Part 1 of 3: Trust, Tools, and Time — What Global Leaders Taught Us at CAPS2025

✳️ At RIECS-Concept, we know that citizen science infrastructure must be built not just with systems, but with stories — and at the #CAPS2025 symposium, we heard some powerful ones. 

 ✳️ Our session “Shaping Tomorrow’s Citizen Science Research Infrastructure”, held on May 28, 2025, brought together five experienced leaders from global platforms like iNaturalist, Zooniverse, CitSci.org, the UN Statistics Division, and the Amazon Waters Alliance. Their lightning talks highlighted lessons from years of building citizen science at scale. 

Here are some takeaways we’re carrying forward: 

Global Vision Works 

     📌 “Biodiversity knows no political boundaries.” — Carrie Seltzer, iNaturalist 

    By aiming globally rather than locally, iNaturalist has shown that scale and audacity can be powerful tools. Fragmented systems can’t always serve shared challenges. 

    Trust is a Prerequisite 

      📌 “Citizen data is co-created — but trust between state and non-state actors remains fragile.” — Francesca Perucci, UNSD 

       ​✨​Trust, particularly around data sovereignty and ethical use, emerged as the essential (and often missing) foundation. 

      Sustainability is Long-Term 

         📌“The real value lies in longitudinal data. Infrastructure must be in it for the long game.” — Gregory Newman, CitSci.org 

        ​​✨ ​Good data requires time. Good infrastructure requires long-term support, not one-off projects. 

        Ethical AI is Non-Negotiable 

          📌 “Efficiency and engagement goals can clash. How do we navigate AI ethically?” — Laura Trouille, Zooniverse 

           ​✨​Integrating AI can help, but not at the cost of transparency or participation. 

          Community is the Core 

            📌 “Our most reliable stakeholders are the local communities. If everything else fails, they cannot fail.” — Mariana Varese, Amazon Waters Alliance 

            ​​✨ ​Participants aren’t just data points — they are partners. And infrastructure must reflect that. 

            ✳️ As we design the future of RIECS-Concept, these lessons form a north star: design boldly, engage ethically, and think long-term ​✨​ 

            ​​✨ ​The insights gathered at #CAPS2025 are just the beginning. As the RIECS-Concept project progresses, we’ll be sharing more detailed findings, stay tuned​❗​ 

            The full report on the outcomes of the symposium Shaping Tomorrow’s Citizen Science Research Infrastructure, which was held on May 28, 2025, as part of the Conference for Advancing Participatory Sciences (CAPS 2025) at Portland State University.

            It was prepared by the RIECS-Concept project consortium and can be viewed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15771727 and in RIECS-Concept website   

            Published 2025-07-23