Explore Citizen Science Projects
A snapshot of soil healthWith the SoilBlitz, Citizen Scientists independently carry out tests to determine local soil health, collect important data and become aware of the importance of healthy soils.What are the aims of the project?In a so-called ‘SoilBlitz’, five uncomplicated and fast tests are carried out to determine soil indicators such as soil texture and colour, water infiltration rate, earthworm occurrence and vegetation cover. The measurement results for these...
Since 1851, we have been researching the changes in weather, climate and nature and what this means for us humans by observing plants and animals. These phenological observations help, for example, in climate research, agriculture and pollen forecasting in order to better deal with climate change.What are the aims of the project?Plants act as an integrating measuring instrument for a variety of environmental factors such as weather conditions in the past and current vegetation year. If one...
Many people in Austria feel that colorful butterflies are becoming increasingly rare. Unfortunately, this is also reflected in the European Grassland Butterfly Index, compiled by Butterfly Conservation Europe from datasets across the continent. Since 1990, typical grassland butterflies have declined by 36%.Since butterfly populations naturally fluctuate from year to year, only long-term standardized monitoring can determine whether numbers are increasing or decreasing. To enable this, the...
Mental Health around ChildbirthThis project focuses on the mental health of parents around childbirth, aiming to detect issues early and provide better support. The goal is to promote the emotional well-being of parents and infants and improve access to support services in Tyrol.What are the aims of the project?The Healthy Minds project aims to promote parents' mental health during pregnancy and early parenthood and close existing gaps in care. The focus is on improving the early detection...
For our national tick monitoring programme, we invite you to provide us with ticks. Your samples will help us analyse which tick species appear when and where in Austria. Moreover, ticks will also be investigated for the presence of pathogens.What are the aims of the project?The goal of our national tick monitoring programme is to obtain data regarding tick species in Austria, their occurrence, and the pathogens they may carry. The objective is to sample ticks from a wide variety...
How to raise the village to raise the childThe Village Project supports children and adolescents of parents with mental health issues by strengthening their formal and informal support networks. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Village approach and integrate it sustainably into existing structures.What are the aims of the project?The "Village" project aims to improve support for children of parents with mental health issues in Tyrol. It investigates how affected families can...
Monitoring of Soilbiota by Citizen ScienceSoilRise is a research project on earthworm biodiversity in Europe. Earthworms play a crucial role in soil fertility and are considered important ecosystem engineers. With your help we like to collect data on the distribution and diversity of earthworms in Europe.But SoilRise is more than scientific research. We aim to build an interactive network between researches, citizen scientists (you) and stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of...
The TRA:WELL project focuses on the relationship between active mobility (walking, cycling, scooters) and the well-being of young people. The entire physical activity behaviour is considered in order to assess the contribution of active forms of mobility to the fulfilment of physical activity recommendations.What are the aims of the project?The project has three main objectives:TRA:WELL investigates the relationships between children's mobility behaviour and subjective well-being. The focus...
A couple of Instagram stories here a TikTok video there: The pervasiveness of our everyday lives with more and more media content consumed in a short period of time has completely changed the way we access and deal with information: Due to their everyday use of and the strong fusion of their lives with social media, it is young people who are most affected by this development. The project “Young Citizen Scientists against Disinformation” aims to explore the topic of disinformation from...
DANUBE4all is an EU project with the main task of developing a comprehensive action plan for the renaturation of river stretches in the Danube River Basin (DRB). To this end, a collaborative stakeholder process is being developed that actively incorporates the interests of citizens. The action plan is intended to contribute to the improvement of the ecological status, biodiversity and river connectivity of the Danube ecosystems and thus supports the EU mission OCEAN ‘Mission Healthy Oceans...
Spring habitats in the Großes Walsertal Biosphere ReserveIn view of increasing extreme weather events, including periods of drought and consequent water shortages, the protection and knowledge of springs in the Großes Walsertal Biosphere Reserve is becoming increasingly important. In addition to their essential role in water supply, springs are often small but very important habitats for endangered organisms. The pressure to utilise and develop existing springs has increased significantly due...
Monitoring in the Karawanken UNESCO Global Geopark Together we can limit the spread of invasive species and protect the biodiversity of our mountain regions!Project descriptionOur Citizen Science project is dedicated to the spread of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) in the Geopark Karawanken. Invasive species are plants or animals that are mostly introduced by human activity into regions where they do not originally occur, for example through intercontinental trade. While most introduced...
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 is to...
Your cat - our researcherAttention cat owners in Vorarlberg! Under the motto "Show me your mouse, cat!", we are collecting dead mice and other small mammals that your cat brings to your home. From June to November 2024, you can hand in these "gifts" from your cat to us or other collection points in Vorarlberg. The aim of this campaign is to obtain as much data as possible on our native small mammals for the compilation of the Vorarlberg Red List of Small Mammals.A project as part of the...
“Healthy Soil" research platform for Viennese community gardensAs a follow-up project to "Heavy Metal City-Zen", we are once again inviting Viennese community gardens, garden projects or similar garden initiatives to take part in this project and conduct research together with us. The aim of this project is to scientifically assess the potential risk of heavy metal contamination of crops in Viennese city gardens and to investigate the extent of soil contamination with microplastics.We...
Giving a voice to children and adolescents: Co-research with children and adolescents in developing a model of health literacyBackgroundHealth literacy is crucial for promoting health and well-being It encompasses finding, understanding, evaluating, and applying health information and services to make informed decisions for maintaining or improving health and quality of life. This competency is important at every stage of life, including in childhood and adolescence. However, existing...
The sourdough microbiomeAttention sourdough bakers and fermentation enthusiasts - HealthFerm is researching plant-based and fermented foods you eat and raise in your home!Fermented foods are present both in our daily diet and in various food cultures: from sourdough bread to beer, wine, pickles, sauerkraut, miso, kombucha, and much more. The art of fermentation is (again) on the rise, and many people are making their own fermented foods at home. Can fermentation help us transition to a more...
State-of-the-art DNA technology and citizen science - "Frog in a drop of water" unleashes new prospects for amphibian researchDetective 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. Amphibians - including frogs, toads, toads, salamanders and newts - are strictly protected in Austria. Nevertheless, populations are continuously and in some cases dramatically...
Relevance of mathematics lessons from the students' perspectiveThe relevance that students attribute to mathematics education is a crucial variable for its success. Against this background, it is surprising that there is little international scientific evidence on these ideas. Instead, it is evident in various countries, including Austria, that students in secondary school have at best fragile ideas about the relevance of mathematics instruction: For example, it is usually emphasized that...
Innovation to strengthen the Austrian fresh vegetable supplyMarket garden centres work according to so-called bio-intensive methods. This means utilising the maximum possible natural yield potential on the land. This yield potential results from the respective location, the climatic conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.), the production methods and, to a large extent, the soil itself. Beside the type of soil and texture, the thickness of the individual soil layers, the condition...
What can we do to protect our wetlands and floodplains in Europe? What does the water management need to implement measure for the benefit of both the environment and the human society?The Horizon Europe project Restore4Life aims at offering an online system that supports the restoration of wetlands in Europe. One important aspect is the development of easily applicable and meaningful methods to assess the state and functionality of wetlands before and after the restoration. This enables us...
Citizen Mapping as a Practice of City-MakingThe project “City Layers: Citizen Mapping as a Practice of City-Making”, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) introduces a contemporary framework for city-mapping which centres on citizen experience of urban space as an integrative way to contribute to more egalitarian city design. Within the frame of the Citizen Science Award 2023, the City Layers app has been developed in collaboration with students, citizens and researchers all interested in...
Promotion of child and youth-friendly urban landscapes through participatory research on urban green The development of child- and youth-friendly cities is becoming increasingly important due to the deteriorating quality of life in urban areas. An important contribution to this relates to the provision of urban green suitable for young people and their involvement in the future design of urban landscapes. However, it must be taken into account that children and the youth make demands on urban...
Mosquito Alert is a citizen science project that allows tiger mosquitoes and other mosquitoes to be easily reported using a free app. Tiger mosquitoes are always smaller than a 1-cent coin, have a single white line on the back of the head and thoraxand white stripes on the body and legs. The submitted photos are examined by national and international experts and the finds are then displayed anonymously on a publicly accessible map.Tiger mosquitoes are non-native mosquitoes...