DANUBE4all is a new citizen science project funded by the EU, with the main task of developing a comprehensive action plan for the renaturation of river stretches in the Danube River Basin (DRB). Have a look and join the project!

The proceedings of this year's ECSA/ACSC 2024 double conference have just been published! In the Österreich forscht blog you will find all contributions briefly summarized and individually linked. Have a look right away!

The Association of Austrian Adult Education Centres (Verband Österreichischer Volkshochschulen – VÖV), founded in 1950, is a non-partisan educational organisation with a long tradition based on a federal structure. It can look back on a specific tradition of adult and general education in Austria that dates back to well into the 19th century. Today, the adult education centres are the largest adult education institution in the country with 700,000 participants per year. All of the programmes on offer claim to be science-based. 

The adult education centres

• work on a non-profit and low-threshold basis. They thus offer all people in Austria the opportunity to participate in education.
• are a leading educational institution, for example in the areas of health education, languages, creativity, democratic education and science education, digital skills, basic education and school-leaving qualifications.
• provide a wide range of services for the region and society at over 800 locations, with 1,200 full-time employees, 13,000 course instructors and numerous volunteers, and are important local and regional meeting places.
• are able to react quickly to current requirements in times of crisis.
• offer excellent framework and working conditions for the concrete implementation of education in accordance with recognised quality criteria for all those involved.
• have been active in democracy and science education for over a hundred years and work for social cohesion and sustainable development.

Adult education centres advocate recognising the democratic potential of citizen science at the level of education policy and supporting it accordingly. Citizen science can also be seen as an effective instrument for strengthening trust in science (and thus democracy) through the broadest and most intensive participation possible

At the regional or institutional level, adult education centres are available for corresponding projects and collaborations or are already actively involved in them.

Furthermore, it is not least a matter of at least anchoring approaches and methods of citizen science in various adult education centre course segments or formats.

We have updated one of our most important sections on Österreich forscht. Under What is Citizen Science, we have summarised the most important information for anyone who wants to find out more about citizen science in general. In addition to updated project examples, there is now also an expanded text on the history of citizen science. Take a look now!

We have revised our Worldwide section on Österreich forscht and added exciting new information! Now there's even more to discover. Dive in and take a look!

On the trail of springs is the latest project on Österreich forscht. On the project preview page on Österreich forscht you can find out more about the springs being searched for in the project. Take a look and join the project!

The open calls have become the dates! On the new page you will find submission opportunities, jobs and funding opportunities as well as project activities where you can get to know projects directly. Take a look and join one of the activities!

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.