Building Knowledge Together: Citizen Science, Communication, and Trust | 5 - 6 October 2026, Berlin

As science communication shifts toward participatory paradigms, citizen science is promoted as a mechanism for building public trust in science. However, emerging empirical evidence suggests that participation alone produces uneven outcomes, strengthening relational dimensions of epistemic trust, such as benevolence and integrity, while leaving perceptions of expertise and credibility comparatively underdeveloped (Momme et al., 2025). This discrepancy reveals a structural gap in citizen science: the communicative processes through which trust is constructed remain theoretically fragmented and conceptually underdeveloped.
This paper addresses this gap by conceptualising the communicative identity of citizen science projects as brand voice and positioning it as a central mechanism in trust formation. Drawing on Brand Concept Management theory (Park et al., 1986), placemaking scholarship, and participatory science communication research (Newman & Beets, 2023; Haywood et al., 2024), the paper develops the Place-Anchored Brand Voice (PABV) framework. This conceptual model comprises three interrelated components: (1) place-resonant narrative, which embeds scientific activity within local ecological and cultural meanings; (2) inclusive communicative register, which enables recognition of participants as co-producers of knowledge; and (3) institutional transparency signals, which render scientific processes accessible and accountable to public scrutiny.
The paper argues that when brand voice is deliberately grounded in the place-based identities of participating communities, it functions not merely as a communication strategy but as a structural mechanism of participatory governance within citizen science infrastructures. In this capacity, it enables citizen science projects to address the multidimensional architecture of epistemic trust, including expertise, integrity, benevolence, openness, and dialogue orientation (Hendriks et al., 2015; Reif et al., 2024). By integrating communication, place, and participation, the framework advances a reconceptualisation of citizen science in which trust emerges not as a by-product of participation, but as an outcome of strategically designed communicative infrastructures.
The contribution of this paper is twofold. Theoretically, it extends research on trust in science by introducing brand voice as an analytically distinct and operationalisable construct within participatory science communication. Practically, it provides a framework for designing citizen science initiatives that align communicative practices with principles of co-production and community engagement, while also identifying the risks of performative “place-washing” where communicative identity is not supported by genuine participatory governance. To the author’s knowledge, this paper represents one of the first attempts to conceptualise brand voice as a trust-building mechanism in citizen science.