Citizen Science resources
Citizen Science
Are you keen to work with scientists to help gather data and answer real-world questions?
Explore our collection of citizen science projects that the whole family can be involved in.
Farewell to Phil
Last month, we said goodbye to one of our long-term UNE Discovery team members. Phil Spark joined the team in the middle of 2017 and has now taken early retirement.
10 May, 2023
Voyager New Activities: Escape Rooms and Crime Scenes
We are very excited to offer two new activities from Term 2 in 2023. Escape the Museum is our portable escape-room style activity which includes some challenges and puzzles that students will need to
24 April, 2023
Voyaging into 2023: Minerama & Closing the Gap Day
UNE Discovery is most well known for visiting schools and delivering exciting, play based activities to students across northern NSW. But this is not all we do. From time to time the Discovery team al
08 April, 2023
Dragonflies in the Garden
Have you noticed a lot of dragonflies in your area lately? Are there more than usual? Well, there’s a reason for this. A story by Megan Backhouse in “The Age” late last year suggests that while thes
02 April, 2023
Small Mammals & Flood Events
During Australian wet weather events, the news is full of images of saturated, soggy and sodden koalas and exhausted kangaroos swimming through the rising flood waters. While the diversity of Australi
22 March, 2023
Highlands Science and Engineering Challenge
On 7th and 8th March, the Armidale Central Rotary Club together with the support of UNE’s Schools of Science & Technology and Environment and Rural Science, hosted the Highlands Science and Engineerin
14 March, 2023
International Day of Women and Girls in Science
The 11th February marks the annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science. UNESCO and UN Women implemented this day in collaboration with institutions and civil society partners that aim to p
11 February, 2023
The Big Green Comet
It is always interesting looking at the night sky, seeing the Moon and some of the planets. Just after sunset it is currently possible to see Venus, Jupiter and Mars. There are a number of other inter
03 February, 2023
Dung Beetles in Lamington National Park
Dung beetles play a crucial role in the burial and degradation of vertebrate dung, performing several critical ecological services that are essential for ecosystem functioning. Australia has more than
02 February, 2023
Find That Frog!
Australia has over 240 species of frog, with 90 species found in NSW alone. While everyone knows what a frog is, and of course every Australian knows what a cane toad is, it’s not all that common for
31 January, 2023
The Science Experience 2023
Earlier this year, UNE teamed up with The Science Experience to deliver a 3-day science camp for high school students. The Science Experience is a nationally run program across 30 different universiti
22 January, 2023
2022: A Year in Review
2022 has been a year of great change for UNE Discovery. After a tumultuous couple of pandemic years, 2022 was when we finally started to feel like we were getting back to normal and down to business.
16 December, 2022
A Turtle’s Breakfast
The residents of the New England region share their homes with many wonderful species of plants and animals. One that is unique to the Tablelands is the Bell's turtle (Myuchelys bellii), which may als
14 December, 2022
Australia’s Incredible Insects . . . the book
The residents of the New England region share their homes with many wonderful species of plants and animals. One that is unique to the Tablelands is the Bell's turtle (Myuchelys bellii), which may als
06 December, 2022
BirdCount: Citizen Science Project
The Aussie Bird Count is an activity for all ages that involves observing and counting the birds that live near you – whether that’s in your garden, the local park, a beach, your school or even your o
17 October, 2022
Dr Oliver Knox – Soil Your Undies Recognition
UNE Associate Professor Oliver Knox is the man of the hour, having received his second major award in just two weeks!
31 August, 2022
🦜🦆 BIG CITY BIRDS Citizen Science Project
Help scientists to understand how birds have adapted to urban environments by getting involved in the Big City Birds citizen science project. You don’t have to live in a big city to get involved – obs
08 September, 2021
It’s time to bury your undies!
Armidale is in lockdown but we’re soiling our undies anyway! As we prepare for National Science Week we’re cleaning off our shovels and getting ready to dig because the time has come to Soil Your
12 August, 2021
2021 Soil Your Undies Challenge!
The 2021 Soil Your Undies (SYU) Challenge is off and running. UNE Discovery Voyager, in collaboration with UNE Soil Scientist Dr Oliver Knox, the UNE SMART Farms and CottonInfo, are hosting the 2021
18 July, 2021
Soil Your Undies Challenge is on again in 2021!
The Soil Your Undies Challenge is back again in 2021 and bigger than ever! This year we want to send out 300 undies to be soiled all across Australia. Register your class now to be a part of this Aust
02 July, 2021Nature Play in Action
Back in March this year, the team from Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre visited Martins Gully Public School in Armidale to check out the school’s use of a bushy strip of land area within the
29 April, 2021
The Undies Are In!
The 2020 Soil Your Undies challenge was a huge success, with over 200 pairs of undies being buried around Australia. In case you missed the excitement last year, the Soil Your Undies Challenge is a co
12 February, 2021
🐠 Virtual Reef Diver
Do you want to do more for our Great Barrier Reef but need a way to contribute from home? Check out this amazing citizen science project and be involved for the chance to win a GoPro!
18 December, 2020
Cicadas, cicadas, cicadas
If you are situated anywhere in NSW right now, or perhaps any place where Summer has arrived, you would be familiar with the magnificent chorus of cicadas that are filling the summer airwaves. Some da
15 December, 2020
The Great Cicada Blitz
What a bumper cicada season we've had! The loud calls of the males fill the air with the distinctive sounds of summer. But despite their unmistakable and familiar calling, not a lot is known about the
11 December, 2020
🌾 WOW – Wild Orchid Watch
Are you a keen orchid enthusiast or bush-walker? Then Wild Orchid Watch (WOW) is the citizen science project for you! WOW is a project designed to collect, record and share scientific information abou
04 December, 2020
🔭 AstroQuest
Do you love Galaxies that are far, far away? If your answer is a big YES, then the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research needs your help!
27 November, 2020
Helping entangled wildlife
Wherever you are in Australia, if you have found some poor creatures caught up, reporting the instance can be helpful in minimising the suffering of the creature, maximising the chance of a successful
20 November, 2020
🔍📗The Urban Field Naturalist Project 🎨
Have you had a chance to slow down, sit quietly and observe the living things around you - from the weeds growing through the concrete, to the ants working busily beneath you? If so, the Urban Field N
13 November, 2020
The Wild Pollinator Count is on Again
Join Australia's original pollinator citizen science project from 8-15 of November and help scientists from UNE count wild pollinators in your local environment and build a database on wild pollinator
06 November, 2020
The Great Inland Glossy Count
The Great Inland Glossy Count is calling for citizen scientists and bird enthusiasts to become cockatoo counters! Volunteers are needed to survey glossy black cockatoo populations at three key sites a
30 October, 2020
Citizen’s Science FrogID Week
FrogID Week is coming up!
23 October, 2020
Soil Your Undies
You may have seen a creatively named challenge making its way through the ether lately. So, what’s it all about? The 2020 Soil Your Undies Challenge is a collaboration between Dr Oliver Knox, CottonIn
18 October, 2020
October is Online Citizen Science Month
Do you want to learn more about Citizen Science and looking for even more ways to get involved?
16 October, 2020
🦋 Are you starting to notice more butterflies in your backyard?
If the answer is yes, you can help contribute valuable data to the Butterflies Australia citizen science project!
09 October, 2020
🦉 Do you have a backyard full of feathered friends?
Why not join in on the Aussie Backyard Bird Count!
02 October, 2020
🐜 Have you ever heard of a velvet ant?
Want to learn more, and help scientists investigate mimicry in this fascinating group of insects? This citizen science project is for you!
25 September, 2020
🩲 Soil Your Undies for Citizen Science
There’s all this talk about our Soil Your Undies Challenge being a citizen science project, but how on earth can soiling undies be contributing valuable data to research?
18 September, 2020
🌏 Help scientists explore climate change!
How are we going to be able to predict the effect of Climate Change on Australia? When making any reliable predictions you need as much information as possible. Here's a chance for you to be involved
11 September, 2020
💩Do your curious young ones like talking about poop?
They can talk about and explore a special type of poop all day long with this fantastic citizen science project!
04 September, 2020
🦇 Urban Wildlife Citizen Science – Flying Foxes
To better manage our nocturnal neighbours, we first need to better understand what they’re feeding on, where and when.
28 August, 2020
🐦 Ooooh what’s that bird?
If you get excited by spotting different birds in your garden, here’s a great program to get involved in.
14 August, 2020
🦔Want to be an Echidna Detective?
Echidna CSI is a citizen science project that is looking for Echidnas all across Australia but they need your help!
07 August, 2020
🦃 Have you seen a Brush-turkey?
The Brush-turkeys: Birds in Suburbia project aims to survey the distribution and abundance of Brush-turkeys, understand how they behave in different environments, and educate the community on the natu
31 July, 2020
🔎 Be a Dead Tree Detective!
Your observations can help in monitoring the health of trees and ecosystems. Knowing where and when trees have died can help scientists to work out causes of death, those trees which are particularly
24 July, 2020
🦘Wildlife Spotter
Become a ‘Wildlife Spotter’ citizen scientist and assist researchers by looking for animals in wilderness photos taken by automated cameras around Australia. Anyone can join and you can do it all onli
17 July, 2020
☁️ Cloud Observations
Want to discover more about clouds and contribute valuable data to scientific research? Check this out!
10 July, 2020
🦋Butterflies Australia
Butterflies Australia is a citizen science project that launched in October 2019 to ask people to submit photos of butterflies from all over Australia.
03 July, 2020
🐦 The Fairywren Project
The Fairywren Project is looking for citizen scientist partners across Australia to help collect observations of fairywrens and their various plumages (feathers).
26 June, 2020
🐨Clarence Valley Koalas
Have you spotted koalas or emus in the Clarence Valley? This citizen science project is for you!
19 June, 2020
🌏Citizen Science Backyard Bush Blitz
Our friends over Bush Blitz have an awesome citizen science project you can be involved in!
12 June, 2020
🌝Globe at Night
Our friends over at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory have an awesome citizen science project you can be involved in!
29 May, 2020
🔥Australian Bushfire Recovery Project
Over 46,000,000 acres burnt in the 2019-2020 bushfire season in eastern Australia, including South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Understanding how the environment recovers from
25 May, 2020
💉Stall Catchers💉
Want to help accelerate Alzheimer’s Research by playing an online game? Check this out!
08 May, 2020
🔬Global CitSciMonth
We’re voyaging over to our friends at the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA) to explore April as Global CitSciMonth!
20 April, 2020
🐝LET’S DO THE WPC! 🐝
Follow along with Andréa as she undertakes the Wild Pollinator Count in her backyard, and shows just how easy it is for you to do the same!
15 April, 2020
Wild Pollinator Count – what’s involved?
You can join Australia's original pollinator citizen science project between 12-19 of April to help count wild pollinators in your local environment and help build the database on wild pollinator acti
11 April, 2020🐝WILD POLLINATOR COUNT 🐝
JOIN Australia's original pollinator citizen science project between 12-19 of April to help Dr Manu Saunders from UNE count wild pollinators in your local environment and help build a database on wild
06 April, 2020
🦟 Mozzie Monitors 🦟
Today we’re voyaging over to our friends at the University of South Australia with another very cool national citizen science project – Mozzie Monitors!
02 April, 2020
🐸 Did you know some frogs can bark, quack, whistle and bleat?
Have you heard some interesting sounds coming from your backyard that you think might be a frog? Today we’re voyaging over to our friends at the Australian Museum with a very cool national citizen sci
26 March, 2020
