Sensing for Justice 

Citizen Sensing as a source of evidence in environmental justice litigation and as a tool to foster environmental mediation

Safecast premises. Tokyo. Japan - April 2019

       Project's aims 

CITIZEN SENSING AS A SOURCE OF EVIDENCE IN COURTS

What is the potential of introducing citizen-sensed evidence for environmental litigation in European courts? Which barriers need to be removed? 

Early results of the research on these questions: 'The Formosa Case: A Step Forward on the Acceptance of Citizen-Collected Evidence in Environmental Litigation?'

TOWARDS A RIGHT TO CONTRIBUTE TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

How can the use of civic evidence in environmental litigation be legitimized on the basis of existing and new rights?

Early results of the research on these questions: Citizen Sensing from a Legal Standpoint: Legitimizing the Practice under the Aarhus Framework 

AVOIDING THE COURT USING CITIZEN SCIENCE IN MEDIATION

Could Citizen Sensing be conceived also as a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) promoting environmental mediation and avoiding the conflict's escalation to courts?

Early results of the research on these questions:  Striving for Good Environmental Information: Civic Sentinels of Oil Pollution in the South of the North

SensJus vision

The Sensing for Justice (SensJus) project researches the potential of grassroots-driven environmental monitoring, i.e. Citizen Sensing, as a source of evidence in environmental justice litigation, and as a tool for environmental mediation in extra-judicial setting. Our research addresses an urgent need for multi- and interdisciplinary research to understand emerging possibilities of the practice.

Get a leaflet of the SensJus project 
- in English or - in Italian

Read a Q&A interview on SensJus work and vision on Nature

The envisaged opportunities of our idea are many, ranging from a closer connection of the affected people to environmental litigation, to a wider, more diverse and inclusive availability of evidence on critical environmental issues, to the possibility of even mitigating the conflict.

Open access resources

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 

I - Citizen Sensing as a source of evidence in courts.

II - Towards a right to contribute to environmental information.

III - Mediating environmental conflicts through Citizen Sensing.

The project output for 2020 is showcased on the #CitizenSData Community page of the European Commission JRC Science Hub.

The project is developed thanks to the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant n. 891513, under H2020-EU, and to the concluded research grant of the Dutch Research Council NWO, the Rubicon fellowship n. 66202117.

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CONTINENTS

Drawing lessons for Europe, through comparison and lesson-learning from successful and failed cases from all over the world, starting from the landmark Formosa case of 2019, Texas. We are also looking at cases in Latin America, Africa and Asia to bring insights back to Europe.

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CASE STUDIES

1 - The Formosa case of citizen scientists that brought to court a petrochemical company based in part on civic evidence (U.S)

2 - The AnalyzeBasilicata case of civic monitoring environmental health issues associated with oil extraction (Italy)

Several more under the radar, such as the civic water monitoring around the Lambro river, Lombardy (Italy); the air and noise monitoring around Malpensa Airport and the city of Milan (Italy); the civic observatory on flood risk on the Brenta Bacchiglione river basin, Veneto (Italy); the spill of plastic matter from a water treatment plant from Capaccio (Italy) to the Mediterranean; the case from Greenpeace Belgium and CurieuzeNeuzen (BE) on air quality data used in courts. More recently, we are turning to Latin America, Africa and Asia as civic actors and peer researchers are informing us on relevant cases.

SensJus funding ended on 31 August 2023. Ideas for creative ways to bring the project forward are very welcome! Please reach us with your suggestions and ideas.

Key take-aways in illustrated briefs

We are happy to share with you an illustrated booklet summarizing SensJus key results, which is freely available in English and Italian.

Most of the content of this website is in English, but if you are searching for an Italian outline of the project's methods and results, you can access it here.


TEDx Talk by SensJus

SensJus science for policy briefs series

These are briefs that take stock of lessons learned and analyses performed on more generalizable topics which intersect and intertwine with SensJus core focus. You can download the main briefs below:

  • Berti Suman, A. (2023) "Civic monitoring for environmental enforcement. Exploring the potential and use of evidence gathered by lay people". European Commission, JRC132206. Download it here.  
  • Beck, P., Berti Suman, A., Bouraoui, F., Devos, W. and Martini, G. (2022) "An exploration of science in courts - How science supports the enforcement of EU law". European Commission, JRC132401. Download it here.   
  • Berti Suman, A. et al. (2022) "Doing Science with Art and Art with Science. Supporting art contamination and cross-fertilization with science". European Commission, JRC130525. Download it here

Methodological Insights

A useful resource for researchers and practitioners: SensJus with other two Marie Curie projects joined forces to describe how we performed research with shared sensitivity towards our participants. With the support of the Horizon Results Booster, we produced a factsheet (below) and video (left and here).

Art & Science resources

Get our free, open access graphic novel, now available in four languages:

- English - Italian - Spanish - French

The graphic novel tells in an approachable way the story of an ordinary girl that turns to civic environmental monitoring moved by concern.

Are you interested in translating this or any other SensJus resource in your own language? Feel free to reach us!

For an overview of SensJus graphic resources, visit our dedicated page

We are also exploring performative art as a research elicitation and dissemination technique. Below you can watch a theatre performance on oil extraction impacts and civic responses through civic monitoring, titled "Terramara"

what's going on

Project news 

Do you wish to be updated regularly on SensJus progresses? Get our quarterly bulletins below or register through our contact page to our mailing list to receive updates.

We celebrated the closure of the SensJus project with an engaged event in hybrid mood at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. During the event, we shared our scientific results, research methods and art-based practices.



And now?

Join our conversation! 

For questions on the SensJus project, invitations and ideas please get in touch from the button below

 

SensJus chosen is the 2022 Science Engagement Breakthrough of the Year!

In November 2022, SensJus won the 'Falling Walls' Award in the Science Engagement category. The project was judged as the best Science Engagement initiative among projects from all around the world. We have been invited to pitch the project  during the Falling Walls Science Summit 2022, Berlin. Video below. 

SensJus was shortlisted at the the EU Ombudsman Award of Good Public Administration and received the JRC Excellence Award

SensJus was the first shortlisted project for the European Ombudsman Award for Good Administration 2023, for "Excellence in Citizen-oriented delivery" (see press release and video), featuring among other impressive projects such as on fighting wildfires and combating international crimes. Thank you all that supported the project with the public vote! Our scientific contribution was recognized by the awarding of the JRC Young Scientist Excellence Award 2023 for "Spearheading (environmental) sensing for justice" (see award ceremony). 

SensJus receives Honorary Mention at the EU Prize for Citizen Science

.SensJus features among the top projects selected for the EU Prize for Citizen Science, 2023 edition. SensJus was praised by the jury for "combining art-based research with ethnography and for bringing together grassroots citizens to policy makers".  The Grand Prize goes to "Isala: Citizen-science map of the vaginal microbiome", a project on which we wrote an article - "Reimagining health services provision for neglected groups", Frontiers. SensJus also receveide an Honorary Mention at the S+T+ARTS Prize (Science, Technology and the Arts). The jury of the prize noted: "Remarkable is the exploration and research carried out together with the communities and practitioners, which through a special empathy mediated by performative, visual, and narrative approaches, come very close to the ideas and interests of the citizens. It is striking how this project uses creativity and research creation as forms of caring and empathy toward the research subject." SensJus as featuring in the two prizes will be showcased at Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, in September 2023.

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