Citizen Science Hubs as Sustainability Drivers: An Evaluation through the Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Models

Citizen Science Hubs (CSHs) are increasingly proposed as institutional infrastructures that anchor citizen science within universities and connect academic, public, business, civil-society and environmental actors. Yet empirical evidence on the early-stage performance of CSHs, particularly in emerging citizen-science ecosystems with low public awareness and limited institutional support, remains scarce. This paper evaluates the Citizen Science Hub established at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Vilnius Tech) over a 60-month monitoring period in Lithuania. The research applies a convergent mixed-method single-case study design anchored in the INCENTIVE Monitoring and Evaluation framework, combining indicator-based monitoring of 24 institutional change events and 17 hub-organised events with 540 participants, a stakeholder survey (N = 140), 15 semi-structured stakeholder interviews and four expert interviews. The data are interpreted through Triple, Quadruple and Quintuple Helix lenses. Results show that the hub implemented the majority of foreseen institutional change events, including the establishment of a governance model, a code of conduct for citizen science, ethics and gender provisions, and the integration of curricula into civil engineering programmes. Self-reported interest in engaging in science rose from 68.3 to 81 on a 0–100 scale across three monitoring waves (68.3, 71.2 and 81). Stakeholders broadly endorsed citizen-science principles but perceived uneven progress in open science adoption, the implementation of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) standards, and citizen involvement in decision-making. Participation remained academically skewed, and direct environmental impacts were not yet observable since hub-supported citizen science (CS) projects had not been implemented within the monitoring window. The findings therefore concern institutional readiness and stakeholder perceptions rather than demonstrated societal or environmental impacts. The study contributes to citizen-science and innovation-systems literatures by extending CS impact assessment from the project level to the meso-level of hubs, by providing one of the first published evaluations of a single CSH in a structurally constrained, emerging CS ecosystem, as distinct from the broader INCENTIVE multi-hub evaluation infrastructure of which it forms part, and by refining helix-based accounts of universities as intermediaries: the linking role first appears as institutional preparation and formal rules, with measurable environmental outcomes emerging only later.