Exploring the potential of Artificial Intelligence in citizen science learning

OU researchers have received funding to research the potential for collaborative learning between humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The project, Human-computer collaborative learning in citizen science, has been awarded just under £500,000 under the Engineering and Physical Research Council’s call for Digital Economy Investigator-led Research Projects.

This project will develop a new citizen science paradigm that facilitates science practice and learning through collaboration between citizens and AI.

It will focus on the natural world and on collaborative species identification.

Dr Siddharthan, a Reader at the OU’s Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) who is leading the project, said: “This project will empower school students to take direct action in support of the natural world, and at the same time learn more about biological processes and AI. Participating schools will use the data they contribute to develop and maintain pollinator friendly habitats within their grounds, and AI will help them monitor these patches to contribute further data about observed pollinator feeding behaviours."

The project is a collaboration between KMi (Dr Advaith Siddharthan and Professor Stefan Rüger) and the OU STEM Deanery/Environment, Earth and Ecosystems Sciences (Janice Ansine). External collaborators on this project are: Imperial College London, University of Aberdeen, Learning Through Landscapes and St Alban’s Church of England Primary School, Havant.