Speakers - 2026

Citizen science has emerged internationally as a key component of Open Science, promoting public engagement, co-production of knowledge, and greater social relevance of research. Although widely applied in fields such as environmental sciences and biology, its integration into nursing research remains incipient and conceptually underexplored. This presentation discusses citizen science as an innovative methodological and epistemological pathway for nursing research, highlighting its potential to strengthen person-centred care, health literacy, and socially responsive knowledge production. Drawing on a qualitative focus group study conducted with nursing researchers at a higher education institution in Portugal, this work explores how citizen science is understood, valued, and critically appraised within the academic nursing context. Rather than focusing on empirical findings alone, the analysis foregrounds the innovative contribution of citizen science to nursing research, emphasizing conceptual clarification, ethical reflexivity, and methodological rigor. The findings reveal that citizen science is perceived as a promising approach to bridge the gap between research and real-world needs, particularly through co-creation and sustained citizen involvement across the research cycle. Participants highlighted its alignment with core nursing values, such as person-centredness, partnership, and contextualized care. At the same time, the study exposes persistent challenges, including conceptual ambiguity between “participation” and “involvement,” structural barriers related to literacy and communication, and ethical-methodological tensions concerning sampling and scientific validity. By articulating benefits and challenges within a coherent analytical framework, this presentation advances the discussion beyond instrumental applications of citizen science. It positions citizen science as a transformative approach capable of reshaping how nursing knowledge is produced, shared, and applied. The study contributes to ongoing international debates on public involvement in health research and offers conceptual and practical insights for researchers, educators, and institutions seeking to integrate citizen science into nursing research and education.

Participants will be able to:

1. Understand citizen science as an innovative research approach in nursing, aligned with Open Science and person-centred care principles.

2. Differentiate clearly between participation and involvement, avoiding tokenistic practices in research design.

3. Apply citizen science concepts to their own research or teaching, particularly in health, nursing, and allied disciplines.

4. Recognize ethical and methodological challenges and identify strategies to address them while maintaining scientific rigor.

5. Incorporate citizen science to enhance research relevance, health literacy, and community engagement, contributing to more socially responsive nursing research.