Is citizen science the future of research or a recipe for bad science?

In some areas of science, citizens are moving from being passive consumers to active participants. Citizen science has the potential to make science and innovation more responsible, but it is not without controversy.

Like many patient groups, the Alzheimers' Society isn't happy with the state of scientific research. Using donations from members of the public, it funds its own science to fill in gaps and speed up the development of treatments.

But as well as using its members' money, the society also makes use of their expertise. The science supported by the Alzheimers' Society follows an unusual model. At every step - defining research questions, doing the research, analysing the data and measuring the impact - the patients and carers who are affected by memory loss are involved as so-researchers.