed rail system unnecessary. Alternatively, The Circle could allow good connectivity even with lower densities, avoiding the need for supertall buildings.

IS THERE SOMETHING POSITIVE?

"This project gets people discussing urban forms, and that's immensely important because cities, especially in Africa, are growing,” says Prieto-Curiel. Historically, cities often grew in organic ways, while planned cities often did not live up to expectations; thus, there is a need for more public engagement about urban design on a human scale. 

Additionally, sustainability is emphasized in many aspects of the project. For example, there will be no cars for distances that are no more than a five-minute walk. This not only saves a lot of space in terms of infrastructure and parking but also reduces the number of cars. Moreover, all energy will be produced with zero carbon emissions. What is not taken into account here, however, is the construction of the skyscrapers, which requires a lot of material and energy.

“Overall, it stands to reason that other considerations may have played a role in choosing this unique form, such as branding or creating engaging social media videos. However, it is important to understand the consequences, especially if The Line is treated as a showcase for modern building and urban planning technologies”, emphasizes Prieto-Curiel.

With a height of 500 meters, the Line is to be taller than any building in Europe, Africa, and Latin America - and over 170 kilometers.

a| Location of The Line in Saudi Arabia. b | Expected commuting time (vertical) depending on the number of stations (horizontal). c | Largest cities in Saudi Arabia, including the planned population of The Line.

CREDIT

© Complexity Science Hub/Prieto-Curiel

_____
 

FIND OUT MORE

The opinion paper “Arguments for building The Circle and not The Line in Saudi Arabia” has been published in the Journal npj Urban Sustainability.

_____

ABOUT THE COMPLEXITY SCIENCE HUB

The mission of the Complexity Science Hub (CSH Vienna) is to host, educate, and inspire complex systems scientists dedicated to making sense of Big Data to boost science and society. Scientists at the Complexity Science Hub develop methods for the scientific, quantitative, and predictive understanding of complex systems.

The CSH Vienna is a joint initiative of AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Central European University CEU, Danube University Krems, Graz University of Technology, Medical University of Vienna, TU Wien, VetMedUni Vienna, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO). https://www.csh.ac.at

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JOURNAL

npj Urban Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s42949-023-00115-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Arguments for building The Circle and not The Line in Saudi Arabia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Jun-2023

Revealing the power of citizen science for SDG advancement

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

The 17 SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including climate change, environmental degradation, and inequality. The achievement of the SDGs depends on the ability to accurately measure progress towards meeting the associated targets based on timely, relevant, and reliable data. Citizen science offers an innovative approach to complement and enhance official statistics. Additionally, citizen science can help raise awareness, mobilize action, and therefore achieve transformative change.

The collection brings together academic papers that offer insights into the contributions of citizen science to the SDGs and other international frameworks. The call for abstracts for this collection attracted 40 submissions, from which 21 papers were reviewed and accepted for publication.

“The interest in contributing to this collection reflects the importance and popularity of Citizen Science,” notes Dilek Fraisl, a researcher in the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group of the Advancing Systems Analysis Program, who is leading the collection. “We received high-quality submissions from a diverse community, including citizen science researchers and practitioners, National Statistical Offices (NSOs), and international organizations, from both the Global North and South.”

Core themes that run across the set of diverse papers include monitoring and data collection, and the transformative potential of citizen science. The collection also reflects on the progress achieved in the scientific literature and through practical implementation over the past few years.

An example of a paper showcasing the potential of citizen science for monitoring the SDGs is the paper by Proden et al (2023), to which Fraisl contributed together with Linda See, who is also associated with the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group at IIASA.

“This paper focuses on the views and experiences of the official statistics community, including representatives from NSOs, on citizen science data, along with the opportunities and challenges that these data present,” explains See. “Despite the widely recognized value of citizen science for monitoring the SDGs, we have discovered a conspicuous lack of awareness with this approach among members of the official statistics community.”

The collection serves as a comprehensive compilation, gathering the latest research, findings, and practical recommendations from a diverse set of actors. Additionally, it explores the development of this emerging field of study, providing a roadmap for future research and proposing tangible actions. It is worth noting that, even after eight years of pursuing the SDGs, nearly half of the 92 environmental SDG indicators still lack data. The collection demonstrates that citizen science has vast untapped potential for driving progress towards achieving the SDGs and other international frameworks, highlighting its capacity for collaborative problem solving.

“With this collection, we call for stronger cooperation between all citizen science actors, and for the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP), to help bridge the gap between the citizen science and official statistics communities and stakeholders. We urge the official statistics community to consider the inclusiveness and relevance of their practices and encourage funders to reassess their strategies, to go beyond short-term pilot studies, and to provide genuine financial support to citizen science initiatives focused on monitoring and achieving sustainable development,” concludes Fraisl.

Note: Citizen Science: Theory and Practice is an international peer-reviewed journal focused on impacts and effective practices associated with public participation in scientific endeavors in all disciplines and across the globe. This open-access journal is a publication of the Citizen Science Association.

References

Fraisl, D., See, L., Campbell, J., Andrianandrasana, H., Danielsen, F. (2023). Special Collection: Contributions of Citizen Science to the SDGs and International Development Frameworks. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice https://theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/collections/contributions-of-citizen-science

Fraisl, D., See, L., Campbell, J., Danielsen, F., Andrianandrasana H. (2023). Editorial: The Contributions of Citizen Science to the United Nationals Sustainable Development Goals and Other International Agreements and Frameworks. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.643

About IIASA:

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

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JOURNAL

Citizen Science Theory and Practice

DOI

10.5334/cstp.643 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Editorial: The Contributions of Citizen Science to the United Nationals Sustainable Development Goals and Other International Agreements and Frameworks.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jun-2023