Citizen Cyberlab (CCL)

Summary

Citizen Cyberlab (CCL) is an international laboratory that designs, promotes, and studies new forms of public participation in research. Through open technologies, collaborative events, and global projects, CCL fosters citizen science as a way to collectively address scientific and social challenges.

Its team is made up of researchers from diverse disciplines:including history, computer science, education, linguistics, medicine, physics, and psychology, who collaborate in the design of tools, methodologies, and experiences that engage citizens throughout the entire research cycle, from problem definition to evaluation of results.

From online crowdsourcing to in-person hackathons, Citizen Cyberlab expands the boundaries of human computation and promotes the active role of citizens in knowledge production.

Promoting organizations

Citizen Cyberlab is a joint initiative of:

CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research),
UNITAR (United Nations Institute for Training and Research), and
University of Geneva.

The collaboration between these institutions enables the development of transdisciplinary projects that combine basic science, social innovation, education, and sustainable development.

Objectives

Citizen Cyberlab (CCL) is conceived as a laboratory for experimenting with new modes of collective research and for advocating the role of science and technology in shaping citizenship in contemporary societies. Its vision is to foster a new relationship between science, technology, and society, in which public participation redefines the experience and authority of knowledge.

Its mission is to develop open-source research tools, provide training, and organize events that engage citizens in scientific and social processes, while exploring the impacts, risks, and opportunities arising from such participation.

General objectives

Promote new forms of collaborative research between citizens and the scientific community.
Explore the transformative role of science and technology in building active citizenship.
Critically examine the cultural, social, ethical, and political implications of public participation in research.

Specific objectives

Develop innovative digital tools (web platforms, mobile applications, low-cost hardware) that facilitate public participation.
Integrate crowdsourcing techniques, distributed sensors, and artificial intelligence into the monitoring of progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Promote citizen involvement in all phases of the scientific process, from problem identification to result interpretation.

Beneficiaries and stakeholders

Researchers and scientific teams, who gain access to new forms of collaboration, distributed computing resources, and participatory methodologies.

Global citizens, who serve as data generators, co-creators of knowledge, and direct beneficiaries of the projects’ impact.

Academic institutions and international organizations, which view CCL as a partner for initiatives aligned with open science, innovation, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Results

Among the direct outcomes of Citizen Cyberlab is the launch of a wide range of international projects led by the different institutions involved in the laboratory. These initiatives have not only generated scientific and technological knowledge but have also actively promoted citizen participation through the organization of events, hackathons, and training spaces.

CCL projects are grouped into four thematic categories based on their primary focus:

Computing: use of distributed computing for scientific simulations. Examples: LHC@home, Malariacontrol, Computing for Clean Water.
Thinking: platforms and collective intelligence challenges for data analysis and classification. Examples: Crowdcrafting, Snake ID, E2mC.
Sensing: deployment of physical sensors and open devices in real-world contexts. Examples: QuakeCatcher Taiwan, LEGO2NANO.
Understanding: critical research on citizen science, its history, and its role in society. Examples: Crowd4SDG, CERTIFY, Rethinking Science and Public Participation.

All projects promoted by CCL adhere to Open Science principles, including the development of open-source software and hardware, the use of open data standards, and open access publishing.

Challenges

Although not explicitly documented on its website, some challenges associated with this good practice include:

Ensuring the quality and validity of the data generated by citizens.
Sustaining projects beyond individual events or hackathons.
Digital inclusion of participants with varying levels of technological literacy.
Assessing the social, scientific, and educational impact of participatory initiatives.

Evidence of success

Citizen Cyberlab has a broad portfolio of active projects developed across different countries and contexts, demonstrating its ability to adapt citizen science to a wide range of scientific, social, and territorial challenges.

Its initiatives are structured around four main areas of action — computing, thinking, sensing, and understanding — depending on each project’s primary focus. Notable examples include LHC@home, Malariacontrol, E2mC, ForestWatchers, Crowd4SDG, CERN Computing Challenge, and the EC Citizen Cyberlab Project.

More than 100,000 people have already participated in CCL-led projects such as PyBossa and LHC@home, actively contributing to the production of scientific knowledge.

This good practice enjoys institutional support from organizations such as the European Commission, the United Nations, and leading universities, and is part of international networks like the Citizen Science Global Partnership.

In addition, all of its projects align with Open Science principles, applying open-source software and hardware, open data standards, and open access publishing. Some of the scientific outcomes have been published in high-impact journals such as Nature Nanotechnology and Royal Society Open Science.