Bird watcher scientist's passion for participatory science

Hortense Serret

By Kim Se-jeong

Hortense Serret is a French researcher and bird watcher who recently launched a winter bird-monitoring project in Korea.
"I want people to recreate a link with nature," Serret said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. "With this, you can conserve it. If you have empathy, you can conserve it. If you learn about an insect, you don't want to crush it anymore."

As a post-doctoral researcher at Ewha Womans University's Animal Communication lab, Serret launched the project for her dissertation and is busy reaching out to a wide range of people to get them to join in.

What she is doing is "citizen science," a new trend in scientific research that involves public participation.

The concept was born in the mid-1990s through two scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2014, the term made the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines the term as "the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists."

Serret said the citizen science program is a win-win deal for researchers and participants. Researchers can enrich their research data through public participation, while it benefits participants with science education and awareness.

She stressed that it is far from serious and anyone, even those without knowledge and equipment, can join.

For bird watching, "you can just set up a feeder at home to attract birds to watch 10 minutes every day.

"What's good is that you can do it anywhere and anytime. The only thing is that you need to follow protocol on how to monitor and record it," so that data can be consistent. She is developing a manual and sharing it with participants.

Serret's bird-watching project is part of her lab's bigger effort to launch the citizen science program.

In France, she worked for a consulting company for real estate development projects. Her job was environmental assessments for new projects.

She also participated in a public outreach project for the Cartier Foundation's garden based in Paris.

"Lots of thought and planning were put into making the garden, but people didn't know what it was," Serret said. "So we launched a project to tell stories about the garden itself and the plant and animal species that can be found there."

Those interested in the bird-monitoring project can visit https://www.facebook.com/kwinterwings.

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