Piloting Zooniverse for food, health and sustainability citizen science

There is a food knowledge disconnect between food and nutrition researcher community, and general population. Likewise, policy makers have detailed information about food, but cannot measure easily what citizens understand or perceive to know about food, or how large the disconnect is between these two knowledge bases. This information disconnect has implications for how to address a wide range of food related subjects from food safety, and health education, as well as how to communicate complex issues ranging from environmental sustainability, and animal welfare and human rights.

The STFC funded Zooniverse platform is a proven method of engaging citizens with complex scientific issues. A recent STFC food network + Collaborative Scoping Project "Piloting Zooniverse to help us understand citizen food perceptions" (2018) has shown that the Zooniverse citizen science platform can be a solution to the measurement of citizens perception of food information (and might also act as a way to inform and discuss food information with citizens). As a result of this pilot government departments (FSA and DEFRA) are now interested in working with a multidisciplinary research team to co-develop a publicly facing citizen science pilot using Zooniverse.

The previous pilot tested the Zooniverse interface, and refined the citizen science methodology for food related questions. It relied on a small private sample of participants, asking questions on 10 food types and 2 variables (greenhouse gas emissions and energy density). Before a large citizen science campaign can take place, an additional phase of piloting to further refine the methodology needs to occur.

This pilot will be publicly facing, engaging and educating a minimum of 400+ UK citizens over 3 month operational period. It will extend the prior research, measuring citizen perceptions of 30+ foods on topics of sustainability (including geographically and technology associated impacts) and healthiness; risk and trust in the food system; food habits (such as shopping cooking, preparation and storage); and animal welfare and human rights.

In addition, this pilot will provide methodological benefits for Zooniverse as it will 1) Compare Zooniverse to traditional survey methods. 2) Measure behaviour and dietary change of engaged citizens over the 3 month period. These two factors have not been measured previously and will benefit the larger research community.

IMPACT OBJECTIVES are directly linked to each research objective:
Ob1) A uptake of DEFRA and FSA use of citizen science to monitor citizen perceptions, with data collected by these methods used to inform policy.
Ob2) A measured positive dietary shift occurring in occurring in citizens who engage with the pilot: a) shifting towards diets aligned with the Eatwell guide, b) shifting towards plant forward diets,
Ob3) A measured shift of food preparation and cooking methods (to reduce the use phase of foods' environmental impact).
Ob4) A measured shift to consumption of lower risk foods and greater positive food safety practices outcomes.
Together these shifts increase food security and positive health outcomes, while reducing food related carbon emissions, food waste, and water, land, and energy use. These outcomes can also be used as impact measures.

To achieve these impact objectives Dr Reynolds will
Work with stakeholders to co-create citizen science interventions that deliver measurable improvements in environmental sustainability and dietary shifts.
Engage will innovators and influencers from business, government, and the third sector to support the transformation of the UK diet towards resilient, sustainable, and healthy outcomes.
Work with the devolved administrations, Defra, FSA, PHE, and the third sector to inform the development of health, food, farming, and environmental policy.

ENGAGEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT. This research has been designed in part to complement the UK Government's Clean Growth Strategy commitment for Defra (to "20% reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of food and drink consumed in the UK" by 2025 (p135), and PHEs 2018 calorie reduction strategy (20% reduction by 2024). Impact will be measured via integration of findings and harmonised data into DEFRA and FSA policy.

ENGAGEMENT WITH UKRI. Dr Reynolds is engaged in the NERC and N8 Agrifood KE programmes, and is a research champion for STFC food network+. He has also been involved with GFS events, and has spoken at UKRI as part of Green Week. These links will ensure effective two-way knowledge exchange with UKRI.

PLANNED ENGAGEMENT WITH OTHER STAKEHOLDERS via WRAP, N8Agrifood, FCRN and FRC partnerships these include the Sustainable Restaurant Association, WRI, WWF, and the Food Foundation.