Exploring the transformative potential of citizen science in marine governance processes

Second, by critically examining the participation processes that projects facilitate.<br><br>Whilst analysing the organisational and political elements of how citizen science projects function, this research uncovers how uneven balances of power between practitioners and governance actors are embedded within projects. These unequal arrangements are seen to enable governance actors to overpower practitioners and to influence both the evolution and potential output of projects.

As a consequence of restrictive measures, which are revealed as being an attempt to professionalise citizen science, the scope of what projects can achieve and their capacity to instigate transformative change is significantly narrowed. This is made clear when assessing both the knowledge that projects can produce and the structure of participation processes. Decoding the collected information, this study puts forward a range of recommendations that suggest how citizen science, by being politicised and supporting a broader range of participation pathways, can strengthen its capacity to act as a solution to marine governance processes.<br>