A Platform for Dialogue and Action

✳️ This REA cluster event brought together European Commission representatives, researchers, citizen science networks, and research infrastructures to explore how public engagement and citizen science can be better embedded into the future of European research and policymaking.

🔑 From keynote speeches to collaborative sessions, the event emphasized how citizen science is not only a tool for research, but also for democratic participation, societal trust, and policy relevance.

✳️ As Jean-David Malo (Acting Director, DG Research and Innovation) put it:

“People expect science to be reliable, transparent, equitable, and responsive to their needs — and we must also act to respond to the social distrust in science.” ✨

RIECS-Concept’s Contribution

🧩 RIECS-Concept was featured in the Fishbowl Session, which gathered leading EU-funded projects to reflect on how public engagement is evolving and what support structures are needed going forward.

✳️ RIECS-Concept representatives, including Ibercivis, ECSA, CSIC, Ars Electronica, and CSGP, highlighted the project’s mission: to design a sustainable, inclusive research infrastructure for citizen science that can serve Europe for the long term. 

✅ The session served as both a presentation and a call to action — inviting attendees to engage in RIECS-Concept’s co-design process and contribute to shaping its future.

✨Participants were also encouraged to read and support the joint position paper “Citizen Science for the Future of Europe” by ECSA and ECS, which was discussed during the event. ✨

Spotlight Moments

🔑 Other key moments from the day included:

✅ The announcement of the 2025 EU Citizen Science Prize winners, celebrating innovation and impact across citizen science initiatives.

✅ Pitches from leading citizen science projects such as INCREASE, COALESCE, COS4Cloud, YouCount, ACTION, DITOs and many others, demonstrating the depth and diversity of the field.

✅A strong emphasis on the societal and institutional impact of citizen science, highlighting its value in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and reshaping science-society relations.

🧩 The full agenda featured over 20 projects, dynamic panel discussions, and keynotes from high-level EU officials — reinforcing the growing momentum behind public engagement in research.

Looking Ahead

✨ The event reaffirmed that citizen science is no longer a peripheral or experimental practice — it’s a central pillar of how we must do science in the future. And for this transformation to succeed, infrastructure matters. 

✨ RIECS-Concept is proud to be building the backbone that can support this vision.

Published: 2025-07-07