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Why does the EcoCentre need a new Building?
Why does the EcoCentre need a new Building?
The Port Phillip EcoCentre in St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia, has been one of the leading environmental conservation organizations in the Melbourne region since it was founded in 1999. The EcoCentre utilizes community based citizen science initiatives to track environmental changes in and around the bay, perform litter audits, and attempt to start healing the bay of the damage caused thus far. Citizen science allows the large scale collection of data that would be impossible without the help of community volunteers. It also aids the growth of local community members' connection with their environment, and their satisfaction with contributing to important scientific studies and discoveries.
As temperatures continue to rise and pollution increases, our waterways are at risk of experiencing human induced environmental decline. In Melbourne, Australia, one of the most at risk water systems is Port Phillip Bay. The Bay has a very large catchment area with over 26,000km of drainage lines carrying water into the Bay, making it very vulnerable to litter pollution. Plastic pollution has also become an increasingly big concern for the area, as plastic remnants can wreak havoc on aquatic ecosystems, and damage marine life by inadvertent consumption. The Port Phillip Bay is under threat by many different environmental concerns, causing several organizations to begin to step up and start attacking these threats head on.
The EcoCentre currently runs several different projects for individuals, small groups, as well as large corporate volunteer groups, each aiming to collect as much data as possible. Over the years, the EcoCentre has grown exponentially both in the numbers of active volunteers and the size of its operations. The organization has operated out of the old baykeepers cottage since it was founded, but the centre has outgrown the building’s capacity. With financial support from the City of Port Phillip, the EcoCentre is currently in the process of designing a new, state of the art, fit-for-purpose community center that will house the Port Phillip EcoCentre as well as Australia’s first citizen science laboratory.
Our team was tasked with co-designing a framework for the new laboratory to ensure it will maximize its usage of the space to run projects and actively engage the community. The ultimate goal of this project was to assist the Port Phillip EcoCentre in co-designing their new, purpose-built citizen science laboratory. To accomplish these goals, we identified three main objectives that we used to guide our progress.
Our first objective was to identify citizen science opportunities within the Port Phillip EcoCentre’s partner network and in the local citizen science network. The team started by analyzing network maps from the EcoCentre’s past, and selected five key organizations within the partner network. We also reached out to members of other global citizen science organizations to achieve a broader understanding. Finally, we employed participant observation within several of the EcoCentre’s projects, increasing our understanding of how projects are created and run, as well as identifying areas for improvement.
Our second objective was to survey projects and recommend laboratory equipment. Our team started by sending a survey out to six key EcoCentre staff and asking them questions surrounding their current projects. It also asked for any future projects along with any desired equipment for current projects. This information was then compiled into a datasheet split into desired, current, and future equipment sections. This datasheet can also be used by the EcoCentre to continue to track their equipment usage. We used the future and desired sections to create a recommendation data sheet with budget and best options with links that had estimated costs for purchasing.
Finally, we prepared promotional material that can be used to fundraise for the new laboratory. We first created a website framework promoting the lab and potential new equipment in it. Then, we created another webpage which contained our team's experience with citizen science. Additionally, a pitch deck was created to include material and graphics used in presentations to potential philanthropic investors. The visuals we created serve as tools that can be used to convince and gain possible future funders, as well as for advertisement of the center and its new community building.
Based on our findings, our team was able to successfully identify several opportunities for citizen science research within the EcoCentre’s partner network, generate an expansive database for current equipment including several pieces of recommended equipment for the new laboratory that affected current and future projects, and designed several aesthetic, easy to comprehend promotional materials and websites for the new community centre.
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