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Short Abstract

Impactos-CC is Spain’s first national framework of citizen science impact indicators, co-created by diverse stakeholders and self-applied by projects. In 2024, it offered a participatory process and an inclusive model to assess impacts across scientific, social, and policy domains.

Abstract

mpactos-CC is the first coordinated effort in Spain to create a national framework for assessing citizen science impacts, offering an innovative model for Europe. Led by Ibercivis under the Spanish Citizen Science Observatory (ciencia-ciudadana.es), the initiative engaged over 100 researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in a participatory process to co-design a consensual set of indicators, drawing on the MICS framework. These indicators were self-applied to 30 initiatives, covering scientific, social, environmental, educational, and policy dimensions, with emphasis on inclusiveness and usability across diverse projects.

Findings reveal that Spanish citizen science is strongly rooted in environmental and biological sciences, complemented by earth, information, and social sciences, reflecting broad integration across sectors. Most projects adopt an interdisciplinary (79%) and applied (59%) approach, often producing not only new data but also innovative methodologies.

The framework was piloted nationally, demonstrating how co-created tools can support internal reflection while generating evidence of citizen science’s wider contributions. Its non-intrusive design avoids extensive demographic surveys or direct participant monitoring, focusing instead on project-led self-assessment.

This presentation will outline the process of co-design, the challenges of building consensus, and key insights from the first round of application. It will also explore future plans for implementation in Spain and discuss how Impactos-CC can serve as a transferable model, offering pathways to harmonise impact assessment internationally while safeguarding inclusiveness and trust in citizen science.