Shared learnings for measuring the various impacts of citizen science. En ECSA Conference 2024

Analysis of the impacts -i.e., changes and consequences, being direct or indirect, of our activities in citizen science- is essential to consolidate theoretical approaches and good practices, as well as to learn from misconceptions and failed outcomes and/or processes. In Spain, we have been working on this since at least 2016, through the Citizen Science Observatory, a collaborative project launched by the Ibercivis Foundation with co-funding from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). Since long before, Ibercivis and many different social agents have been working together to consolidate citizen science in and from the diverse territories in Spain. The objectives of ‘ImpactosCC’ –a one-year project (at least), with co-funding from FECYT-Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities– are, on the one hand, to facilitate self-awareness of all the impacts of each project, and on the other hand, to obtain a broad and detailed landscape of the impacts of citizen science in Spain. We will analyse the following impacts: (1) scientific-technological, (2) environmental, (3) socio-cultural, equality and equity, (4) economic, political, and governance. The project aims to be useful for people/communities/entities either working in citizen science or benefiting from its impacts. We seek to contribute to “making profitable” all the efforts made by and among all of us, as well as those yet to come, strengthening each other, reinforcing and creating cooperation networks, thus achieving an increasingly transformative, open, inclusive, and sustainable citizen science.

Enhancing our understanding of cooperation enables the better and more effective implementation of specific recommendations, such as optimizing communication among all those involved in citizen science projects and fostering awareness of common goals and collective achievements. In turn, this reinforces personal benefits, creating a virtuous circle that further strengthens cooperation and its benefits.