Fundación Ibercivis and the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) have presented the results of the Openred project, the citizen science initiative aimed at bringing the basic concepts of ionizing radiation and radiological protection closer to citizens through the measurement of ambient gamma radiation in Spain.
The event, held at CSN headquarters on 9 July 2026, brought together institutional representatives, the research community, educational centres and technology networks to share the project’s main progress, its results and the lines of work developed over the past few months.
Driving forward the citizen network for measuring ambient gamma radioactivity
Openred arose from the initiative of Ibercivis and the Nuclear Safety Council, with a dual objective: to promote a citizen network for measuring ambient gamma radioactivity and to foster a better-informed social culture around radiological protection. To this end, the project combines citizen participation, technological innovation, training and the generation of open data, making it easier to understand how ambient radiation is measured and what the values obtained actually mean.
The event was opened by CSN commissioner Francisco Castejón, accompanied by Javier Rodríguez Torres, director general of Educational Planning and Management at the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sport. Francisco Sanz, director of Fundación Ibercivis, presented the overall design of the project and its main results, highlighting the value of involving citizens in scientific processes that have traditionally felt distant from everyday life. Openred thus helps bring the scientific fundamentals of gamma radiation detection and measurement closer to the public, while opening new avenues of collaboration between citizens, scientific institutions and regulatory bodies.
The expert group’s work as a catalyst for the project
The event also served to showcase the work carried out by the project team and the collaboration provided by its expert group through the contributions of the universities and research centres involved: among them the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, represented by Arturo Vargas; the Universidad de Cantabria, represented by Luis Quindós; the Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), represented by Roser Sala Escarrabill; and the Universidad de Zaragoza, contributing on collective intelligence. Their contributions have addressed important aspects such as the development and validation of sensors, metrology, and the social perception of risk. The Ibercivis team was represented by Nacho Saez, project coordinator, who discussed the measurement activities carried out across the country, and Olga Varela, who presented results related to the perceived social impact of participation in the project. The event also featured the experience of the collective intelligence experiment carried out within Openred and coordinated by Alfonso Tarancón of the Universidad de Zaragoza, and was closed by Antonio Ortiz Olmo, Chief of Staff of the Technical Directorate for Radiological Protection at the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) in Madrid.
Citizen science through measurement campaigns and hackathons
One of the most notable elements of the project has been the holding of hackathons and participatory campaigns, designed to involve citizens in improving tools, devices and measurement processes. These activities have made it possible to explore collaborative solutions for data collection, analysis and visualization, as well as to reinforce the project’s educational component through resources aimed at schools and the public at large.
In addition to its technological dimension, Openred incorporates a social perspective on citizen participation. The project analyses how the public perceives ambient radiation, how it interprets the data available, and what communication models can foster a clearer, more rigorous and more accessible understanding of radiological protection.
With the presentation of these results, Openred consolidates a line of work based on cooperation between public institutions, scientific entities and citizens. The collaboration between the CSN and Fundación Ibercivis demonstrates the potential of citizen science to generate open data, strengthen scientific culture, and develop new tools for monitoring the radiological environment.
Openred represents, in short, a commitment to a more open science, participatory and connected to society: a science capable of turning environmental measurement into an opportunity to learn, collaborate and build shared knowledge.