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Short Abstract

Ibercivis shares its experiences from the last 15 years regarding computing, symptom tracking, environmental monitoring, communities co-creation, and new health infrastructures, highlighting lessons in data governance, participation, and pathways for community-based pandemic preparedness.

Abstract

Citizen science can mobilize communities, generate distributed data, and open new forms of governance in health. Ibercivis has developed diverse initiatives that reveal both opportunities and challenges in connecting citizen science with pandemic preparedness and response. Volunteer computing projects such as COVID-PHYM, docking and folding simulations demonstrated the potential of distributed resources, but also raised issues of validation and transparency. Gripenet, an early influenza symptom-tracking initiative, exposed data interoperability gaps that resurfaced during COVID-19. Environmental and health monitoring projects—Vigilantes del Aire (air quality), OdourCollect (odour mapping), and OpenRed (radiation monitoring)—showed strong community impact while underlining the importance of standards, inclusivity, and institutional uptake.

Beyond data collection, Ibercivis has supported infrastructures and training through the Spanish Observatory of Citizen Science (ciencia-ciudadana.es) and EU-Citizen.Science. Current efforts include MultiEngage, which promotes multi-stakeholder engagement and co-creation with patients and other communities. Looking ahead, the RIECS-Concept will make health a focus domain for citizen science system design.

Together, these experiences highlight lessons in impact assessment, community building, and participatory design. They provide critical reflections on past challenges and concrete pathways for aligning citizen science with health research, policy, and behavior change, thereby strengthening community-based approaches to pandemic preparedness and response.