• Second Vice-President and Regional Minister Ana Ollo opened a conference that brought together professionals from research, healthcare, education, public administration, associations and the general public to explore new ways of involving children and adolescents in the design of health initiatives.

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The biomedical research centre Navarrabiomed held the event “Researching with Citizens, Transforming Health” this Tuesday, a meeting aimed at reflecting on how to strengthen citizen participation in health research and innovation processes and advance towards more open, collaborative models that are better aligned with society’s needs.
The event is part of the European Union’s commitment to increasingly participatory, open and citizen-connected science. With this goal in mind, the programme combined a keynote presentation on citizen science and European experiences with a practical co-creation workshop in which participants from diverse backgrounds worked together to find solutions to a common challenge.

The session was opened by Ana Ollo, Second Vice-President and Regional Minister for Memory and Coexistence, External Action and Basque Language Policy of the Government of Navarre. She highlighted the importance of advancing towards research models that integrate citizen participation from the earliest stages of projects, helping to generate more relevant solutions aligned with the real needs of the population.
“Europe encourages us to move towards more open and participatory research, in which citizens help identify challenges and build solutions. Citizen participation is no longer a complementary element of research. It is a strategic component that improves the relevance of the questions we ask, the quality of the projects we design and the impact of the results we achieve. Citizen science, participatory research and co-creation processes enable the development of solutions that are more useful, more inclusive and more closely connected to people’s real needs,” said Ana Ollo. Ollo also highlighted Navarre’s commitment to a more open, inclusive and socially impactful approach to science.

Building capacity for more participatory health research

The event forms part of a broader initiative led by Navarrabiomed to strengthen its capabilities in citizen participation. Throughout October, professionals from the centre took part in a dedicated training programme on participatory methodologies and co-creation, with the aim of incorporating these tools into the design and implementation of future health research and innovation projects.

This activity is included in the fifth edition of the series “Public Health: Researching and Improving with Europe”, promoted by Navarrabiomed and financed by the Directorate-General for External Action of the Government of Navarre, through the 2026 Call for Proposals for the Dissemination of European Union Policies and Strategies. The initiative seeks to bring European research and innovation priorities closer to key stakeholders in the health sector in Navarre and to promote new forms of collaboration between science and society.
Through this work, Navarrabiomed is strengthening its capacity to develop more participatory projects that are better aligned with European priorities in areas such as citizen science, responsible research and innovation, and the social impact of research.

The event also featured Agostina Bianchi, Head of the Health Area at Science for Change, who delivered the presentation “Participating to Transform Health: Europe’s Commitment to Citizen Science.” Drawing on the experience of the European project IMPETUS, she explained how the initiative has helped promote and strengthen citizen science across Europe through funding, mentoring and recognition of participatory initiatives. She also shared the project’s main results and impacts, with particular attention to experiences in health and wellbeing, and reflected on the challenges and opportunities involved in consolidating citizen science within the future of European research and innovation.

A shared challenge: incorporating the voices of children and adolescents into the design of health projects

The central element of the event was a co-creation workshop focused on a specific question: how can children and adolescents be more effectively involved in identifying needs and designing projects that improve their health and wellbeing?
Through participatory activities, individuals from research, healthcare, education, public administrations, social organisations and the wider public shared experiences, identified barriers and generated proposals aimed at strengthening the involvement of children and adolescents in health research and innovation processes.

Among the key issues discussed during the workshop were:
•    The need to create participation spaces adapted to different stages of child and adolescent development.
•    The use of innovative and accessible methodologies.
•    Ensuring feedback on the impact of participants’ contributions.
•    Strengthening collaboration between educational centres, the healthcare system, public administrations, social organisations and the research community.

The event brought together around forty participants, including registered attendees and professionals previously trained in participatory methodologies, fostering the exchange of knowledge, experiences and potential collaborations among stakeholders with complementary profiles and perspectives.