DELIVERABLES
This page presents the key deliverables of RIECS-Concept, documenting the project’s progress and supporting the development of a sustainable European research infrastructure for citizen science.
Deliverable 2.1 Challenges Assessment
✳️ Deliverable D2.1 provides a foundational analysis of the technical hurdles that must be overcome to build a world-class CS infrastructure. The deliverable identifies a set of major challenges hindering the development of a unified European CS infrastructure.
Deliverable 2.2 Technical Requirements Report
✳️ Deliverable D2.2 translates the evidence collected during the first phase of RIECS-Concept into a first structured set of technical requirements for a future pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science. The analysis brings together insights from citizens, researchers, citizen science networks, NGOs, technology providers, education systems, policymakers, research infrastructures and international organisations.
✳️ Starting from 793 analysable user stories, the RIECS-Concept team consolidated stakeholder input into 37 needs and translated these into 31 technical requirements. These include 18 functional, 7 non-functional, 4 compliance and 2 integration requirements, with 11 classified as MUST requirements using the MoSCoW prioritisation approach. Each requirement remains traceable to the stakeholder evidence from which it was derived.
Deliverable 2.3 Preliminary Catalogue of Services, Resources and Functionalities
✳️ Deliverable D2.3 takes the next step from stakeholder needs and technical requirements to define what a future pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science should actually provide. Building on the evidence gathered through stakeholder engagement and the technical requirements established in D2.2, the deliverable develops a preliminary catalogue of services, resources and functionalities for RIECS-Concept.
✳️ The catalogue organises proposed components across seven functional layers: foundation, interoperability, participation, knowledge and impact, community and capacity, governance, and cross-cutting domain neutrality. This structure reflects the different roles that components would play within a future research infrastructure, from enabling interoperability and participation to supporting knowledge exchange, capacity building and governance.
✳️ A key result is the complete traceability between stakeholder evidence, identified gaps, technical requirements and proposed components. The catalogue addresses all 37 consortium-validated needs, all 10 structural gaps and all 31 technical requirements identified during the first project phase. In total, 151 components address at least one stakeholder need, 68 address at least one technical requirement, and 33 address at least one structural gap.
Deliverable 2.4 Evaluation and Impact Assessment Framework
✳️ Deliverable D2.4 presents the first RIECS-Concept Evaluation and Impact Assessment Framework, addressing a fundamental question for the future infrastructure: how can the value and impact of a Research Infrastructure centred on citizen participation be meaningfully assessed?
✳️ The framework builds on established Research Infrastructure evaluation approaches, including the ESFRI lifecycle model, OECD Reference Framework and RI-PATHS, while incorporating evidence from citizen science evaluation research, stakeholder engagement and an internal RIECS-Concept co-creation process. The analysis shows that conventional indicators focused primarily on publications, citations, user numbers and outputs cannot fully capture the community, societal and systemic value generated through participatory research.
✳️ The main conceptual result is the introduction of a dedicated Participation Case, complementing the established ESFRI Scientific Case and Implementation Case. It expands evaluation towards dimensions that are particularly important for citizen science, including inclusive and accessible participation, the quality and transparency of co-created data, community stewardship and trust, policy use of citizen-generated evidence, multilingual and cross-cultural accessibility, participatory governance and capacity development.
Deliverable 4.1 Engagement Methodology Protocol
✳️ Deliverable D4.1 establishes the common engagement methodology used by RIECS-Concept to involve stakeholders directly in the co-design of a future pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science. It provides the methodological blueprint for collecting stakeholder needs in a structured, inclusive and comparable way across different countries, sectors and levels of citizen science experience.
✳️ The protocol covers 10 stakeholder groups and coordinates engagement activities across 13 consortium partners in 8 European countries. It combines co-design workshops, surveys and semi-structured interviews with a shared user story approach that enables stakeholder experiences and expectations to be translated into concrete needs and, subsequently, into services, resources, functionalities and technical requirements.
✳️ The methodology is organised into two engagement phases. Phase 1 focuses on identifying what services, resources and functionalities stakeholders need from the future infrastructure. Phase 2 builds on these results to refine the emerging concept and address additional technical and non-technical dimensions, including data and metadata, governance, financial sustainability and collaboration.
Deliverable D4.2 Citizens’ Requirements Report
✳️ Deliverable D4.2 brings together the results of the first phase of RIECS-Concept, during which the project engaged citizen scientists, citizen science practitioners, students and early-career researchers to identify what future users need from a pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science.
✳️ A total of 24 citizen and student-facing co-design workshops were conducted across 10 countries and regions, involving 8 consortium partners and engaging 264 reported participants. Together, these activities generated 378 validated user stories, capturing participants’ experiences, challenges and expectations related to participating in and supporting citizen science.
✳️ The analysis identified 37 user needs and revealed several clear priorities. Participants emphasised easier discovery of citizen science projects and opportunities, low-barrier and user-friendly participation, accessible training and support, recognition and feedback, and transparent data governance. Training materials and documentation emerged as the most frequently mentioned individual need. Access, usability and discoverability together represented 35% of citizen need mentions, while recognition, feedback and trust accounted for 30% of expressed needs.
Deliverable 4.3 Stakeholders Requirements Report
✳️ Deliverable D4.3 brings together the needs and expectations of professional and institutional stakeholder groups whose expertise is essential to the development of RIECS-Concept. The report complements the citizen-focused findings of D4.2 by examining the organisational, scientific, technical, educational and policy requirements of researchers and scientists, citizen science networks, NGOs, technology providers, companies, education systems, policymakers and Research Infrastructures.
✳️ During the first project phase, 27 engagement activities under Task 4.3 involved 352 reported participants and generated 415 user stories included in the analysis. Engagement combined 13 online, 13 in-person and 1 hybrid activity, using the common co-design methodology and user story approach established in D4.1. Across the broader first-phase engagement process, RIECS-Concept conducted 42 activities and reached 514 reported participants.
✳️ The analysis identifies both shared priorities and important differences across stakeholder groups. Needs are examined around themes such as access and discoverability, data quality and trust, tools and infrastructure, training and capacity building, governance and sustainability, and policy and impact.
Deliverable 4.4 Global Policy Organisations Report
✳️ Deliverable D4.4 examines how RIECS-Concept can connect with global policy organisations and international research institutions. The work recognises that many areas addressed through citizen science, including climate change, biodiversity, environmental monitoring and sustainable development, extend beyond national and European boundaries and require interoperability with international research, data and policy frameworks.
✳️ RIECS-Concept developed five complementary engagement streams. These included engagement at the 4th UN Expert Group Meeting on Citizen Data, coordinated participation in UNEA-7, interviews with representatives of UN organisations, involvement in the APPEC Strategy 2027-2036 Open Science & Citizen Science Working Group, and the HEROES workshop on Open Science Hardware.
✳️ A consistent message emerged: the future infrastructure should function as a connective layer rather than another standalone platform. Stakeholders highlighted the need to make existing citizen science data, tools, communities and infrastructures more visible, discoverable, interoperable and usable for policy. They also emphasised trust and validation, governance, long-term sustainability, and alignment with existing frameworks for Citizen Data, Open Science, FAIR and CARE principles and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Deliverable 6.1 Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication Plan.
✳️ Deliverable D6.1 sets out a comprehensive strategy for engaging key stakeholders, supporting the uptake of RIECS-Concept results, facilitating knowledge transfer to relevant sectors and laying the foundations for a sustainable pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science.
✳️ Through coordinated communication and dissemination activities, the strategy aims to increase the visibility of project results and support their practical use.
Deliverable 6.2 RIECS-Concept Digital and Visual Identity.
✳️ Deliverable D6.2 presents the communication tools and activities developed to raise awareness of RIECS-Concept, engage stakeholders and disseminate project developments to key audiences.
✳️ These include the RIECS-Concept brand book, letterhead, roll-up, social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram and Bluesky), and the project website. Additional communication materials will be developed throughout the project.
The Deliverable 6.3 Interim Report on Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation
✳️ Deliverable D6.3 presents the communication, dissemination and exploitation activities of RIECS-Conceptduring its first 18 months and assesses progress against the project’s communication and dissemination objectives and KPIs. The consortium established the project’s visual identity, website, communication materials, social media presence and channels for reaching scientific, policy, citizen science and wider public audiences.
✳️ During M1-M18, RIECS-Concept published 65 website news and blog posts, generated approximately 9,000 website visits, established communication across seven social media platforms, and released two project newsletters. The project also established its Open Access approach, making scientific publications, public deliverables and other outputs available through project and research repositories.
✳️ Dissemination extended beyond digital communication. RIECS-Concept organised and participated in 45 dissemination events, reaching more than 6,700 participants across research, policy, public authorities, citizen science organisations and wider communities. During the same period, the consortium produced four scientific publications, presented project work at seven international conferences, published its first policy paper, and developed collaborations with related European initiatives.
Deliverable 6.4 1st Policy Briefing
✳️ Deliverable D6.4 translates the evidence generated during the first 18 months of RIECS-Concept into policy recommendations for European and national decision-makers. The briefing responds to a central challenge identified throughout the project: citizen science in Europe is growing, but its projects, platforms, tools, datasets, resources and communities remain fragmented across countries and sectors.
✳️ The policy briefing brings together evidence from the project’s technical challenges assessment, stakeholder engagement, preliminary infrastructure design and national policy mapping. The analysis identifies fragmentation across five interconnected dimensions: technology, data, standards, resources and community. It also builds on a two-phase engagement strategy involving 10 stakeholder groups across the 8 consortium countries, alongside additional international engagement.
✳️ From this evidence, the briefing develops three core policy actions: Recognise, Sustain and Federate. It calls for Citizen Science to be recognised as a horizontal research capacity, supported through sustained investment, and connected through a federated approach based on open standards. Rather than replacing existing platforms and initiatives, this approach focuses on enabling them to work together as part of a more coherent European ecosystem.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s research and innovation programme Horizon Europe under the grant agreement No. 101188210