CLEAR Lab

What CLEAR Lab does

Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR) is an interdisciplinary, feminist and anti-colonial natural and social science research laboratory founded in 2015 by Dr. Max Liboiron and hosted at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The lab specializes in community-based environmental monitoring of plastic pollution — particularly in wild foodways in Nunatsiavut — and in the development of anti-colonial research methodologies. It operates as a collective of 15–25 members working on approximately 20 projects, with outreach to Indigenous communities (Nain, Rigolet) and to academic peers.

The lab's 'products' are open-source protocols and methodology rather than commercial goods. Core assets include the BabyLegs DIY surface water trawl (constructed from baby tights and soda bottles) and the LADI trawl for marine debris, paired with a DIY Microplastic Forensics Guide that classifies plastic morphologies (fragments, film, foam, threads, microfibres, microbeads, industrial pellets). The lab also publishes governance-level protocols — Equity in Author Order, Choosing Lab Values, Equitable Lab Meetings, and a Citational Politics framework — alongside participatory mini-documentaries such as 'GUTS' (premiered by The Atlantic) and the 'Laboratory Life' series. Research outputs are dispersed through academic publications, open datasets, and a freely accessible website (civiclaboratory.nl).

CLEAR has no commercial pricing model; the lab is funded through competitive research grants (e.g., Social Science and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant), university-administered funds (Memorial's Public Engagement Fund, Undergraduate Career Employment Program), independent foundation support (Smallwood Foundation), and knowledge mobilization grants (MEOPAR). Distribution is entirely non-commercial, with protocol materials freely downloadable and methodological reach expanding via academic citation and media. Partnership anchors include the Nunatsiavut Government, the Social Justice Co-operative NL, and Memorial University.

Name

CLEAR Lab

Legal name

Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research

Website

https://civiclaboratory.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CLEAR Lab is a Memorial University-based, anti-colonial research collective founded in 2015 that develops open-source citizen-science protocols for plastic pollution monitoring and equitable research methodology, partnering primarily with Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut, Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Research Services

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Monitoring & Cleanroom Testing (GMP) (HLAGADAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Rapid On-Site Environmental Testing Kits & Instruments (Lateral Flow, PCR, ATP Devices) (AFALAEAK)

Keywords

• Citizen science research
• Plastic pollution monitoring
• Anti-colonial research methods
• Environmental monitoring research
• Marine debris tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

St. John's

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Academic Funding: CLEAR Lab is funded through competitive research grants from academic councils (e.g., Social Science and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant), university-based funds (Memorial University Public Engagement Fund, Undergraduate Career Employment Program), and independent foundations (Smallwood Foundation). These grants support specific research projects such as the Newfoundland and Labrador Food Pricing Project.
2. Knowledge Mobilization Funding: Funding for knowledge dissemination activities including the production of the 'Laboratory Life' film series, supported by MEOPAR Knowledge Mobilization Fund.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CLEAR Lab is a non-profit, university-affiliated research laboratory that produces open-source citizen science protocols and DIY monitoring tools for plastic pollution, most notably the BabyLegs surface water trawl and the LADI Trawl for marine debris. It also develops and publishes anti-colonial, equity-based methodological frameworks (e.g., Equity in Author Order, Equitable Lab Meetings, Citational Politics) and conducts community-based participatory research in wild foodways with Indigenous communities in Nunatsiavut. All protocols, datasets, and guides are freely shared with no commercial transaction.

Product overview

CLEAR Lab is a feminist, anti-colonial research laboratory dedicated to environmental action research, particularly community-based monitoring of plastic pollution. The organization operates as a collective focused on humility, accountability, and good land relations. CLEAR Lab's portfolio consists primarily of research methodologies and protocols rather than commercial products — including the BabyLegs DIY surface water trawl for microplastic monitoring, LADI Trawl for marine debris collection, and various methodological frameworks for equitable research practices such as the Equity in Author Order Protocol, Lab Values Selection Process, and Equitable Lab Meeting Framework. The lab also produces guidance documents including the DIY Microplastic Forensics Guide and has developed approaches for participatory filmmaking and citational politics. Additionally, CLEAR Lab conducts collaborative research projects such as the Newfoundland and Labrador Food Pricing Project with partner organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BabyLegs DIY Surface Water Trawl A DIY surface water trawl for harvesting floating marine microplastics, built from baby tights, soda pop bottles, and other inexpensive materials, deployable by hand or from a boat. Designed for citizen scientists, community researchers, and educators monitoring plastic pollution in rivers, streams, and oceans.
• DIY Microplastic Forensics Guide A step-by-step open-source guide for analyzing microplastics harvested with BabyLegs, covering visual magnification, hot needle tests, texture analysis, and classification of plastic morphologies (fragments, film, foam, threads, microfibres, microbeads, industrial pellets). Designed for citizen scientists and academic researchers to reduce identification error.
• LADI Trawl A trawl device used for marine debris data collection and monitoring, deployed alongside BabyLegs to support community-based microplastic and marine debris research.
• Equity in Author Order Protocol A six-step consensus-based protocol for assigning author order on academic publications that accounts for diverse forms of labour, social location, and anti-colonial values. Published for use by academic researchers and labs seeking equitable authorship practices.
• Equitable Lab Meeting Framework A protocol for running anti-oppressive, horizontal, equity-based lab meetings, including shared guidelines for safer spaces, facilitation training, consensus-based decision making, and collaboration skill development. Designed for academic research labs adopting feminist science practices.
• Choosing Lab Values Methodology A five-step process for choosing and articulating collective lab values through storytelling, clustering, ranking, articulating, and enacting those values, with emphasis on humility, accountability, and good land relations. Used by research groups forming new labs.
• Citational Politics Framework A working group and set of protocols for applying citational politics to academic publications, including strategies for citing against harm and increasing diversity in citations. Designed for academic researchers and journals.
• Newfoundland and Labrador Food Pricing Project A community-based research project collecting food pricing data across Newfoundland and Labrador to address food insecurity concerns, conducted collaboratively with Nunatsiavut Government and Social Justice Co-operative NL.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4,698 food pricing data points collected across Newfoundland and Labrador by citizen scientists during 2020-2021
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Nunatsiavut GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaborative plastic monitoring project with the Nunatsiavut Government, including sampling feathers from birds in Nunatsiavut for contaminant analysis. The partnership involves community-based research in Inuit homelands, with local coordinators Liz Pijogge and Joseph Onalik in Nain.
• Social Justice Co-operative NLcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner in the 2020-2021 Newfoundland and Labrador Food Pricing Project, working with CLEAR Lab at Memorial University to collect food pricing data across the province, resulting in 4,698 data points collected by project volunteers.
• Memorial UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution for CLEAR Lab, directed by Dr. Max Liboiron. The university provides institutional affiliation, infrastructure, and access to funding programs including the Public Engagement Fund and Undergraduate Career Employment Program.
• SaltmediaminorOthersWebsite hosting provider for civiclaboratory.nl, based in Edmonton, Canada on Treaty 6 Territory. Saltmedia is described as a proudly Métis-owned company.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• NOAA Marine Debris Program: U.S. federal program coordinating marine debris monitoring, research, and removal nationally. Operates in CLEAR's domain of marine debris data collection but as a government program with much larger scale and conventional scientific orientation.
• Ocean Conservancy: Established U.S.-based marine conservation organization that runs long-running marine debris research programs including the International Coastal Cleanup. Overlaps with CLEAR in marine debris research but as part of a much broader conservation portfolio.
• The Ocean Cleanup: Largest and best-funded initiative focused on ocean plastic pollution, with engineering-driven cleanup operations at global scale. Operates in the same problem space as CLEAR but with vastly greater resources and a fundamentally different intervention approach (removal vs. monitoring).

Emerging players

• Litterati: Citizen science data platform for identifying, mapping, and tracking litter and plastic pollution using a mobile app. Comparable emerging player that similarly leverages distributed contributors to generate plastic pollution datasets.
• Marine Debris Tracker: Mobile app and citizen science platform for reporting marine debris items, originally developed at the University of Georgia. Notably referenced by CLEAR on its own website as a recommended citizen science tool, indicating direct conceptual overlap in distributed marine debris monitoring.

Direct peers

• 5 Gyres Institute: Research and advocacy organization focused specifically on plastic pollution in oceans and waterways. Closest peer in subject-matter focus on microplastics and marine debris, though operating at broader scale with more traditional advocacy structures.
• Plastic Pollution Coalition: Global alliance of organizations working to end plastic pollution through research, education, and advocacy. Comparable in plastic-pollution subject focus, though CLEAR's methodology emphasizes community-based participatory research over coalition-style advocacy.
• Earthwatch Institute: Citizen science nonprofit that recruits and trains volunteers to participate in field-based environmental research worldwide. Comparable to CLEAR in mobilizing non-specialist contributors for rigorous scientific data collection.
• Public Lab: Open-source, community-based environmental monitoring organization that develops DIY tools and hosts a global citizen science community. CLEAR's BabyLegs trawl and open methodology ethos are conceptually closest to Public Lab's approach of democratizing environmental data collection.
• Adventure Scientists: Nonprofit that engages volunteers to collect environmental and conservation data across dispersed geographies. Shares CLEAR's model of distributed, non-academic contributors gathering scientific data outside traditional lab settings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clearlab-nl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CLEAR Lab