By Niki Newton, Ecosystems Analysis Team.
Our latest blog post is from Niki Newton, in our Ecosystems Analysis Team. Niki explains how, through the UK Terrestrial Evidence Partnership of Partnerships, barriers to inclusion in biodiversity monitoring are being broken down.
The UK Terrestrial Evidence Partnership of Partnerships (UKTEPoP) brings together organisations across the UK to deliver high-quality evidence on nature through citizen science biodiversity monitoring schemes. These volunteer citizen scientists contribute huge amounts of their time and expertise to collecting data on different species, and we are indebted to them for creating an excellent UK evidence base. However, we know from surveying volunteers that the citizen scientists collecting these data are not representative of the UK population. For example, on average approximately 79% of those who take part in UKTEPoP monitoring schemes are over 50, whereas these age categories only make up 38% of the population in England and Wales. Research suggests those aged over 65 are 2 to 3 times more likely to volunteer than those aged between 25 and 34. What are the reasons that other demographic groups in society struggle to engage with biodiversity monitoring? Are there specific barriers preventing people who would like to get involved from doing so? Can we remove these barriers?
UKTEPoP Partners are committed to breaking down barriers to participation so that biodiversity monitoring is more accessible to more of society, enabling more people to understand and be involved in protecting nature. This commitment to inclusion was emphasised by a DEI Statement signed by the CEOs of UKTEPoP partner organisations. Real progress is underway in many biodiversity monitoring schemes, with activities aligned to the UKTEPoP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy. This outlines four stages:
- Gaining Understanding.
- Planning in Our Work.
- Tangible Action.
- Review & Process.
Here, we highlight how JNCC and partners are putting this strategy into practice.
Gaining Understanding
A key first step to steer action is building an evidence base about who currently participates as a citizen scientist, who does not, and why. The majority of UKTEPoP monitoring schemes have now undertaken baseline DEI surveys over the last 5 years to understand volunteer demographics and motivations. Several schemes have implemented opt-in demographic questions and analysis, helping to track changes in volunteers over time and identify barriers to participation. For example, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is currently considering gender in bird ringing volunteers, helping to identify barriers to initial and long-term engagement.
Partners have also invested in research to understand barriers to participation. The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) ran focus groups with people from under-represented ethnic backgrounds who had never volunteered in conservation. The findings illuminated barriers such as safety concerns, unfamiliar language, lack of representation and uncertainty about whether they would “fit in”. This research provides a crucial evidence base for reshaping engagement, both in the National Bat Monitoring Programme and more broadly.
Planning in Our Work
Once barriers are understood, UKTEPoP partners plan actions collaboratively and design structures that embed inclusion from the outset. For example, the National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS) has developed a dedicated DEI Strategy, ensuring that accessibility and inclusion are woven through volunteering pathways, training, communications and resources, rather than added retrospectively. This includes planning for bilingual resources, accessible maps and more representative communications. Similarly, BCT's 2025 Engaging Under Represented Audiences report provides structured recommendations for long-term engagement with under-represented groups, reinforcing that short-term events alone are insufficient and must be supported by multiyear engagement plans.
Tangible Action
Meaningful change only happens when understanding and planning are followed by action. UKTEPoP partners have already taken steps towards making biodiversity monitoring schemes more accessible.
Enabling informed choices about monitoring locations has been a priority for NPMS, developing enhanced online site information covering landowner details, survey history, terrain difficulty, transport links and footpaths. New buddying tools allow volunteers to find local peers for support and confidence building, directly addressing social and safety barriers. NPMS has also expanded its volunteering routes beyond field surveys to include photography volunteers, data entry roles and data verifiers, opening participation to those with mobility, travel or time constraints.
BCT’s research led to redesigned, inclusive engagement activities, showing that simple changes such as avoiding jargon, co-designing with community partners, and ensuring safety, can increase participation from under represented groups. Local, community rooted engagement has been particularly successful for several partners, as has co-hosting events with community groups such as Sustainably Muslim.
Concerns about traditional bird ringing settings have led BTO to adapt training formats, guidance and complaints processes to ensure safer spaces for volunteers. Innovations such as adapted ringing plier handles are making fieldwork more accessible for people with smaller hands or reduced grip strength.
As part of the National Education Nature Park programme, a simplified version of the Flower Insect Timed Count surveys from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme was piloted in schools and colleges across England, empowering young people to develop a connection to nature and learn new skills, and raising awareness of monitoring with the next generation of potential surveyors.
Review and Process
The final stage of the UKTEPoP DEI framework emphasises ongoing learning, reflection and adaptation. Collecting demographic information during scheme registration has allowed BCT to observe an increase in sign-ups from under-represented audiences following engagement events.
Collaboration is a key component of the UKTEPoP partnership, particularly with work addressing DEI. DEI webinars, workshops and working groups have supported progress, collective assessment and future planning.
UKTEPoP collaboration catalysed the NERC-funded project Citizen science for Advancing Racial Equity in Environmental Research Super-consortium (CAREERS). This initiative enables students from ethnically minoritised backgrounds at Yorkshire universities to gain fieldwork skills through citizen science, supporting their entry to careers in the environment sector. This project provides valuable insights on barriers to engagement, and co-designed solutions. The supportive network created through CAREERS also fosters organisational change from a DEI perspective, encouraging self-assessment to steer future ways of working.
Moving Forward Together
Creating inclusive and accessible citizen science opportunities in biodiversity monitoring has numerous potential benefits, from gathering more representative environmental data from across the country, to health improvements from nature engagement. Through collaboration between environmental organisations, partnerships and community groups, we are developing more opportunities for accessible and inclusive citizen science, so these potential benefits can become reality.
Resources and more information
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in JNCC monitoring schemes
- UKTEPoP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement
- UKTEPoP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy
- Citizen science for Advancing Racial Equity in Environmental Research Super-consortium (CAREERS)
- Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring
- National Education Nature Park
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