Be part of our citizen science community!

A widespread understanding of citizen science is the involvement of the public in scientific research commonly during data collection, analysis, and research design. Especially within the conservation community, it has been proven to be a successful tool for biodiversity and monitoring species distribution.

The benefits of citizen science go beyond generating more data for scientific research. Even if you don’t have any previous experience in taking part in scientific research, everyone can be part of this community. Particularly for you as a volunteer, you have the opportunity of learning growth when participating in our project. First of all, you can learn more about cetaceans such as bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) or other marine animals like marine turtles and seabirds. This will nurture your interest in science and give you a better understanding of our research objectives. Going out and discovering wildlife in Malta is an exciting experience and you can learn new things about your local environment. Enjoy your time in nature while helping document and track changes in the cetacean population over time.

We are about to launch our online marine citizen science project called SightMe. The aim of the online platform is to collect more ecological data about marine life in and around Malta. At this point, you might wonder how exactly you as a non-scientist can help us in our research? Well, just follow the steps below.

1. Go out in nature
2. Look for dolphins, whales and sea turtles
3. Once you spotted one of them  make a report of your sighting

The important information you need to submit to us to have useful and effective data are the following:

1. Location of the sightings
2. Latitude/ Longitude
3. Date
4. Time
5. Spotted species
6. Estimated number of species
7. Other (Note/ comments)
8. Media (Photos/Videos)

We will make sure that you as a volunteer understand the value of your personal contribution to our SightMe project and how you can continue being part of our citizen science community. You can’t wait for us to launch the SightMe website? You can already start being involved, just sign up for our field courses. During the one week  Dolphins Field Course, we invite you to take part in the Dolphin of Malta Project. You can directly contribute to the long-term monitoring program! It will be a great experience to be part of the research team and have the opportunity to make boat-based and land-based surveys with marine experts. This way, you can learn how to make correct and relevant observations in a unique way. We hope to see you out there!