Dr. Susan Hegarty’s Urban Citizen 6.3.2 project, funded by Research Ireland, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Esri Research Innovation Award.
Esri Ireland, the official distributor of Esri’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology on the island of Ireland, recognises innovative applications of location intelligence through its annual awards. Esri’s ArcGIS platform enables organisations to visualise, analyse, and interpret spatial data to solve complex, real-world problems.
Urban Citizen 6.3.2 aims to address gaps in water quality data by developing a scalable model for citizen science and community-led monitoring. The project focuses on streams and rivers within the terrestrial area of the UNESCO Dublin Bay Biosphere, where data has historically been limited.
Over the course of a year, citizen scientists in Dublin collected 268 water samples across four river systems—the Santry, Tolka, Dodder, and Loughlinstown/Kill-O-the-Grange streams. These samples were used to assess macroinvertebrate diversity using CSSI scores, as well as nutrient concentrations, providing valuable insight into the health of local water bodies.
More than a monitoring initiative, Urban Citizen 6.3.2 places a strong emphasis on co-creation and community empowerment. By equipping local citizens with the tools and knowledge to gather and understand environmental data, the project fosters greater public engagement in environmental protection and supports more inclusive, data-driven decision-making.
Learn more about the project: https://www.urbancitizens632.ie/
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