The Zooniverse Team Meeting (ZTM) 2024 took place on July 21-24 in Oxford, UK.
As many of you know, our small team is distributed over the three main Zooniverse “hubs”: The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN, USA, The Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, USA, and The University of Oxford in, well, Oxford, UK. This is why this once-a-year opportunity to see each other in person, to reconnect, to brainstorm and to workshop together is so crucial for our work. For some of us – like the Oxford-based software developer Oluwatoyosi Oyegoke and I (Alisa) – this was the first time ever meeting the whole team outside of Zoom and Slack apps. It felt wonderful and intense.
We worked hard and have been quite productive. Over four days, the Zooniverse team members delved into various topics ranging from introducing new features and research tools to the ethics of machine learning, volunteer engagement, carbon footprint awareness, our ongoing neurodiversity survey, and platform enhancements.
The Zooniverse PI Dr. Laura Trouille presented an overview of Zooniverse’s current state, emphasising the importance of balancing research goals with public engagement. Notable statistics include 71M classifications and 980K hours of research time contributed by the Zooniverse volunteers over the past 12 months. This equals the effort of 475 full time employees! Recognising the contributions of supervolunteers and moderators, the team explored ways to provide important feedback and recognition for these committed individuals. We also talked about the ways to best support our research teams by documenting and actively communicating the many useful tools we already have in store and keep developing.
The full Zooniverse Team meeting in Oxford, UK, 21-24 July 2024
The plans have been written for the next year and it is a lot on our to do list! As a team, we are committed to the open-minded, experimental, creative, curious and socially responsible approach to scientific exploration – and we invite you to continue this exploration together. We have so much in store for you in this coming year. So please stay in touch, get involved, follow us on social media (X, Instagram, Facebook).
And, as always, thank you all for everything you do.
Alisa Apreleva, Zooniverse Science Communicator and Researcher (Oxford)
Daily Zooniverse 
Hi,
In the past , we use to have 2-day weekend Oxford meetings about Galaxy Zoo, when that was the only project – perhaps you could have a 5-day Zooniverse meeting on different projects, though the astronomy calendar is fairly booked up.
Regards,
John Fairweather