The Essex BioBlitz: Photographing the fingerprints of climate change in Essex-Dr. David Clark, University of Essex
Climate change is happening all around us - not just in the polar regions or distant islands, but here in Essex too. The Essex BioBlitz is a community science project aiming to measure how climate change in Essex is altering the timing and duration of flowering in our native flora. In this talk, I will discuss how we are engaging the public of Essex in gathering scientific data that will help us better understand the ecological impacts of climate change in the region. 
 
Looking up: Astronomy and young citizens-Professor Andy Newsam, Liverpool John Moores University 
The Schools’ Observatory project has connected young scientists to the universe for over a decade, allowing many thousands of school pupils to observe alongside professional astronomers using a large robotic telescope. Here I will discuss what we have learnt about some of the challenges of citizen science in schools, as well as the potential benefits of a captive audience.

Dr. David Clark is an independent research fellow in the Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS) and is affiliated with the School of Life Sciences at the University of Essex. His research focuses on many aspects of microbial community ecology, particularly the mechanisms by which communities of microbes assemble, how microbes coexist, how they disperse to new habitats, and what this means for the ecosystem functions they drive. 

Professor Andrew Newsam is a professor of Astronomy Education and Engagement at the Astrophysics Research Institute at Liverpool John Moores University. He describes himself as a numerical astronomer with observational tendencies, and has been working on the project that became the National Schools’ Observatory since 1998. 

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