Building Trust and Citizen Science with Pieter Franken

Pieter Franken, co-founder of Safecast…

…one of the most successful citizen science projects in the world. It was created in 2011, a few days after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Pieter tells us how it operates, why it’s successful, and, most importantly, how it can be an example for people who really want to make a difference in the world.

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Full length conversation

Globally Recognized Leader in Citizen Science

Pieter Franken is a passionate global fintech activist and a technology innovator with many projects, extensive participation in industry-leading groups too numerous to list here. See the more detailed information in the side bar.

Based in Japan for many years, Pieter has worked over 30 years in the financial industry and specializes in technology leadership.

He was on the front lines of the Fukushima nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and tsunami. This event was the beginning of the creation of Safecast, now considered one of the world’s most effective citizen science initiatives, and the subject of our conversation.

The Transcript

Setting the stage

Pieter Franken’s background as a passionate builder and what citizen science is

Safecast started immediately after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Safecast collected data beyond what normal scientists and governments could do

Avoiding bias and building trust in data through decentralization, openness and transparency

How do we unbias events that are happening

Structure and decision-making in Safecast: volunteer-driven, decentralized

Students need to explore their passions

The future relies on our taking action on causes we care about