RIECS-Concept

RIECS-Concept is a three-year European initiative supported by Horizon Infrastructures 2024, launched in January 2025 to design a dedicated Research Infrastructure for Excellence in Citizen Science (RIECS). Bringing together a consortium of 13 partners, the project will deliver a conceptual design with a feasibility study and a five-year implementation plan. Its ambition is to integrate citizens’ contributions, such as data collected through mobile devices or personal equipment, with professional scientific resources, including research infrastructures, data repositories, and expert support services. By tackling technical, operational, societal, and environmental challenges, RIECS-Concept aims to overcome fragmentation in the current landscape and establish a shared, sustainable infrastructure that strengthens the role of society as an active partner in science.

Central to this effort is the principle of co-creation. The project involves citizens, scientific communities, policymakers, and technology providers in a participatory design process to ensure the resulting infrastructure is transparent, inclusive, and widely adopted. RIECS-Concept will use the environmental observation, health, and climate change scientific domains as proving grounds to explore how citizen science can meaningfully contribute to research and policy. Through sustained engagement and collaboration, the project aspires to enhance data quality, foster cross-disciplinary cooperation, and enable stronger science-policy-society relationships at both European and global levels.

The project has three main objectives:

1. Objective 1: Feasibility & Challenges
   The project will assess the feasibility of building the new infrastructure by mapping existing tools, technologies, and services, and identifying the scientific and technical challenges that need to be addressed. This includes developing a unified model for integrating diverse data and connecting RIECS with major infrastructures such as EOSC.
2. Objective 2: Strategic Roadmap
   RIECS-Concept will develop a practical roadmap outlining how the infrastructure should be implemented and governed. Co-created with key stakeholders, this plan will guide long-term sustainability, decision-making, and operational structures.
3. Objective 3: Open & Participatory Governance
   The initiative promotes an open, participatory governance model by involving a wide range of stakeholders from the start. Through continuous engagement and collaboration, RIECS-Concept ensures that the infrastructure reflects community needs and supports a vibrant, connected citizen science ecosystem.