The Rome Technopole School in citizen science: challenge accepted
Adriana Postiglione
April 9, 2025, 9:10 a.m.
When I think of the Citizen Science School Rome Technopole, the first word that comes to my mind is challenge. Indeed, it was the first school to simultaneously address high school students and teachers, university students and researchers – how would they react together in a co-creation phase? Would they have been able to find sufficient motivation to get involved? Would we organisers have been able to give each of them something useful to take home?
Furthermore, for the first time we would have covered topics other than physics: from sustainability to antibiotics, from virtual reality to dentistry to spaces in prisons. And finally, perhaps the most challenging aspect: citizen science, an approach so new and complex that it is sometimes even hard to define, which requires the active involvement of all actors, not only the participants and researchers, but also us as organizers. In fact, for the first time we had to let the participants create, confront, build, doubt, destroy and rebuild, all without any specific plan – because this was the only way to be sure that everyone would contribute at the same level to building new proposals.
In short: all the elements of the school were preparing to challenge us, to create problems, questions, and force us out of our comfort zone.
However, we realised from the beginning that we had all the tools to make the school a challenge to be met. First, we were organizing the school among the activities of the Rome Technopole project, an extremely rich ecosystem of universities, research organizations and companies, which in its very constitution envisages a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach in three major topical areas: energy transition, digital transition and health. Moreover, thanks to several previous outreach activities, among the project we had already created a network of researchers willing to share their expertise and engage with the public.
The other key aspect was represented by the place where the school would take place: the Frascati National Laboratory of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the largest facility in Italy dedicated to the study of nuclear and subnuclear physics with accelerators and its applications. By its very nature, the Laboratory is a place where scientific research at an international level takes place and where various competences already collaborate on a daily basis. Moreover, thanks to its decades of experience in organizing initiatives for the public, we could have counted on the Laboratory's ability to host public events while fostering a welcoming environment for participants.
Last but not least, we were able to count on the support of the European Citizen Science Association from the very beginning, and of Citizen Science Italia, with its passionate and expert members.
In other words: challenge accepted
One week full-immersion school, 30 people involved including researchers, high school students and teachers, university students, 5 citizen science experts, 5 lines of research: Antibiotic Resistance, VR/AR/MR Environments, Dentistry, Digital and physical spaces in prisons, Physics, energy and sustainability. At the beginning of the week, an introduction to citizen science with successful examples set the framework of the project. Then, the presentation of the 5 lines of research enabled participants to get an idea of what to work on. After creating the working groups, we were ready to go.
Everyday groups worked in parallel in different rooms, each with their own method and rhythm. Some groups saw the leading researcher working side by side with them at every step. In some cases, researchers only participated in parts, leaving participants free to follow their own paths. In other cases, researchers took turns to give a different perspective to the research each time. The citizen science experts took turns in the various groups, sometimes engaging in discussions, sometimes just observing. Every day, a joint meeting at the beginning and the end of the day allows common reflection with the other research lines, sharing strengths, solutions, but, even more often, dead ends and failed paths.
After a week, as if by magic, each working group had a research project to propose, concrete and feasible. Just like magic, it did not matter who they were or their role, because the only thing that mattered was to share their own point of view and make their contribution. Just like magic, the specific topic being worked on was no longer so relevant, because it was clear that the important thing to take home was the method of working, scientific reasoning, sharing and co-creating something new. In other words: we were learning to do science together.
The lines of research in brief
Antibiotic Resistance
This line of research aimed to raise awareness of the importance of responsible antibiotic use and to measure the level of knowledge concerning antibiotic resistance among different age groups. After developing an initial exploratory questionnaire, the school participants proposed an extended questionnaire to investigate the reasons why people are often unaware of the dangers of incorrect antibiotic use, and a communication and training plan dedicated to schools and citizens to help spread awareness. The group also proposed the development of an app to monitor bacterial contamination in household water.
VR/AR/MR Environments
This line of research focused on the development of user interfaces in Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality applications. The group created an innovative user interface proposal analyzing as a case study the development of an app to guide users in the kitchen in the preparation of some recipes. The group also proposed a survey capable of probing the needs and requirements of other citizens, who can thus become co-designers of the final application.
Dentistry
This working group started from the knowledge that there are various lesions of the oral mucosa that can be linked to different pathologies, but that can be identified preventively by means of a very simple self-inspection technique that anyone can carry out without any specific expertise. Therefore, the group first learned the technique, then developed a preliminary questionnaire that investigated how widespread the knowledge of this technique was in an initial group of people. Subsequently, they proposed a study structured in three phases. First phase: administration of a questionnaire investigating people's eating habits and lifestyle. Second phase: development and dissemination of information material on oral cavity self-inspection techniques. Phase three: second questionnaire to citizens to assess the effectiveness of the previous communication strategy.
Digital and physical spaces in prisons
This line of research aimed to raise awareness of prison living conditions and the importance of designing appropriate spaces. After meeting a former prisoner, who shared his experience in prison and his personal growth path, the group analyzed prison geography in detail, proposing a map of spaces dedicated to study in prison. Furthermore, they created a survey to analyze inmates’ and prison guards’ opinions on their proposal.
Physics, energy and sustainability
This line of research was aimed at reflecting on how being sustainable is not trivial but requires an in-depth analysis of many factors - energetical, technological, industrial, but also just common sense. The group focused in particular on the problem of lighting and, after delving into current regulations, they developed a calculator that allows any citizen to estimate the consumption of the light bulbs they use at home. The group then proposed to disseminate the calculator in schools, to help spread awareness of the impact of everyone's habits, as well as to support teachers in dealing with these topics.