Citizen Science with Dignity thanks to QLD Government's Engaging Science Grants

The Hopkins Centre is pleased to announce successful grant win for PhD candidate Kelsey Chapman for The Dignity Project from Queensland Government’s Engaging Science Grants program.  
 
The Dignity Project, led researcher Kelsey Chapman from The Hopkins Centre and Griffith Inclusive Futures: Reimagining Disability, was awarded $19,950 and aims to strengthen opportunities and pathways for Queenslanders with disability to lead and develop research that matters most to them through a citizen science project that includes citizen-led pilot research projects across the seven key areas of the Queensland’s Disability Plan 2022-2027. 
 
The grant builds on the Dignity Project, particularly on building capacity for citizen scientists with disability. Up to 50 citizen scientists will engage in a self-paced, micro-credentialed course about citizen research essentials. Course completers will receive a digital badge. Interested course completers, up to 10, will be offered an internship in partnership with professional researchers to undertake pilot research of their design. 
 
Through these engaging science grants, the Queensland Government aims to inspire more students to study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, promote STEM careers, and increase the community’s awareness of the amazing science happening in Queensland. The grants also support citizen science projects that encourage people to volunteer their time to collect and analyse data that contributes to important Queensland research.

Dr Chapman says of the award “building off our success as a eureka prize finalist in 2022 and the newly launched Inclusive Futures platform, which builds on the infrastructure of the Dignity Project Platform, we wanted to offer the opportunity for citizens with disability to build their research capacity so that they can lead and influence our research agendas more equitably moving forward”