Citizen Science Case Studies

The case studies below demonstrate the data journey for specific marine citizen science projects, covering their planning, collection, processing, preservation, sharing and reuse. 

[The Rock Pool Project logo]

The Rock Pool Project

The Rock Pool Project (TRPP) is a not-for profit community interest project founded in Cornwall in 2018, which has grown to a team of over 100 volunteers in 9 hub locations around the UK. Their primary goal is to connect people to nature, to engage with local communities to promote scientific exploration and to create a network of healthy, well connected marine conservationists across the UK.

Since October 2024, they have run the Big Rock Pool Challenge, which hosts free monthly BioBlitz Battles to engage people of all ages to explore rock pools and document marine life. The data collected contributes to wildlife management and conservation efforts locally and globally.

The Rock Pool Project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Scottish Power foundation and is run in partnership with the Marine Biological Association. All photographs used in this case study are attributed to The Rock Pool Project.

[Plan image]
Plan

Citizen science activities are planned to connect people with their local marine wildlife

  • Community focused: Fun and accessible bioblitzes
  • Verified processes: iNaturalist app with in-built validation and data flows
  • Data impact: Results intended to feed into government and back to volunteers

Image attribution:  The Rock Pool Project

[Collect image]
Collect

Marine data are gathered from rock pools across the country

  • The Big Rock Pool Challenge: free bioblitzes at each of the 9 hubs in the UK
  • iNaturalist App: easy to use tool to record sightings
  • Inclusive participation: open to all, no prior experience required

Image attribution:  The Rock Pool Project

[Process image]
Process

Data are verified and standardised

  • Verification: by trained volunteers and experts
  • Quality control: only Research Grade records are shared beyond iNaturalist 
  • Standardisation: automatically through iNaturalist

Image attribution:  The Rock Pool Project

[Preserve image]
Preserve

Verified data are archived into recognized repositories

  • iNaturalist and The Rock Pool project: store the initial records
  • Data flows into the NBN and DASSH

Image attribution:  The Rock Pool Project

[Share image]
Share

Results are shared with the public, statutory agencies and openly available online

  • Project website
  • Participant feedback provided throughout the project
  • Direct sharing of non-native invasive species list with Natural England

Image attribution:  The Rock Pool Project

[Re-use image]
Re-use

Shared data are encouraged to be used for future studies and monitoring

  • Invasive non-native species horizon scanning
  • Users can find and download data online

Image attribution:  The Rock Pool Project

The Rock Pool Project funders