Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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56. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered the expansion of funding to citizen science mapping projects. [12728/22]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister consider expanding funding to the citizen science mapping project?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Gould for the question. I should first say that my Department allocates specific funding for research through Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, the Irish Research Council, IRC, and the Higher Education Authority, HEA. In 2021, SFI and the IRC spent €257 million on targeted research funding. Higher education institutions also fund research from their block grants from the HEA, in addition to other calls such as the North-South Research Programme.

Citizen science benefits from this funding. For example, the SFI Discover programme has invited applications for training and engagement activities of citizen science projects. There may also be indirect benefits, for example as a product of individual research projects. Last year the Taoiseach and I launched Creating our Future, a national brainstorm that involved the people of Ireland in a conversation on the role research can play in addressing opportunities, challenges and hopes for the future of this country and world. Researchers joined the Creating our Future events to speak directly to communities. This is really important, not just to have researchers speaking to researchers but to have civil society engagement. More than 18,000 submissions were received from members of the public.

I am delighted that, as a result of one of these events, Insight, the SFI research centre for data analytics, is now working with a community group in Oranmore on the Crowd4Access project. This citizen science project empowers citizens to map the accessibility of Irish pavements for those with various mobility challenges, and represents a partnership between citizens and professional technology. It is an interesting area for the Leas-Cheann Comhairle too, I am sure. Insight is also working with the Europe Direct centre based at the Ballinasloe library to provide citizen science projects to secondary schools in the locality. This is precisely the impact we had hoped for when we launched Creating our Future - communities coming together to discuss their challenges, engaging with researchers on addressing them and ultimately working together through a citizen science project.

I will be bringing the final report of the Creating our Future project to Government, and it is my intention that projects involving all sorts of citizen and community interactions will form a continuing part of the engagement by the research community.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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OpenLitterMap is a citizen science project established in Cork city, following a very simple concept. People see litter and they record it. This project has the potential to assist local authorities in targeting areas where there is constant litter and also in helping communities to identify litter black spots. This research gets no funding from the Department, which is very disappointing. Despite applications to SFI and IRC, they did not get funding. I ask the Minister to make contact and consider additional funding for projects given the positive impact they could have.

I came from a housing committee meeting today; 32 years ago the derelict sites register was set up and we still have no clear data on dereliction. The Department cannot give a timeline. This is another project where citizens could be involved.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his passion in this area. Just to be really clear, I see huge benefit in citizen science. The Deputy will also appreciate and would think it appropriate that when it comes to deciding scientific and research projects to be funded, it is important that there are criteria that are independent of me. That is the way we have funded science and research in this country, through our funding agencies, SFI in this instance.

In an effort to be helpful to the Deputy and the project he references, I do run the Discover programme and there are open calls each year through a competitive process. There is international peer review in deciding what to fund. The aim of the SFI Discover programme is to support projects that address one of a number of objectives, including stimulating and creating debate and dialogue among the public, opportunities for dialogue with STEM experts on topics of societal importance, inspiring greater public awareness of the impact of STEM, and supporting and building engagement with and participation of a broader range of civil society and community groups. I will send the Deputy the details. I can also send him a list of the projects that have been funded this year and perhaps arrange for an engagement with SFI for the Deputy.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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As I said, in the 1990s the derelict sites register was established and after speaking to the Department, we still do not have data about the derelict sites that are littering every community in the State. That is where a citizen science mapping project would be vital. Citizens could take photographs and upload them to a central database. We would be engaging with the community to tackle a huge issue. We are in the middle of a housing crisis now. We could use citizen science mapping to support local authorities and the Government to identify these projects, to identify these derelict sites and turn them into housing. The whole concept of using citizen science mapping could be turned into a positive. I spoke to the Department officials today and 32 years on they still do not know where the derelict sites are.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It sounds like a very interesting concept that the Deputy has. The SFI Discover programme is genuinely the route where I would suggest citizen science opportunities may exist for community groups. In the Deputy's own county of Cork for example there is a project being funded by SFI Discover called Rebel Yeast. It is an immersive citizen science project where volunteer scientists are exploring local woodlands to discover new wild yeasts, analyse their samples in the laboratory and participate in planning the research. The volunteer scientists will fully engage with the scientific method through practice and with the research and any associated issues before co-signing communication materials for a final public event. I assure the Deputy that there is a mechanism for citizen science to be funded. There is the direct mechanism of SFI and the indirect but really important mechanism of the Creating our Future initiative. There are projects being funded across the country. Rebel Yeast in Cork is an example. There is a competitive annual process that is internationally peer reviewed. I can certainly arrange for SFI to brief the Deputy further on avenues that may be available.