At RIECS-Concept, we believe that science works best when it’s shared. That belief took center stage at #CAPS2025, where we held our first in-person global co-design symposium — “Shaping Tomorrow’s Citizen Science Research Infrastructure.” 

📌 This 75-minute session was more than a conversation. It was the launch pad for what comes next. 

📌 Held at Portland State University, the event drew participation from global citizen science leaders and infrastructure experts. The two-part format included lightning talks by five platform leaders and World Café discussions on: 

• Technology & interoperability 

• Governance & ethics 

• Engagement & inclusion 

• Policy integration & sustainability 

Why It Mattered 

 ✳️For RIECS-Concept, this event marked the beginning of something bigger: 

• A commitment to listen first — to those who’ve built, maintained, and relied on citizen science infrastructures 
• A recognition that future systems must be inclusive, adaptive, and interoperable 
• A demonstration of global solidarity, even as RIECS-Concept builds a distinctly European infrastructure 

✳️ Everything we learned at #CAPS2025 will feed directly into our ongoing assessments, technical plans, and community engagement work. And this was just the first of many collaborative moments — with future events planned across Europe and through partner networks.​✨​ 

📢 We thank all the speakers, participants, and facilitators who helped bring this moment to life ​❗​ 

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 https://concept.riecs.eu/reports/

Published 2025-08-13