Volunteer

How to volunteer

Interested in becoming a volunteer? It’s easy: just start classifying! Everyone who contributes to a Zooniverse project is a volunteer. We have a wonderful, global community of volunteers who ‘power’ our people-powered research. Already a volunteer and want to do more? Consider becoming a beta tester, or helping project teams by becoming a Talk moderator. For more information on these roles, read on.

Classify Projects

Volunteering on a project is the easiest and most common way of participating. We always need volunteers to help classify project data. There is no minimum time requirement; you can do as much or as little as you'd like.

To get started, visit the Zooniverse homepage and register for an account.

The Benefits of Registration with the Zooniverse

Personal stats

Track your classifications, hours, and more. Discover your favorite projects and observe trends. Then, export your data for even more options.

Volunteer certificate

Generate an official certificate verifying your efforts on the Zooniverse platform. Simply specify a time period or project.

Talk with fellow volunteers and experts

Registered users are able to post on project-specific and Zooniverse-wide Talk boards giving you the ability to ask questions to real experts.

For those under 16 years old, a parent/guardian needs to sign off on their registration. https://www.zooniverse.org/accounts/register is the direct link to register.

Translated versions of the registration page are available in Spanish and French. Please note that not all elements on a page may be translated.

Beta Testing

If you’re already a volunteer and want to provide additional feedback, consider becoming a beta tester. Beta testers are Zooniverse volunteers who help us test projects before they publicly launch and give feedback to research teams to help make those projects better. Beta testers submit test classifications on projects, and give teams their feedback via a short questionnaire.

This process helps us identify any issues in projects, and even assess whether the project is appropriate for the Zooniverse. Your opinion is extremely important to us! You can read our guidelines on what makes a suitable project on the Lab Policies page.

Signing up to be a beta tester is easy, and anyone can do it. Just visit your settings and check the box that says, “Get beta project email updates and become a beta tester.” We’ll send you emails when projects are ready to be tested. You can change your email settings and unsubscribe from beta emails any time you want by visiting the same email page and unchecking the box.

Moderate a Project

Volunteer moderators assist research teams with the project’s Talk discussion tool. They help moderate discussions, act as a point of contact for the project, and have additional permissions on Talk. Moderators are selected by the project owner. If you're interested in becoming a moderator on a project you're taking part in, go to the project's About page or Talk board and get in touch with the researcher. For more information, see our ‘What are Moderators for?’ documentation.

If you'd like any more information on any of these different roles, contact us.