On June 17th, the online event “No project is an island” will take place—a meeting designed to reflect on the impacts achieved, debate the integration of citizen science into research, and define the next steps.

The event, titled “No project is an island – Bridges towards a joint legacy for the future of CS in Europe”, will take place on June 17th, from 09:30 to 15:00 CEST, marking the closure of the European projects European Citizen Science (ECS) and IMPETUS. With the aim of celebrating their achievements and promoting citizen science practices, we invite researchers, social actors, and interested citizens to participate in this conference.

The programme will feature representatives from active European projects such as Reinforcing, COALESCE, and Science Comes to Town. This panel will discuss the necessary strategies to ensure that open and participatory research continues to expand.

Additionally, the event will include a session led by Vanessa Mignan, an expert in inclusion and public engagement. Mignan will guide the debate “The Citizen Science Anti-Manifesto”, a collective exercise designed to identify the biases of the scientific community in its relationship with groups traditionally excluded from research spaces.

To conclude, the third IMPETUS Demo Day will be held, featuring a dynamic format of short presentations where the projects integrated into the IMPETUS accelerator will pitch their proposals. Attendees will take on the role of key stakeholders, evaluating the feasibility and impact of these initiatives for the next generation of citizen science projects.

Date: June 17th, 2026

Time: 09:30 – 15:00 CEST

Format: Online

Registration: You can now secure your place through the Zoom registration link.

La entrada No Project Is an Island: ECS & IMPETUS Come Together for One Final Event se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

Ibercivis and CIEMAT coordinate EOSC-CSN, which will establish the governance framework and technical architecture for integrating citizen science communities into the European Open Science Cloud. Funded by Horizon Europe, the project launches an open call for expressions of interest from European experts.

Fundación Ibercivis and the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) today launch EOSC-CSN (EOSC Citizen Science Node), a Horizon Europe initiative that will design the first thematic citizen science node within the EOSC Federation — the digital research infrastructure connecting scientific institutions across more than 40 European countries.

The project, funded with €50,000 over six months under the EOSC Gravity Preparatory Grants scheme, is completed by Citizen Science Italia and the University of Leiden (representing Citizen Science Nederland).

A strategic pathway for the European citizen science community

The EOSC Federation currently depends on academic credentials (EduGAIN) for resource access, inadvertently excluding thousands of citizen researchers, NGOs, and participatory science communities that generate high-value scientific data across Europe. EOSC-CSN addresses this structural barrier by designing a multi-level governance model, AARC-compliant identity proxies, and FAIR validation tooling specifically adapted to community-led research.

The project’s primary deliverable is the Node’s Project Charter — the foundational document establishing the technical and operational architecture for integrating citizen science into the EOSC Federation. This charter will serve as the roadmap toward a permanent European Research Infrastructure (ESFRI/ERIC), backed by letters of intent from the science ministries of Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.

The project follows a ‘Design-by-Validation’ approach: a panel of 15 Community Leaders will functionally test the proposed solutions, while an Expert Group of 10–15 specialists will provide rigorous peer review of governance, technical and legal compliance with EOSC standards.

“EOSC-CSN opens a strategic pathway for the European citizen science community. For the first time, the continent’s public research infrastructure is being explicitly designed to include unaffiliated researchers alongside institutional scientists. What we build in these six months will define how citizens participate in European science for the next decade,” said the Ibercivis coordination team.

Open call: 10–15 European experts

In parallel with the launch, the project opens a public call to constitute an Expert Group of 10–15 European specialists who will peer-review and validate the Project Charter. Profiles sought include expertise in citizen science platforms and networks, EOSC and FAIR data management, participatory research, research infrastructure governance, legal and ethical aspects, interoperability and metadata, and sustainability models.

Participation involves 2–3 online meetings of approximately 90 minutes between June and August 2026, plus document review (approximately 1–2 working days). Selected experts will receive a fee of €300 for their contribution. University or institutional affiliation is not required. The call is open until 16 June 2026.

Expressions of interest should be sent to info@ibercivis.es with the subject line ‘EoI: EOSC-CSN Expert Group’, including: name, affiliation and country; half a page on relevant experience; area(s) of contribution; and one concrete idea the EOSC-CSN should address. Full details at eosc.riecs.eu.

About EOSC-CSN

EOSC-CSN (Sub-Grant Agreement EOSCGravity-PREP-2026-027-EOSC-CSN) is funded under EOSC Gravity (GA 101188045) by the European Union, May–November 2026. Views expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the EU or the European Commission. Further information: eosc.riecs.eu — eosc.eu/horizon-europe-projects/eosc-csn

La entrada Launch of the EOSC-CSN project se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

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La entrada EOSC-CSN: Designing the thematic node that integrates citizen science into the EOSC Federation se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

The European project PLAN-B held an online workshop on 21 May dedicated to Lost At Night, the citizen science app that makes it possible to georeference night-time images of Earth captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The session, organised online and open to the public, brought together around fifty participants interested in contributing to the study of light pollution from a collaborative perspective.

During the workshop, attendees were able to learn about the scientific value of night-time photographs taken from the ISS and the role played by human input in identifying reference points in the images. The session combined a scientific introduction by Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel with a technical explanation by Francisco Sanz, Director of Ibercivis and developer of the app, on how it works. After the talks, the workshop moved on to the practical part, in which participants worked directly with the tool.

The result was particularly positive: in just one session, participants managed to generate 2,500 georeferenced control points, reaching 80% of the collective target set for the workshop, which had initially been established at 3,000 points. These points are essential for correctly aligning night-time images with geographical coordinates and turning them into useful data for scientific research.

Lost At Night and the scientific value of images taken from the International Space Station

Lost At Night is designed to help create a global map of the Earth’s night-time lights, with the aim of measuring and monitoring light pollution. By linking space images to specific locations, the tool helps generate valuable environmental data to study the impact of artificial light at night on ecosystems, biodiversity and human health.

The initiative is part of the PLAN-B project, funded by the European Union through Horizon Europe, which works to address the impacts of light and noise pollution on terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem systems. PLAN-B seeks to create new pathways for knowledge, regulation and social participation that help reduce these impacts in Europe.

In addition to strengthening the use of Lost At Night as a citizen science tool, the workshop helped reinforce the participation of scientific, educational and citizen communities in the study of the night from space. PLAN-B will continue to develop new challenges and participatory campaigns within the application, with the aim of expanding the available database and continuing to involve researchers, students, associations, activists and the general public in the fight against light pollution.

With this activity, Lost At Night demonstrates the potential of citizen collaboration to transform space images into useful scientific information. Each georeferenced point contributes to a better understanding of how we illuminate the planet at night and what effects this lighting may have on ecosystems. The workshop therefore marks another step in PLAN-B’s strategy to connect science, technology and social participation in response to one of the least visible, yet increasingly relevant, environmental challenges: light pollution.

Anyone can take part in Lost At Night by georeferencing points, joining the proposed challenges or suggesting new areas to work on. We encourage you to continue collaborating through the app to help achieve the best possible view of Earth’s night sky.

La entrada Lost At Night mobilises around fifty participants in a PLAN-B citizen science workshop se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

La entrada CitSci Sort: Classify Scientific Publications on Citizen Science se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

CitSci Sort was built to create that map — collaboratively, with the help of anyone who wants to contribute.

What is CitSci Sort?

CitSci Sort is a community-driven classification tool developed by the Ibercivis Foundation in the context of the RIECS-Concept initiative  — Towards a Pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science —, a 36-month Horizon Europe project bringing together 13 partners from 8 countries, with ECSA as scientific coordinator.

Its purpose is to build a systematically categorised corpus of peer-reviewed scientific abstracts on citizen science (CS) — one that did not previously exist with a shared, transparent classification scheme. The corpus is drawn from publications identified through a systematic search of the Web of Science database, accessed via the Universidad de Zaragoza’s institutional licence.

CitSci Sort has a dual goal:

• Producing a research dataset: a structured map of how CS is studied, practiced, and theorised across disciplines.
• Being a learning tool: by reading and classifying real abstracts, contributors actively develop their own understanding of the CS publication landscape — what questions the field asks, how it frames them, and where the debates are.

How does the classification work?

Classification proceeds in three sequential steps, each grounded in published academic references.

• Step 1 — First-level Dichotomy
  The first question is fundamental: does this paper use citizen science as a method to produce knowledge, or does it study citizen science as an object of research? Each abstract is assigned to one of three mutually exclusive categories: Scientific Findings (CS as method), Meta-research (CS as subject of study), or Not Sure.

• Step 2 — Meta-research Aspects Classification (Only for Meta-research papers)
  One or more aspects are selected to capture which specific dimension the paper analyses: methodology & design, data quality & validation, impact & outcomes, participation & engagement, ethics & legal issues, theory & framework, or technology & platforms. This scheme is grounded in Ioannidis et al. (2015) and the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021).

• Step 3 — Infrastructure Classification (For all papers)
  Every abstract is also assessed for whether it mentions specific CS infrastructures — platforms, mobile apps, data-management tools, AI systems, or any other technology that enables or supports the described CS project. This step builds, directly from the published literature, a verified registry of CS infrastructures that RIECS-Concept needs to design the future pan-European research infrastructure.

Why does this matter?

Citizen science faces a structural challenge: fragmented data and a lack of shared standards. This lack of interoperability hinders the scalability of its collective scientific impact and poses a significant challenge to its long-term sustainability.

CitSci Sort responds by producing a shared, evidence-based taxonomy that makes the landscape of CS research legible. The data generated will feed directly into the design of a pan-European research infrastructure with a view to inclusion in the ESFRI roadmap and integration with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

Do I need to be an expert to contribute?

No. You do not need to be a researcher or a citizen science expert. The platform is designed so that anyone can classify abstracts by following the guidance provided. What matters most is reading carefully and applying the criteria consistently.

Each abstract is reviewed by multiple contributors, so the goal is not individual perfection but collective consistency. Disagreements are valuable — they help the research team identify the most ambiguous cases. Contributors may choose to remain fully anonymous or request public recognition in project reports, strictly according to their express consent.

About the Ibercivis Foundation

Ibercivis (ibercivis.es) is a private non-profit foundation that promotes Citizen Science in Spain and Europe. Formally constituted on 14 November 2011 in Madrid, it evolved from the Zivis project launched in April 2007 — one of the earliest distributed volunteer computing initiatives in Spain. Its board of trustees includes the Universidad de Zaragoza, CSIC, CIEMAT, the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Government of Aragon, and the Fundación Zaragoza Ciudad del Conocimiento.Over its trajectory, Ibercivis has developed more than 100 citizen science projects across domains including environmental monitoring (Vigilantes del Aire, D-Noses), biodiversity (Pájaros en la Nube), and aerospace education (Proyecto Aeroespacial Servet, with ten editions). It also hosts the Observatorio de la Ciencia Ciudadana en España.

About RIECS-Concept

RIECS-Concept (concept.riecs.eu) is a 36-month Horizon Europe project that began on 1 January 2025. Its goal is to design the conceptual model for a permanent, pan-European research infrastructure for citizen science — including a feasibility study and a five-year implementation plan — with a view to inclusion in the ESFRI roadmap and interoperability with the EOSC. CitSci Sort specifically supports the WP4 public engagement activities within RIECS-Concept.

Ready to contribute?

Register at https://citscisort.ibercivis.es/and start classifying.

La entrada CitSci Sort: Classify Scientific Publications on Citizen Science and Help Build a Global Map of the Field se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

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The LIFE24-GIE-ES-LIFE-NITRAZENS project is co-financed by the European Union through the LIFE Program under Grant Agreement No. 101215633.3.

Project coordinator: Universidad de Burgos (PIC 998959642) – Raquel Hernandez Ruiz (rhruiz@ubu.es)

Ibercivis team: Maite Pelacho, Germán Gil, Daniel Lisbona.

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La entrada ATRIUM: Alternatives for an effective Transition to sustainable, Reusable and recyclable construction products by the Innovative production of User and eco-friendly bio-based Materials se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.

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La entrada RIECS: Towards a pan-european research infrastructure for excellent citizen science ​ se publicó primero en Fundación Ibercivis.