2016 Environmental Health Summit – Community Engaged Research and Citizen Science: Advancing Environmental Public Health to Meet the Needs of Our Communities

With the rapid development of technologies for exposure monitoring and data analysis, opportunities for utilizing citizen science and community-engaged research approaches in advancing environmental health research are ever increasing. On December 8-9, 2016, the Research Triangle Environmental Health Collaborative (Collaborative) held its 9th Summit, Community Engaged Research and Citizen Science Summit: Advancing Environmental Public Health to Meet the Needs of Our Communities in Research Triangle Park, NC. The timing of this particular Summit was fortuitous as it dovetailed with the Environmental Health Sciences FEST held in celebration of the National institute of Environmental Health Sciences’s (NIEHS) 50th anniversary in Durham, NC. NIEHS has been a leader in advancing community-engaged research. The Summit also immediately preceded publication of a report by the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology recommending citizen science to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Over the course of the Summit, academic researchers, public health officials, non-profit and private industry representatives, along with members of government agencies from around the nation, discussed key questions and challenges facing the field of citizen science today. Attendees were divided into three workgroups to explore and develop recommendations regarding the conduct of citizen science research, new data and technology challenges and opportunities, and ethical, legal, and social issues that arise when using these paradigms. This report summarizes the discussions, key questions, and recommendations of the Summit.