The Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES) Research Group combines Citizen Science, data analytics and Earth Observation to advance research on monitoring changes to the earth’s surface – both biophysical and anthropogenic, along with the applied methods.

word cloud © NODES
NODES' core areas of research include: 

Advancing the field of Citizen Science through innovations in Citizen Science practice, including the development of new means to acquire, analyze, and openly share citizen science data, as well as how Citizen Science can contribute to sustainability.

Developing applications that integrate Earth Observation and Citizen Science, including our flagship Geo-Wiki application for crowdsourcing in-situ data, and mobile apps such as Picture Pile.

Exploiting advancements in computing capabilities, data science (e.g., machine and deep learning), environmental informatics, and the geospatial sciences to enhance integrated systems science research and generate new and innovative data sets for modelling and analysis. 

Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) applications should reflect these core areas of our research.

 

More specifically, NODES is looking for YSSP applicants interested in working on the following topics:   

  • Citizen Science, including data collection, quality assurance and use of citizen-generated data in new applications. 
  • Artificial intelligence, deep learning and methods for working with big data sets including remote sensing imagery as well as environmental and socioeconomic applications that use these methods.
  • Methods of data fusion that can integrate heterogenous data sets for environmental and socioeconomic applications.
  • Advanced geospatial techniques and their applications.
  • Research related to citizen engagement, motivation, retention, as well as methods of co-production.
  • Research that involves any of our tools, i.e., Geo-Wiki, LACO-Wiki, Picture Pile, CAMALIOT, other mobile apps, etc. as well as the use of sensors for environmental monitoring.
  • Any other topic that is related to the core research areas of NODES.

For candidates who are interested in applying to become a YSSP in the NODES Program, we recommend reviewing the provided information on conditions and eligibility, as well as the FAQs. To help you organize your application proposal, you can familiarize yourself with the group's recent publications.

Should you have any further questions, please contact Ian McCallum or Linda See.