Citizen Science Show

Pascal van Erp has spent years descending into waters most people will never see, uncovering a hidden layer of destruction far removed from the image of pristine marine environments. Beneath the surface, he regularly encounters lost fishing gear—nets, lines, and cages that continue to trap and kill marine life long after they have been abandoned. This reality led him to establish Ghost Diving, an...

Eight years ago, Jason Iggleden was working as a builder, swinging tools and searching for something that would make him want to jump out of bed each morning. He still works in construction today, but back then he was looking for a shift in direction. Almost on impulse, he bought a drone and decided to create an app. There was no detailed business plan, just a desire to build something meaningful...

Gary Taylor has always felt most at home in the bush. Long before native bees became his focus, he was a child wandering through scrub and creek beds, watching everything that moved. His father shaped that way of seeing. He spoke about trees, spiders and insects as if they were old friends. Nothing was to be squashed or dismissed. Every creature simply wanted to get back to its companions. That qu...

Dr Nerida Wilson has dedicated much of her career to understanding some of Australia’s most unusual marine life. As manager of Seadragon Search, she has brought together genetics, photography and citizen science to reveal new insights into one of the country’s most iconic underwater species. Although seadragons are displayed in aquariums around the world, they are found only in Australian waters....

Each spring, Bron Powell returns to a vast inland wetland in north-west New South Wales, drawn by reeds taller than a person, restless bird colonies and the quiet pulse of water spreading across flat country. The Macquarie Marshes have become both her workplace and her teacher, a place where kayaking and conservation meet in practical and purposeful ways. Bron first discovered the Marshes nineteen...

Two hundred years ago, South Australia’s coastline was edged not just by sandy beaches and rocky headlands, but by vast shellfish reefs stretching for thousands of kilometres. In South Australia alone, native oyster beds extended roughly 1,500 kilometres. Nationally, they spanned an estimated 8,000 kilometres—almost twice the length of the Great Barrier Reef. Today, less than one percent of those...

The green parrot is endemic to Norfolk Island, found nowhere else on Earth. It is a medium sized member of the Cyanoramphus group, with vivid green plumage and a red patch across its forehead. Two years ago, surveys estimated around eight hundred birds. That number dropped to six hundred the following year and now sits at roughly two hundred. Even more alarming, recent years have seen no successfu...

Jeremy Day began his career by moving from boat to boat, taking on dive work wherever he could, long before he envisioned specialising in sea urchins. Working as a diver skipper eventually led him to James Cook University in Townsville, where he completed his undergraduate degree and assisted researchers on the Great Barrier Reef. Early involvement in Crown of Thorns Starfish control programs prom...

Saving birds was never supposed to be Mick Roderick’s career, but somewhere between university ecology fieldwork and friendly arguments over bird field guides, birdwatching stopped being a pastime and became an identity. Mick did not grow up as a birder. His family were bushwalkers, and birds were simply part of the landscape. It wasn’t until studying ecology at university that he began paying clo...

Adrian Sherriff has spent much of his life bringing people closer to Australian wildlife, not simply to admire animals, but to understand the systems that keep them alive. Animals Anonymous began as a straightforward idea: taking native animals into schools and community spaces to spark curiosity and connection. Over time, that idea grew into a broader mission encompassing education, inclusion, co...

David Lindenmayer’s scientific life began in his mid-teens, shaped by birdwatching trips with his father and groups of volunteers who seemed able to hear and identify birds long before they were visible. Learning bird calls became like learning another language, one that opened his eyes to how landscapes function and how life is distributed across them. That connection to the environment has never...

Tuckers Nob State Forest is prime koala habitat but sits outside the proposed Great Koala National Park because it is zoned as plantation. Under New South Wales regulations, plantation zoning allows clearfell logging, meaning entire areas can be logged without safeguards for wildlife. Although koalas live in these forests, they are effectively rendered invisible by planning frameworks that assume...

The name The Real Sea Mob reflects their belief in honesty, community, and connection. They aim to present science clearly, without exaggeration or despair, and to show both the challenges and the opportunities facing marine and coastal environments. Maintaining optimism, they said, comes from spending time in nature, working with engaged communities, and supporting each other through shared purpo...

Ghost nets have become one of the most confronting environmental issues facing northern Australia, and hearing directly from those working on the ground makes it impossible to ignore the scale of the problem. Speaking with Kristen Sierke, the Ghost Net and Marine Debris Coordinator with the Northern Land Council, highlighted how deeply this issue is woven into both marine conservation and Indigeno...

Heidi first recognised the scale of marine debris while working as a diving instructor, a career that placed her in the water almost daily and offered close encounters with marine wildlife. Over time she began noticing increasing amounts of rubbish appearing in some of the world’s most treasured dive sites. Later, while exploring the southwest coast of Western Australia, she saw debris washing ont...

Tonight on the show we gather the team and revisit some of the Citizen Science Show highlights for 2025. If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a comment and share this show with your friends. It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you. Contact the Show We are always looking for more guests to tell us about inter...

During one calm day in March 2025, Samantha noticed something unusual: thick, persistent sea foam spread across the water near West Island. It was far more extensive than anything seen before, and instinctively it seemed wrong.  With guidance from Faith and Peri Coleman, Samantha learned how to use the equipment, how to prepare samples, and how to identify phytoplankton.  What stood out...

Australia has roughly 25 to 30 freshwater turtle species, depending on the day’s taxonomy debates, and Ricky Spencer's work centres on these inland species found in almost every river, dam and creek. Among the most fragile is the Bellinger River turtle, which came close to disappearing ten years ago when a virus reduced a population of more than four thousand to just sixteen survivors. Those rescu...

Alicia McArdle’s work in conservation has been shaped by community from the beginning. Early in her career, not long after university, she was employed by Save Our Waterways in Brisbane, helping coordinate a project to restore an entire creek system. Local residents carried deep knowledge of their waterways, and working alongside them showed her how powerful citizen-driven stewardship can be. That...

Clare Buswell’s career weaves together political science, cultural history, and speleology in a way that makes perfect sense once she begins to explain it. Her early academic work on colonial gender dynamics in Kenya led her to examine cultural interpretations, dreamings and social relationships—perspectives that later helped her understand the significance of Australia’s karst landscapes and the...

At the Australian Museum, citizen science has grown from a niche concept into a vibrant, community-driven force. Managing the Centre for Citizen Science, Paul Flemons oversees three major programs that have transformed how the public engages with scientific research. Frog ID is perhaps the most familiar, inviting thousands to record and monitor frogs across Australia. DigiVol allows volunteers to...

Kelly Sheldrick has been working with communities across Perth to uncover the hidden world of the region’s tiny microbats—animals so small and quiet that most people never realise they are part of the local landscape. Through her projects with the Conservation Council of Western Australia, volunteers use active acoustic detectors along transects in City of Wanneroo bushland, watching echolocation...

I met Jock Mackenzie at the CitSciOz25 conference in Melbourne, where he spoke about Mangrove Watch and his role as Senior Program Manager for wetlands, coastal and marine environments at Earthwatch Australia. He founded Mangrove Watch in 2008 in response to declining mangrove and saltmarsh health, and he explained how these tidal-zone trees protect fisheries, store carbon, filter water and shield...

At CitSciOz25, Frank Grutzner reflected on how far echidna research has progressed and how crucial community involvement has become to that progress. As a genetics professor at the University of Adelaide, Frank focuses on the DNA of Australia’s native species. When he arrived in the country 25 years ago, he quickly became fascinated by the platypus and echidna. Their biology is unlike that of any...

Speaking with Elizabeth Irvine at CitSciOz25 revealed just how much energy is driving the next chapter of citizen science in Australia. Even midway through the conference the enthusiasm was palpable, and hearing her perspective on Earthwatch Australia’s programs showed why so many people feel inspired. As Head of Programs, she sees firsthand how community engagement shapes the organisation’s work...