IMPETUS D5.1 Impact assessment methodology and collaterals

This document presents the overall approach of the IMPETUS project to impact assessment with a special focus on how to assess the impacts of citizen science initiatives (CSIs)

It updates, refines, and improves the methodology developed during the ACTION project (Passani et al., 2021), that was co-designed and successfully tested with 16 Citizen Science Initiatives (CSIs).

The IMPETUS impact assessment methodology for assessing the CSIs participating in the project Accelerator considers five areas of impact: scientific, social, economic, political, and environmental. These five areas of impact are articulated in several dimensions each, for a total of 25 dimensions. These include, but are not limited to, impact on scientific knowledge, community empowerment, social inclusion, impact on knowledge, skills and competences, impact on health and wellbeing, impact on policy process, job creation, economic empowerment of local communities and impact on environmental awareness. Each dimension is operationalised in variables and accompanied by data gathering tools such as questionnaires.

Besides these five areas of impact, the methodology considers also how CSIs contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Such a contribution can take different forms that goes from data provision for SDGs monitoring, to actual support for the achievement of the SDGs targets through policy innovation. Other possible impacts on SDGs are related to the capability of CSIs to support citizens' behavioural change or to develop new metrics and methods for SDGs monitoring.

Finally, the methodology considers the capability of CSIs to align with Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) practices addressing the link between research, ethics, inclusiveness, and openness.