Explore Citizen Science Projects
Welcome at Österreich forscht!
Here you can find everything about Citizen Science in Austria. In the future, it should be just as normal to work in a citizen science project as to be a member of an association, e. g. the voluntary fire brigade or a music ensemble. We want people to see science no longer as an elite programme, but as a process that affects all our lives, a process which is an important part of society and is worth understanding. However, the fun and enjoyment of research should not be neglected. We do not understand citizen science as an infotainment concept, but as a collaborative process through which new insights can be gained.
COwLEARNING
- food
- animals
- land use
Breaking the blame game: COwLEARNING for sustainable beef and dairy supply Our society faces grand challenges, such as mitigating climate change and adapting to its consequences, ensuring a healthy diet and maintaining cultural landscapes with high biodiversity. A sustainable agri-food industry addresses these challenges. In Austria, with its high share…
Pollen Diary
- plants
- weather
- health
The Pollen Diary was already launched as a scientific project in 2009. Meanwhile it has become an important service for pollen allergy sufferers in 13 European countries: Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey. The number of users is growing every year, not…
Ragweed Finder
- plants
- health
The Ragweed Finder was developed in 2017 by the Austrian Pollen Information Service at MedUni Vienna and has also been available to download as an app for Android and iOS since 2019. The Ragweed Finder consists of four components: Specimen report Ragweed distribution map Information about Ragweed Manual to recognize…
PATIO - Patient Involvement in Oncology
- language
- health
Be an expert on your disease and join our research! We, the Patient Involvement in Oncology (PATIO) initiative, aim to make the voices of prostate cancer patients and their caregivers heard in medical research. In fact, we know that we currently don’t know enough: patients themselves are the experts that have…
DeVOTE
- politics
DeVOTE is a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) from January 2021 to December 2025, and led by Ass.-Prof. Carolina Plescia to develop and apply a new approach to study what ‘voting’ means for ordinary citizens. The project’s goals are: understand what ‘voting’ means for ordinary citizens; examine the variation…
Golden jackal
- animals
The golden jackal (Canis aureus) was not considered native in Austria, until the first golden jackal discovery was made in 1987, followed by sporadic records scattered over several federal states and in 2007 the first reproduction record was documented in the National Park "Neusiedler See-Seewinkel". Since then, rumours about camera…
"Pilzfinder"
- mushrooms
- food
- health
- weather
"Pilzfinder" - what it's all about Until a few decades ago, knowledge of wild edible and poisonous mushrooms was widespread. Especially the older population knew about the seasonal occurrence of the mushrooms. Finding mushrooms is a popular hobby for young and old, which is accompanied by great experience. In order…
Breeding bird monitoring
- animals
Annual counts This advanced citizen science project requires knowledge of the common native breeding bird species and participation over several years. Twice a year, the participants count all birds seen and heard at fixed points. The total of all counts is then used to calculate population trends. The available data…
Breeding bird atlas
- Tiere
Mapping the distribution of all Austrian breeding birds in the years 2013 to 2018. What is the Breeding bird atlas? The Breeding bird atlas shows the areas of occurrence of all bird species breeding in Austria. It is a central groundwork for bird protection: In addition to the birds’ distributions,…
Crows in the Zoo (KraMobil)
- animals
"Crows in the zoo" is a Citizen Science project of the Department for Behavioral and Cognitive Biology of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Konrad Lorenz Research Center and the Zoo Vienna. The researchers aim to find out more about the species and subspecies of crows that use the…
Ural owl
- animals
Ural owl resettlement The resettlement of the Ural owl is led by a team of researchers headed by ornithologist Richard Zink at the Austrian Ornithological Centre – Seebarn branch office (Lower Austria) at "Vetmeduni" Vienna. The goal is the "Come Back" of the big owl into the forests of Austria.…
Cave documentation
- geology
Karst and cave documentation The year 2021 has been declared the International Year of Caves and Karst by the UIS (Union Internationale de Spéléologie)! In the framework of this, some actions will also take place in Austria: You can find more information here. The Working Group on Karst and Caves…
SPOTTERON - Plattform für Citizen Science Apps