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Awesome Citizen Science NL

DOI

A list of awesome Citizen Science projects from the Netherlands with additional information such as duration, organizations, and links to resources. For a full overview of all variables, see the dataset specifications (CSV, Excel).

We aim to make this list as complete as possible; therefore, we need your help! You can easily contribute a new project to the Awesome Citizen Science Projects in the Netherlands dataset by following the contributing guide.

❌ Link to project might be broken

Projects

Archaeology

  • Erfgoed Gezocht 2 - The project consists of two stages. In the first stage, citizen examine elevation maps of the designated area where they identify possible locations for excavations. In the second stage, citizens can actually join and assist archeologists on their excavations. (2020 - ongoing)
  • Erfgoed Gezocht 1 - The project consists of two stages. In the first stage, citizen examine elevation maps of the designated area where they identify possible locations for excavations. In the second stage, citizens can actually join and assist archeologists on their excavations. (2019 - 2019)
  • Erfgoed Gezocht Junior - Children between the ages of 8 and 12 examine elevation maps of the designated area where they identify possible locations for excavations. (2020 - ongoing)

Cities

  • Nationale PlasticWatch - Citizens report litter to help Rijkswaterstaat gain insights on the origin, transport and distribution of litter. (2020 - ongoing)

Ecology

  • Fishing in the Past - Citizens identify fish species on paintings to gain information on biodiversity and commercial use of fish species throughout history. (2020 - 2020)
  • Kilometerhokken Inventariseren - Citizens register the locations plant species by crossing them off on a list in a predetermined area. (1988 - ongoing)
  • Bodemdierendagen - Citizens count the benthic animals in their backyards, planters and on their roof if they happen to have a so-called green roof. They register to what animal group (out of ten) the benthic animals belong. (2015 - recurring)
  • Van Kroeg tot Kraamkamer - Citizens observe the animals in their backyards for a predetermined period of ten days and note what kind of behavior they display (kroeg, hotel or kraamkamer). (2017 - recurring)
  • Wadertrack - Citizens register their observations of color ringed oystercatchers. (2012 - 2020)
  • Wildspotter - Citizens check whether animals can find their way at fauna passages by watching videos. (2016 - unknown)
  • RAS: het "Retrapping Adults for Survival" project - Citizens focus on one bird species they decide on themselves and then try the trap birds in nets to ring them. When a bird was also ringed last year, this is noted. Together, this gives insights in the survival of birds. (1998 - ongoing)
  • Muggenradar - Citizens report how much trouble they experience from mosquitoes (none, a little, much, very much). (2016 - ongoing)
  • Witte Gebieden - Citizens (mostly florists) reserve a "Wit Gebied" beforehand. These are areas where florists are not as active, so there are less observations compared to other areas. Florists then visit such an area for a maximum of one day and fill in lists of what they found in the area that covers at least three "kilometerhokken". (2016 - ongoing)
  • Zomerganzentelling - Citizens count summer geese and report on their number and species. (2005 - recurring)
  • Tuinvlindertelling - Citizens count on one of the predetermined days for 15 minutes the number of butterflies in their backyards and also report on their species. (2009 - recurring)
  • Essentaksterfte - Citizens report whether ash trees are affected by a fungus. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Natuurkalender - Citizens observe a certain animal species on a location they have chosen themselves and note the first day when they enter a new phenological phase. (1868 - recurring)
  • Koolmezen - Citizens hang two fat balls outside during the winter, one with a weird object underneath and the other without one. Then they sit down for half an hour and count how many great tits (koolmezen) come to the ball with the weird object and how many come to the ball without it. (2019 - 2019)
  • Bioblitz - A contest where citizens try to discover as many animals and plants in their backyard within a 24-hour time period. (2020 - recurring)
  • Ring - MUS - Citizens report on the color-rings they see on birds. (2011 - ongoing)
  • Signalering (Invasieve) Exoten - Citizens report the coordinates and abundance (surface they span) of invasive exotics classified as such on a list. Moreover, when a rare exotic is found, material can be send in for examination. (2012 - ongoing)
  • Avondtelling Amfibie√´n - Citizens report how many and what kind of amphibians they have seen and heard on a predetermined evening. (2016 - 2016)
  • SnailSnap - Citizens download an app with which they make pictures of snails they encountered from April up until October. The app sends the photo, along with the coordinates of the place it was taken at to waarneming.nl. (2017 - recurring)
  • Herbariummateriaal Verzamelen - Citizens collect samples of plants that are either rare, believed to have gone extinct in the Netherlands, plants with flowers or fruits that they are unable to identify or they want to argue a species can better be split into multiple species. After collecting the sample, it is send to a predetermined address. (2013 - ongoing)
  • GrowApp - Citizens make pictures of a certain spot in nature, which the app transforms into a time-lapse to capture the change of seasons. The app sheds light on the impact of climate change on nature. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Snapshot Hoge Veluwe - Citizens count the number of animals and species present on a photo. (2018 - ongoing)
  • Animal Tracker - Citizens localize spoonbills and report on them. (2019 - ongoing)
  • CR-Birding Submit - Citizens register their observations of color marked birds. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Special Project Muggenradar - Citizens send researchers the mosquitos they have killed. (2021 - ongoing)
  • Kikkerdriltelling - Citizens count the number of clumps of spawn in the ponds in their backyards during a predetermined period of time. (2018 - recurring)
  • Mijn Berm Bloeit! - Citizens choose between a predetermined period a road verge. Then, they register one hundred meter of road verge and stand still every ten meters to note the nectar plants that are within one meter of themselves. (2017 - recurring)
  • Pullen - Citizens ring young birds to gain insights in the first year of life of their peers. (2007 - ongoing)
  • Plonzenweekend - Citizens count the number of splashes they hear when passing the pond in their backyard or another pond on a walk. If they are able to get close enough to see a frog, they can also count the frog species. (2008 - recurring)
  • Kruidenrijk Grasland App - Citizens make pictures with an app of different kinds of grasslands. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Leuke Vliegen - Citizens count the number and species of flies they see in their backyard by making photos of them. The goal is to collect information on five families of flies, to see how many there are and where. This information is used to determine which species are well and which are not. (2012 - 2014)
  • Wantsen - Citizens make photos of the bugs they encounter and load them unto waarneming.nl. (2017 - 2018)
  • Kauwtjes - Citizens report how close they can venture near a jackdaw. (2019 - 2019)
  • Eindejaars Plantenjacht - Citizens count between predetermined days which plants bloom in their backyard. (2014 - recurring)
  • Paardenbloemen - Citizens collect blowballs of dandelions, and report how long and how wide the tails are. Then they go inside, select five achenes which they let go five times each and report how long it takes them to land on the ground. (2019 - 2019)
  • Paddenoverzetacties - Citizens (mostly in groups) report how many and what kind of toads they transferred. (2008 - recurring)
  • Nationale NajaarsVleermuistuintelling - Citizens count on one of the predetermined days the number of bats in their backyards and also report on their species from sunset until they have not seen a bat in over 10 minutes. They also give information on where in their backyard they saw the bats and where they did not see any. (2019 - recurring)
  • Constant Effort Site Project - Citizens help ring birds. What is different for this project is that it is all very standardized: citizens go every ten days, for the same amount of time and place the nets on the same places. (1994 - ongoing)
  • Tweede Boerenzwaluw - nestentelling - Citizens count the number of new nests of the barn swallow in their own backyards. (2011 - 2019)
  • Stoepplantjes - Citizens report where and what plants/weeds they found on their sidewalks. (2020 - ongoing)
  • Oeverplanten - Citizens choose a strip of fourty meters alongside a shore. Every ten meters, they report all indicator plants they see and cross them out on a card. In the middle, they report the coordinates and afterwards they make a photo of the strip of land they examined. (2018 - 2018)
  • Nationale Bijentelling - Citizens count on one of the predetermined days for 30 minutes the number of bees in their backyards and also report on their species. (2017 - recurring)
  • Meetnet Urbane Soorten - Citizens count birds and species three times per season, on top of the yearly separate counts. (2007 - ongoing)
  • Nationale Waterdiertjes Telling - Citizens report which and how many animals live in the water in their nearby ditches. They also report the type and quality of the water. (2018 - recurring)
  • Nationale Nachtvlindernachten - Citizens count on one of the predetermined nights the number and species of moths they see in their backyard. (2005 - recurring)
  • TreeWiFi - A project that was started by a citizen where bird houses measure the air quality. When the quality increases, you get free wifi in return. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Boerenzwaluw - nestentelling - Citizens count the number of nests of the barn swallow in their own backyards. (2011 - 2019)
  • Kuikenteller - Citizens count the number of ducklings in a place near them and then follow them and report of their survival for the rest of the season. (2020 - 2020)
  • Nationale Tuinvogeltelling - Citizens count on one of the predetermined days for 30 minutes the number of birds in their backyards and also report on their species. (2001 - recurring)
  • Egelweekend - Citizens register when and how many hedgehogs they have encountered. Dead hedgehogs are also reported. (2009 - recurring)
  • Boerenzwaluwproject - Citizens put in extra effort to ring barn swallows and thereby gain insights in the survival and reproduction of the species. (1997 - ongoing)
  • Spinnentelling - Citizens register on two predetermined days the number and kind of spiders they see in their backyards. (2015 - recurring)
  • Lijsters- en Bessentelling - Citizens register which fructuous trees are in their backyard and which birds make use of them. (2020 - recurring)
  • Libellentelling - Citizens register how many and what kinds of dragonflies they have seen on two predetermined days. They also register whether they saw any dead dragonflies. (1998 - recurring)
  • Mollentelling - Citizens count on predetermined days the number of moles or molehills they see in their surroundings. (2019 - recurring)
  • Tuinvijver-opschoontelling - Citizens cleaning the ponds in their backyards report on what species they encountered and how many of each species they saw. (2015 - 2015)
  • Staat Deze Plant Er Nog? - Citizens search for rare plant species, guided by a map of where they were previously found. (2012 - ongoing)

Environment

  • Vuurwerkexperiment 2017/2018 - Citizens help measure fine dust in the air during New Year's Eve. (2017 - 2018)
  • Boeren Meten Water - Farmers and the water board work together to gain insights into the current situation of salinization and subsidence. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Geluid-​ en luchtkwaliteit - Citizens in Schiedam place sensors that measure the amount of noise and the air quality. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Explane - Citizens meausre the noise made by planes with their smartphones. (2018 - ongoing)
  • Boeren en Buren - Citizens place sensors that measure the local air quality and fill in an app regarding the smell. (2019 - 2021)
  • Wadden Plastic - Citizens choose a flood mark on either the Wadden or North Sea beaches, follow that mark and report every ten meters their estimate for the number of plastic granules for an area of 40x40 cm. (2018 - ongoing)
  • OeverWatch - Citizens report on biodiversity and biological water quality. They also measure the chemical water quality. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Samen stikstofdioxide meten met Palmes buisjes - Citizens measure nitrogen dioxide using Palmes tubes. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Jubileumproject DCMR - NO2 burgermetingen in Rijnmondgebied - In honor of their anniversary, the DCMR provided 230 citizens with sensors to measure nitrogen dioxide. (2019 - 2019)
  • Meet je Stad - Citizens measure temperature, humidity, air quity and soil moisture. (2015 - ongoing)
  • EyeOnWater - Citizens help classify rivers, lakes, coastal waters, seas and oceans based on their color with the help of an app. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Smart Emission Nijmegen Project - Citizens in Nijmegen place sensors that measure the air quality, the amount of noise, vibrations en meteorological indicators. (2015 - ongoing)
  • Weer & Klimaat - High school students measure the air pressure, temperature and humidity. (2012 - ongoing)
  • Check de Stadvergroening! - Citizens first register, alone or in a group, and then follow a step-by-step plan of what they ought to do. They inspect a place they choose themselves on what the soil consists of, and check the draining of rainwater and whether flooding occurs after heavy rain. (2018 - ongoing)
  • Urban AirQ (Amsterdam) - Citizens help measure fine dust and nitrogen dioxide in the air in their street. (2016 - 2016)
  • AiREAS Eindhoven - Citizens set up a project to measure air quality in the city of Eindhoven. (2013 - ongoing)
  • Papillottenproject - Citizens photograph, register and repackage papillots in new acid-free bags and store them in high drawers in a standard manner again. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Maaspoort Meet! - Citizens living close to Maaspoort place sensors that measure the local air quality. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Samen Meten aan Luchtkwaliteit - Citizens measure airquality by putting sensors in their backyards. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Versheid van Water - Citizens help researchers use the new technique Next Generation Sequencing to determine whether water is a fresh product. (2015 - 2015)
  • Watermetingen door Mijn Omgeving - Citizens buy cheap sensors that measure the electrical conductivity of the water all day long. (2019 - ongoing)
  • WaterLab Circulair Water Flevoland - Citizens test circular water solutions in seven situations in practice. (2021 - ongoing)
  • Samen Luchtkwaliteit Meten in Zuid-Holland - Citizens place sensors that measure the local air quality. This is mostly done in so-called "meetclubs", where multiple sensors are placed close to each other in cluster. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Waterkwaliteit in Europa - Citizens first request research packages with which they collect a sample of water they send back. (2017 - 2017)
  • SCOREwater - Citizens help investigate how the city of Amersfoort can become more adaptive to the changing climate, especially with regards to flooding as this is a problem in the city. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Luftdaten op Sensor.community - Citizens place sensors that measure the local air quality. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Vuurwerkexperiment 2018 - 2019 - Citizens help measure fine dust in the air during New Year's Eve. (2018 - 2019)
  • Onze Lucht – zelf fijnstof meten in Noord-Nederland - Citizens build gaugers that measure the amount of fine dust in the air. For every area with the same postal code in Groningen, Friesland or Drenthe, one person can partake in the project. (2020 - ongoing)
  • Een neus voor luchtkwaliteit - Sensors are placed in places in Maastricht that are chosen by citizens. The sensors measure the local air quality. (2016 - ongoing)
  • Visibilis - On the initiative of two citizens, a suitcase containing multiple measuring instruments was attached to a measuring location already in use. The goal was to compare different tools. The citizens have written report detailing the results. (2018 - 2019)
  • Waterlab Flevoland - Citizens test innovative purification systems for two years. (2019 - 2021)
  • De Levende Bodem - High school students take samples of the soil and measure their quality. (2011 - ongoing)
  • MySense - Citizens place sensors that measure the local air quality. This project is special considering it entails measuring fine dust and gas in an agricultural context. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Nationale Lichtmeting - Elementary school children build their own spectroscope and see what lamps are used in their surroundings. (2015 - 2020)
  • Meetcampagne NO2 (Milieudefensie) - Citizens help measure nitrogen dioxide in the air by placing sensors around place that are important to them. (2015 - 2015)
  • Amsterdam Sounds - Citizens in Amsterdam place sensors that measure the amount and kind of noise. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Plastic Spotter - Citizens spot plastic in the canals of Leiden and upload photos of it. (2019 - ongoing)
  • AirSensEUR - Citizens help measure the quality of the air by placing sensors. (2015 - ongoing)
  • Luchtmeetnet Hillegersberg Schiebroek - Citizens place sensors in their backyards that measure the air quality. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Grip Op Water - Altena - Citizens report abnormal water circumstances. For instance, flooding or a place where the water does not drain. (2018 - ongoing)
  • Metingen 's Gravendijkwal (Rotterdam) - Citizens investigate how the emissions of hazardous substances on the 's Gravendijkwasstraat can be limited with the use of a hoze that spreads very small particles of water. (2015 - ongoing)
  • Vang de Watermonsters - Citizens take samples of water in lakes, canals etc. to measure the quality of the water. (2019 - ongoing)
  • iSPEX - Citizens help measure fine dust in the air. (2012 - 2013)
  • Hoe gezond is onze lucht? - Citizens help measure nitrogen dioxide in the air by placing sensors around place that are important to them, like the local school or the street through which they cycle every day. (2012 - 2014)
  • Hollandse Luchten - Citizens in Noord-Holland place sensors that measure the local air quality. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Vuurwerkexperiment 2019 - 2020 - Citizens help measure fine dust in the air during New Year's Eve. (2019 - 2019)
  • Oud & Nieuw 2020 - 2021 - Citizens help measure fine dust in the air during New Year's Eve. (2020 - 2020)
  • Schone Rivieren - Citizens help researchers by cleaning up rivers and investigating what they find. (2015 - ongoing)
  • Vuurwerk 2016 - 2017 - Citizens help measure fine dust in the air during New Year's Eve. (2016 - 2017)
  • Snuffelfiets - Citizens measure air quality through sensors attached to their bicycles by cycling different routes. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Samen Geluid Meten - Citizens place sensors that measure the amount of noise. (2021 - ongoing)
  • CHARRED - Citizens measure the amount of fine dust by putting sensors in their backyards. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Delft Meet Regen - Citizens get a kit from the WaterLab which assists them in making their own rain gauge. Then, from the 18th of July until half September, they report every day how much rain has fallen. (2020 - ongoing)
  • Almere meet water - Citizens get one of the measuring toolboxes and measure the quality of the water in their neighborhood. (2019 - 2019)
  • Drinkable Rivers - Citizens sign in and pick up one of the test kits from one of the locations located all over Europe. The kits are used to collect samples of water and measure the water quality. Results are entered into a database. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Zet 'm op 70! - Citizens decrease the temperature of the water with which their house is warmed, from 80-90 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius for two months. They also place automatic sensors that measure the temperatures inside and outside. Lastly, they fill out a questionnaire regarding their experiences. (2018 - ongoing)

Health

  • Grote Griep & Corona Meting - Continuation of the Grote Griepmeting, now also including corona (2021 - recurring)
  • Grote Griep Meting - Citizens report when they or someone they know gets a cold or the flu. (2003 - 2017)
  • Ik heb last-app - Citizens indicate how much their airways bother them and what symptoms they experience to provide further insights into the causes (and aggrevation) of respiratory diseases. (2015 - ongoing)
  • Tekenradar - Citizens report whether they or their child have a tick bite, tick bite fever, a red circular rash (Erythema Migrans) and/or Lyme disease, alongside their age. (2012 - ongoing)
  • Zoönosenproject - Citizens take blood samples, throat and cloacal swabs of bird species in order for researchers to be able to investigate how the spread of viruses can be prohibited. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Hooikoortsradar - Citizens report how much they suffer from hayfever at the moment of reporting on a ten-point scale. (2009 - ongoing)
  • CoronaWatchNL - Citizens help collect numbers on COVID-19 infections and deaths in The Netherlands. With these data, a dataset is compiled that meets the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) guidelines. (2020 - 2021)
  • MyCardio - Citizens with cardiovascular diseases or citizens that are at risk of hart problems, report on their health to get more insights into the cause. (2019 - ongoing)

History

Science

  • SMAP: bodemvochtigheid - High school students measure the soil moisture to help NASA calibrate its satellite that attempts to estimate this from a distance. (2011 - ongoing)
  • CREDO - Citizens help detect glowing pixels with the cameras of their phones to test one of the theories of what dark matter could be. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Verdwaald in de Nacht - Citizens match photos made of places on the Earth in the night from space with the correct location. (2014 - ongoing)
  • Aerosolen - High school students help calibrate the measures of a satellite by measuring the amount of aerosols in an area of the air. (2004 - ongoing)

Society

  • Zie Ik Spoken? - Citizens first complete an extensive questionnaire about who they are, what their sleeping habits are and whether they sometimes feel like seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling things that are not there. Then they play a game where they have to press a certain key when they see a specific item of clothing or hear a specific word in a movie. Finally, they receive a few questions about substance use (drugs and alcohol) and the project concludes with a hearing test. (2016 - 2016)
  • WeSense - Citizens fill out short surveys about their perception of their current surroundings and wellbeing, who they are with, where they are, and what they are doing. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Shift-Diets - Citizens take part in the study of the RIVM to investigate what measures motivate young adults to change their diet. (2020 - ongoing)
  • Stimmen - Citizens record themselves saying different words and take a quiz to determine what dialect they speak. (2017 - ongoing)
  • CurioUs? - Citizens can go up to the CurioUs lab to borrow measuring equipment and receive tips on how to use it. Moreover, the lab encourages the citizens to partake in different citizen science projects. For instance, the first project they took on was Onze Lucht (also on this list). (2020 - ongoing)
  • Kijk! Een gezonde wijk - Citizens install an app to report on opportunities to sport and play in their neighborhood (2017 - 2017)
  • Hooked! - Citizens listen to fragments of songs from the Top 2000 and click a button when they remember what song is played. (2017 - 2017)
  • Personagebank - Citizens answer questions on the characters in the book they last read. (2016 - 2019)
  • Straatpoëzie - Citizens report streetpoetry, poetry that is placed out in the open and can be read by anyone. (2017 - ongoing)
  • Zicht op Licht - Citizens report with the help of an app how dark it is in their surroundings and how much trouble they experience in their sight. (2015 - 2018)
  • Stemmen – Gronings (Nedersaksisch) - Citizens record themselves saying different words and take a quiz to determine what dialect they speak. (2019 - ongoing)
  • Alle Scholen Verzamelen - Elementary school children partake in science projects and help gather data for research. (2019 - ongoing)

Uncategorized

  • Het Nieuwe Strepen - Special form of "Kilometerhokken Inventariseren". It works similar to that project, but now the area is searched by two citizens, independent from each other. (2012 - ongoing)

Contribute or update project

Everyone is welcome to add a new citizen science project (from the Netherlands) to this list. To keep the contribution process simple and fast, we ask you to follow the guide below:

  1. Search previous Pull Requests before making a new one, as your project may be a duplicate.

  2. Browse to the data/categories folder of this repository.

  3. Select the category that belongs to the project you want to add and browse to that folder. If you cannot find the category that fits your project, go directly to step 4.

  4. Above the list of files, using the Add file drop-down, click Create new file.

  5. In the file name field, type the name of the file and use as extension yml. For example: NAME_OF_NEW_PROJECT.yml. If you did not find the cateogry that fits your project, you need to add the new category name before the name of your project, for example: NEW_CATEGORY/NAME_OF_NEW_PROJECT.yml.

  6. On the Edit new file tab, copy and paste the content below and fill it in with the information concerning your project. Next to each attribute, we provided a small description of the content we ask you to fill in. Please do follow these indications as it will speed up the process of review. If one or more attributes are unknown to you, feel free to leave the attribute empty (e.g. data_accessibility:). Finally, before proposing a new project remember to delete the comments (everything from "#" onwards) leaving only your newly added content.

---
name: # Official name of the project. | *Compulsory
description: # Description of the project. Please try to summarise the main aim of the project. | *Compulsory
main_category: # Main category used to classify the project, choose only one! | *Compulsory
extra_categories: # Additional categories under which the project may be classified
organization: # Organizer(s) of the project
country: The Netherlands
location: # Regions/ Provinces included in the project
notes_location: # Additional notes on the location of the project (e.g. if specific regions are included/ excluded)
start_date: # Fill in the starting year
end_date: # If the project is ended, fill in the ending year
status: # Choose from: ongoing, recurring or ended
notes_duration: # Additional notes on the duration of the project
data_accessibility: # Choose from: Viewable, Probably viewable, Probably viewable once finished, No direct download
accessibility_for_research: # Choose from: yes, no or unsure
data_url: # Url to the main source of the project's data, if not available please use '-'
project_information_url: # Url to the main page of the project | *Compulsory
  1. At the bottom of the page, in the Propose new file box add a title describing the new file you added. It might be also very simple as: Add PROJECT NAME, DATE START - DATE END. You might also specify the new addition further in the optional extended description field.

  1. Below the commit message click Propose new file.

Citation

To cite this dataset in academic publications, you can cite the following Zenodo publication DOI.

Timmers, Annemarie, & Lugtig, Peter. (2021). List of Citizen Science Projects 
in the Netherlands (Version v2021.4.29) [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4724570

Contacts

This list of open science projects is curated by Annemarie Timmers (Utrecht University) and maintained by the ODISSEI Social Data Science (SoDa) team.

Inspired by Awesome Python.