The Austrian Citizen Science Conference is the main event of the year for the citizen science community in Austria and beyond.

Since 2015 the conference has been organized on an annual basis, each year by a different host institution in close collaboration with Österreich forscht. By collaborating with local host institutions, the conference has been taking place in many different regions of Austria, which makes it possible to  connect with the local community. Since 2017 the conference has been divided in two parts. The first two days consist of a scientific programm with oral presentations, workshops and posters and the third day is a public day, where citizen scientists and the general public are invited to the conference to discover new projects and to get to know project coordinators.

You can find detailed information, and pictures of each conference in the links below in German. Conference proceedings containing extended abstracts from selected contributions are available in English since 2016.

We are delighted to welcome a new partner to the Citizen Science Network Austria! The Haus für Natur (House of Nature) at the Museum Niederösterreich in St. Pölten is a modern and lively place for people who are interested in nature and curious to learn more about the flora and fauna of Lower Austria and who are looking for recreation and special experiences. You can find more information about the House of Nature on Österreich forscht!

Since its foundation in 1840, Montanuniversität Leoben has developed its profile in several phases and today positions itself as a university for "Responsible and Circular Systems". Citizen Science is currently being pursued at Montanuniversität Leoben as part of two Sparkling Science projects in which Montanuniversität Leoben is collaborating with educational institutions from Tyrol and Lower Austria, among others. You can find out more in the partner overview. We look forward to working with the University of Leoben in the future.

We are very pleased to welcome Haus der Natur as a new partner in the Citizen Science Network Austria. The Haus der Natur has existed since 1924 and is a universal museum of natural sciences with a regional and international focus as well as a centre of natural competence for the city and province of Salzburg. Take a look and discover what citizen science activities the Haus der Natur is already involved in.

The Haus der Natur exists since 1924 and is a universal museum of natural sciences with a regional and international focus as well as a centre of natural competence for the city and province of Salzburg.

The first voluntary working group with a direct connection to the Haus der Natur was founded in 1935 as the "Zoological-Botanical Working Group of the Natural History Museum". Over time, this has developed into today's eight working groups, in which over 200 volunteers currently work in close co-operation with the museum. The topics range from inanimate nature (astronomy, mineralogy and palaeontology) to various areas of biology (botany, entomology, malacology, herpetology, ornithology and mammalogy).

As citizen science in the best sense of the word, the working groups define their goals and tasks themselves. However, the core task is always the exploration, documentation and communication of Salzburg's nature. In addition to the museum's physical collections, the biodiversity database at the Haus der Natur, which currently contains around 2.5 million distribution data records on animals, plants and fungi, also plays a central role here.

The nature observation platform Observation.org and the associated apps (ObsIdentify, ObsMapp, iObs) are used by the working groups to record mapping and observation data. Haus der Natur has been an official partner of the Observation International Foundation since 2019 and is actively involved in the further development and popularisation of Observation.org in Austria.

We are looking for a new team member! Please find the vacancy for a student assistant in our open calls. We are looking forward to many applications!

We have revised the Learn about Citizen Science section and added new content. Have a look and find out more about citizen science!

Based in Vienna, the CEU brings together students and faculty from more than 100 countries in a close-knit community that promotes dialogue and collaboration across borders, cultures and disciplines. Now the Central European University is also part of the Citizen Science Network Austria and we warmly welcome them. In the partner description on Österreich forscht you will find detailed information about the CEU and its connections to citizen science. Have a look!

Detective work for amphibian protection - for the first time, amphibian screening is being carried out throughout Austria by detecting their DNA traces in water - and everyone can take part. Find out how you can participate in the project description of the new project Frog in a drop of water!

Many archaeological artifacts today are only preserved in fragments. Reassembling these parts into their original form is therefore an important but challenging task for archaeology. Computer-assisted methods can facilitate this task or even partially solve it in some cases. However, due to the usually poor preservation of these artifacts and their potential incompleteness, reliable fully automatic reassembly is rarely possible in practice.

The goal of the Open Reassembly project, which is new on Österreich forscht, is to design the solution to such complex tasks as a collaborative process involving many participants and in optimal interplay with computer-assisted methods. Have a look and join the project!