Carina Veeckman

Carina has a bachelor degree in Communication Management (PR & events, Artevelde, 2006) and a master degree in Communication Sciences (New Media and Society, Ghent University, 2011).Carina is working as a senior researcher at SMIT in the Digital Inclusion and Citizen Engagement Unit, acting as the principal investigator for citizen science.  She started her PhD on the democratizing effects of citizen science in 2022. The PhD is focussing on the trilemma between equality, participation and deliberation, and the inclusion of vulnerable groups in citizen science.

Carina has been involved in citizen science projects since 2016, both as a project manager, acquisition lead and researcher. In these projects,  mostly in the environmental domain, she is investigating the interplay between science, society and technology and its effects on civic capacities and justice. She is experienced in setting up participatory governance processes, in which co-creation with citizens is central.

Carina is a member of the steering committee of the Flemish Citizen Science Association (SCIVIL), with whom she published a guidbook on communication and engagement strategies, and a roadmap for citizen science with and by local government. Furthermore, she is closely involved in the development of a single-point-of contact for citizen science within the Science Outreach Office at the VUB, and the OpenLab initiative that unites VUB and ULB on participatory research.