About Citizen Science for Health 2025

Citizen science for health embodies a powerful idea: that progress in health research depends on collaboration, trust, and a shared sense of purpose between scientists and society. When citizens, patients, families, and communities engage as active partners in generating knowledge, research becomes more relevant, inclusive, and transformative. The evolution from research done for society to research carried out with and by society marks one of the most significant shifts in contemporary science.

Societal engagement deepens our collective sense of responsibility, helps to uncover inequalities, promote inclusion, uphold fairness, respect, and ethical integrity. Moreover, it ensures that research truly reflects the realities of people’s lives. Indeed, beyond advancing knowledge, research must generate tangible benefits for society. Nowhere is this more vital than in health, where the issues are both deeply personal and profoundly global. From climate-related diseases and pandemics to widening health inequities, today’s most urgent challenges transcend borders and demand collaboration across disciplines such as medicine, computer science, engineering, and the social sciences. Citizen science strengthens this interdisciplinary approach by adding a crucial, often overlooked dimension: the lived experience and expertise of citizens themselves.

At the Citizen Science for Health 2025 Conference, these themes will come to life. Participants will explore how co-creation and participatory research can empower citizens and patients to drive meaningful change, from local initiatives to global partnerships. Discussions will examine the ethical, social, and legal dimensions of inclusive research, the role of experiential knowledge in improving healthcare and policy, and how impact can be measured beyond academic outputs to real benefits within communities.

Ultimately, the goal of the event is to advance a new model of health research built on partnership between scientists and society, one that connects knowledge with action, aligning research and policy with real-world needs and experiences. Through these connections, we aim at moving collectively toward a more equitable, sustainable, and caring approach to health and well-being locally and globally.

Maria Rosa Mondardini (Conference Chair)

Ria Wolkorte (Head of the Scientific Committee)

Maya Fedeli (Head of the Programme Committee)

Organizers

CS4Health 2025 is hosted at the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Zurich) by Citizen Science Zurich (CSZ), a joint initiative of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, supported by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland. CSZ supports different forms of participatory research to enable an effective collabora­tion between science and society.

The organization of the conference is powered by the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) Working Group on Citizen Science for Health, an international group of experts and practitioners that works to increase the social and scientific impact of citizen science in the health domain.

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