12 February 2026
How can participation in research strengthen confidence in science. What role does communication play in fostering trust within citizen science projects. These questions are at the heart of the international symposium Building Knowledge Together: Citizen Science, Communication, and Trust, taking place from 5 to 6 October 2026 at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.
The symposium forms part of the BMFT-funded project Trust in Citizen Science and is supported by the PCST Network. It brings together scholars and practitioners who are interested in advancing theoretical, empirical, and practice-based knowledge at the intersection of citizen science, communication, and trust.
Call for papers
Contributions are invited from researchers and practitioners working on citizen science, science communication, and trust. The organisers welcome both conceptual and empirical research as well as practical insights from project work and field experience.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- The relationship between participation in science and trust in science
- Communication strategies that strengthen trust within citizen science projects
- Best practices in participatory research and engagement
- Theoretical perspectives on trust, transparency, and collaboration
- Evaluation and measurement of trust in citizen science contexts
Innovative formats such as workshops, interactive sessions, and demonstrations are explicitly encouraged alongside traditional research presentations.
How to submit
Abstracts of up to 5000 characters, including spaces and footnotes but excluding references, tables, and figures, may be submitted in German or English until 17 April 2026.
As the symposium can accommodate only a limited number of research and practice presentations, all submissions will undergo peer review to assess their relevance and fit with the symposium’s objectives. Authors will be informed of the outcome of the review process by 18 May 2026.
Questions may be emailed to ifkw-tics@tu-braunschweig.de.
➔ Visit the PCST Berlin Symposium 2026 website
