ScienceUs Special Session: Mapping your path to societal impact

Session Overview

Date: December 11, 2025
Type: Online
Led by: Fabien Borget & Aline Baas (Aix-Marseille Université)
Participating CS sub-projects: Core-acts, Energy poverty, Future is climate, Acqua sorgente

ScienceUs Special Session

How does a successful citizen science project evolve from collecting valuable data to creating transformative societal change? This was the central question guiding our latest ScienceUs Upscale Academy Special session. Project coordinators from four diverse initiatives gathered for a hands-on strategic workshop focused on scaling societal impact.

Building on the FLOURISH framework’s emphasis on transnational collaboration and methodological excellence, this session introduced three practical assessment tools: the Societal Readiness Level (SRL), Organizational Readiness Level (ORL), and Customer Readiness Level (CRL). The goal was to move beyond measuring activity to strategically planning for deeper, more sustainable impact.

Key Topics Covered

  • Understanding readiness frameworks : Moving beyond traditional technological metrics to assess societal, organizational, and citizen engagement maturity
  • Self-assessment methodology : Learning to diagnose current project positioning across three complementary scales
  • Strategic gap analysis : Identifying key barriers and enablers for scaling impact
  • Action planning : Translating assessment results into concrete next steps
  • Community learning : Sharing challenges and solutions across different project types and contexts

Highlights & Insights

The session revealed a common pattern in many citizen science projects. While technological and data collection aspects often advance quickly, the organizational infrastructure (ORL) and mechanisms for deep citizen engagement (CRL) frequently lag behind. This creates a critical scaling tension that must be addressed for projects to achieve their full societal potential.

A striking insight shared by several teams emerged during the self-assessment: while data collection is often well established, the systematic documentation of its concrete impact—how the data has influenced decisions or changed policies—remains a major challenge. This realization highlighted the crucial importance of “Proof of Value” as the central strategic lever for scaling.

The workshop emphasized that the journey to societal impact isn’t linear. Projects often need to loop back to earlier stages—re-engaging communities and re-validating approaches—when expanding into new contexts or aiming for higher levels of institutional integration. This dynamic must be understood and addressed for projects to fully realize their potential for societal transformation.

Quotes from Participants or Mentors

“This framework gave us the language to articulate what we’ve been feeling intuitively – that our community engagement is strong, but our organizational structure needs work to sustain it.” – Participant
“The most valuable insight was realizing we don’t need to reach ‘level 9’ to be successful. Understanding where we are and why helps us focus our energy where it matters most.” – Participant

Tools, Methods or Resources Shared

  • Miro collaborative workspace : A visual dashboard for team self-assessment and collective synthesis
  • Readiness scales guide : Comprehensive documentation on SRL, ORL, and CRL frameworks adapted for citizen science
  • Action plan template : Structured format for translating assessment into concrete next steps

Academic research : Giovanni Maccani’s research on citizen science upscaling and the key enablers of societal impact

What’s Next?

Participants left with personalized action plans and a shared language for discussing scaling challenges. The immediate next phase involves implementing these strategic insights within their projects, with several teams already scheduling internal follow-ups to refine their scaling approaches.

Building on this foundational work, a second dedicated session is planned for early 2026. This follow-up will provide a space for teams to :

  • Reflect on their progress using the SRL, ORL, and CRL scales.
  • Discuss the challenges and successes encountered while implementing their action plans.
  • Collectively brainstorm the development of a new, tailored framework: a “Citizen Science Readiness Level” designed by and for practitioners.

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”