RadAR - Students as key players in radon management

RadAR is one of the seven funded RadoNorm citizen science projects which is conducted in Portugal. 

Aim

RadAR aims to engage 60 high school students from 3 schools in Portugal, to empower them to create and implement a local communication strategy that encourages the local community to measure their dwellings and to take action to reduce indoor radon exposure in case of high concentration levels. To achieve these aims, RaDAR will: 1) gather information of radon concentration in 300 dwellings in a poorly characterised Portuguese district; 2) develop dissemination materials about radon management, including a video created by students; and 3) produce a document with guidelines on how to implement a local communication strategy, to be used and/or adapted to other municipalities.

The project started in September 2023 with meetings with the students of the selected class (9th grade or higher) in 3 high schools (2 in Portalegre and 1 in Ponte de Sor) to present the project. Student citizen scientists will:

• have the freedom to define strategies to communicate to both scholar and local communities, in order to maximise their participation in a radon survey;
• create and disseminate information about radon;
• engage the population to participate in a radon survey, through measuring radon levels in their dwellings and participating in RadAR events including answering a questionnaire to assess their knowledge on radon;
• evaluate the results from the survey and communicate their assessment to the communities;
• create communication tools about radon remediation strategies.

RadAR intends to provide step by step and “real time” information about the project and its phases to all citizen science participants and interested audience in order to promote their interest and engagement. It will utilise targeted messaging to local groups and local NGOs via social networks through a dedicated RadAR webpage that will be integrated in the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) website.

About funding

Funding bodies: European Commission

Created Oct. 29, 2023, 5:33 p.m.

Updated Oct. 30, 2023, 1:28 p.m.

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