University of Dundee, School of Life Sciences, Annual Report 2019: Public Engagement

Public participation in science and gamification of science are two strong contemporary trends, especially in the area of emerging techno-sciences. Involvement of the public in research-related activities is an integral part of public engagement with science and technologies, which can be successfully achieved through a participatory game design. Focusing on the participatory dimension of educational games, we have reviewed a number of existing participation heuristics in light of their suitability to characterize available mobile and browser science games. We analyzed 87 games with respect to their participatory and motivational elements and demonstrated that the majority of mobile games have only basic participative features. This review of the landscape of participative science games in the domain of life sciences highlights a number of major challenges present in the design of such applications. At the same time, it reveals a number of opportunities to enhance public engagement using science games.

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Increasing AZA-Accredited Zoo and Aquarium Engagement in Conservation

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.594333 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Kayla J. Ripple ◽

Estelle A. Sandhaus ◽

Megan E. Brown ◽

Shelly Grow

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Annual Report ◽

Species Conservation ◽

Financial Investment ◽

The World ◽

Agents Of Change ◽

Conservation Funding ◽

Conservation Activity ◽

Higher Purpose

Conservation should be the higher purpose of any modern zoological facility and has consistently been a required element of accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Each year, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums collectively commit considerable resources to conservation around the world, exceeding 150 million USD annually since 2011 and exceeding 231 million USD in 2019. Furthermore, with 195 million people visiting AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums each year, there is enormous opportunity to connect people to nature and engage them as agents of change. As AZA facilities continue to prioritize conservation-driven missions, their participation in field conservation has increased greatly. AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE)® was established in 2014 to encourage greater collaboration of AZA members and their field partners to save species. The SAFE framework is dedicated to species recovery and based on conservation best practices. SAFE species programs develop 3-year action plans that build on established recovery plans, evaluate impact, and combine AZA facilities and visitors to increase resources for research, public engagement, communications, and conservation funding. Here we share preliminary outcomes of the SAFE program as they relate to programmatic measures of success to determine whether the framework 1) is useful for the AZA membership as measured by engagement and participation, and 2) increases conservation activity on behalf of targeted species as measured by the number of facilities supporting a species' conservation and financial investment. In this analysis we utilized data supported by the AZA Annual Report for Conservation and Science (ARCS) to demonstrate benefits of the SAFE framework and provide insights into future strategies to enhance conservation impact.

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