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EOSC-CSN: Designing the thematic node that integrates citizen science into the EOSC Federation

master — Mon, 25 May 2026 09:57:56 +0000

EOSC-CSN

Designing the thematic node that integrates citizen science into the EOSC Federation.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

During this period, the governance structure, technical architecture, and framework for creating a thematic node specializing in citizen participation within this major European data infrastructure will be defined.

EOSC-CSN (EOSC Citizen Science Node) is a six-month preparatory project whose main deliverable is the Project Charter for the EOSC Federation’s Citizen Science Node: a comprehensive blueprint for its governance, technical architecture and operational framework.

The EOSC Federation connects multiple interoperable Nodes — thematic, geographical or institutional — through the EOSC Interoperability Framework and the federative capabilities of the EOSC EU Node, as described in the EOSC Federation Handbook. Currently, access to this federation is based on academic credentials (EduGAIN), which excludes those who generate science from outside academia: citizen scientists, NGO researchers, civic technology communities and independent researchers. EOSC-CSN directly addresses this gap.

The project forms part of EOSC Gravity (June 2025 – December 2027), the Horizon Europe coordination project (GA 101188045) tasked with consolidating the EOSC ecosystem and piloting its transition to a new governance and funding model from 2027 onwards, including through cascading funding to expand the Federation of Nodes.

PROJECT FEATURES

Project type: European — EOSC Gravity Sub-Grant

Duration: 6 May 2026 → 6 November 2026 (6 months)

Funding: €50,000 · GA 101188045

Consortium: 4 organisations (ES, IT, NL) — Fundación Ibercivis (coordinator), CIEMAT, Citizen Science Italia and Leiden University (representing Citizen Science Nederland).

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Six specific objectives that converge in a single Project Charter:

SO1 — Value proposition. Outline how the node connects traditional research with data generated by the public, ensuring compliance with the FAIR principles.

SO2 — MVN requirements. Strategic alignment with the EOSC Federation Handbook and fulfilment of all technical and legal requirements for the Minimum Viable Node.

SO3 — Governance model. A multi-level governance structure that reflects the diversity of the citizen science community, orchestrating existing platforms within a framework compatible with the EOSC.

SO4 — Technical roadmap. Integration of RIECS’s core services with the EOSC: AAI proxy, FAIR validation, ARGO monitoring and APEL accounting.

SO5 — Training curriculum. A training matrix for non-affiliated researchers, aligned with the EOSC Academy and integrated into the EOSC Knowledge Hub.

SO6 — Showcase. A public event demonstrating live the integration of citizen science projects into the EOSC Federation via the node.

Use cases that validate the node’s functional requirements

UC1 — Automated data validator. Connects citizen science projects with scientific data repositories and certifies that the data produced is valid and ready for research.

UC2 — Access for citizen science. Researchers and members of the public without institutional affiliation have the same access to the EOSC Federation as anyone at a university: an account, workspace and the tools needed to conduct research.

UC3 — Data traceability. Every piece of data circulating within the federation retains a link to the person and project that generated it, ensuring that its history and reuse are always traceable and correctly attributed.

UC4 — On-demand computing for citizen-led events. The node provides, on demand, the computing resources required by hackathons and other citizen-led events: virtual machines, access to GPUs, storage and other infrastructure, for the duration of the event.

THE ROLE OF IBERCIVIS

Ibercivis is coordinating the project and leading the formation of the consortium. As part of this coordination, it is setting up a group of 10 to 15 experts to review and validate the node’s governance, technical and operational framework. The selection process is open—no affiliation with a university or research institution is required—and seeks candidates from beyond the foundation’s usual network, with a balance across disciplines, countries and genders.

WHAT WE DO

The project roadmap is divided into three phases:

Phase 1 — Strategic Setup (M1, May 2026). Kick-off meeting in Madrid, delivery of the Project Plan, definition of the technical scope and mapping of community leaders.

Stage 2 — Co-design and Project Charter (M2–M4, June–August 2026). Design of use cases, stress-test workshops with the community, peer review with the expert group, delivery of the Project Charter and first draft of the showcase plan.

Stage 3 — Onboarding and Showcase (M5–M6, September–November 2026). Contribution matrix for the EOSC Academy, use case onboarding report and live integration, and final public event demonstrating the node within the EOSC Federation.

Public deliverables include the Project Charter (August 2026), the Training Matrix (October 2026), the Use Case Onboarding Report (October 2026) and the Showcase Report (November 2026).

BLOG

Launch of the EOSC-CSN project

4 June, 2026

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

CitSci Sort: Classify Scientific Publications on Citizen Science and Help Build a Global Map of the Field

ibercivis — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:02:08 +0000

How many scientific papers have been published on citizen science? What questions do they investigate? What platforms and technologies do they mention? We know the field has grown enormously over the past decades — but no systematically categorised corpus existed to demonstrate this with a shared, transparent classification scheme.

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.

RIECS: Towards a pan-european research infrastructure for excellent citizen science

master — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:01:29 +0000

RIECS

TOWARDS A PAN-EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EXCELLENT CITIZEN SCIENCE

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project addresses some current issues such as fragmentation, interoperability, efficiency, etc., and lays the foundations for the first comprehensive design of citizen science at the global level.

RIECS-Concept is a Horizon Europe project developed by a consortium of 13 partners from 8 countries. The project is led by the Ibercivis Foundation and, in Spain, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is also involved.

RIECS-Concept conceptualises the European research infrastructure for citizen science, leveraging both resources provided by citizens (such as mobile phones, computers, etc.) and existing scientific resources (citizen science platforms, data collections, other existing research infrastructures, etc.). This infrastructure will provide cross-cutting services to the research community.

The RIECS-Concept project will produce two key outputs that will form the basis for a proposal for the ESFRI 2030 call:

A conceptual design, including a feasibility study, of the infrastructure;
A strategic plan for the five-year implementation of the new infrastructure.

To achieve this, research will be conducted and work will be carried out with all types of communities globally to gather requirements, co-design solutions and refine the proposed solutions in various scientific topics and domains.

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS

Type of project: European

Duration: 2025 – 2027