Nan-O-Style is a research and education project by the University of Salzburg, Department of Biosciences.

What is Nan-O-Style researching?

Nan-O-Style researches the complex topic of nanotechnology. Together with Austrian schools, we want to discover new and previously unknown interactions between modern lifestyle products and nanomaterials. Are there undesirable interactions and do these change the properties of the product? Everyone encounters nanotechnology in day-to-day life. But how informed is the general public on this subject? – These are all questions that we want to answer with Nan-O-Style!

Collaboration between university and school

New, fresh ideas and scientific research converge. Through cooperations with international educational partners, interactive materials that go beyond research work are developed for interdisciplinary natural science lessons.

What do we want to learn from you?

Nanotechnology is already available in many day-to-day products. But what do you know about them? Was nanotechnology already covered in your education? Do you want to be better informed about nanotechnology?

How can you participate?

An online questionnaire will ask questions about nanotechnology and survey your personal stance. Visit us on our website, then go directly to the questionnaire (in German) at or scan the QR-code below and take part in the questionnaire.

Where can you find more information about nanotechnology?

On Tuesday, 26 February 2019, the Open NanoScience Congress (ONSC), a public conference on nanotechnology, took place in Salzburg. Pupils from the Nan-O-Style project by Sparkling Science actively participated in the conference and presented their work in a chaired poster session titled “Nano-Research Spotlights”. There were also keynote lectures by the invited experts and insights into ongoing research projects at the University of Salzburg. A nano exhibition with hands-on stations and analytical apparatus to measure nanoparticles rounded off the ONSC. Interested parties and school groups were very welcome. The programme and registration can be found at www.uni-salzburg.at/ONSC.

Online: Research results on nanomaterials and their impacts on people and the environment are made available to the public on the internet platform www.nanopartikel.info. The aim of this internet platform is to format current research results to be understandable for interested parties.

Who is involved in the project?

The Department of Biosciences at the University of Salzburg worked together with several partners on this project.

The schools involved are: BRG Lerchenfeld (Carinthia), BRG Schloss Wagrain (Upper Austria), BRG Solar City (Upper Austria), Gymnasium Ort (Upper Austria), HLW St. Veit (Carinthia), HLBLA St. Florian (Upper Austria), Multi Augustinum (Salzburg), HTL LMT (Upper Austria), PdC BORG Radstadt (Salzburg). The school network is overseen by Reinhard Nestelbacher at DNA Consult Sciencetainment.

Nan-O-Style also involves international partners, such as the ORT Moshinsky research and development institute in Tel Aviv, the cc-NanoBioNet German association and an educational partner in Barcelona (Nanoeduca).

Sparkling Science Project SPA 06/270 supported by BMBWF. Runtime: 1. Oktober 2017 - 31. Dezember 2019.

Citizen Science in Austria

Citizen science has been carried out in many parts of the world for some time now and since the mid-2010s, citizen science initiatives have become increasingly connected on a national and international scale. 

Citizen Science has been practised in Austria for longer than the term Citizen Science has been used. In general, it can be assumed that many citizen science projects have been and are being carried out in Austria, but that they have been and sometimes still are referred to differently. Although citizen science as a term is now well established, pseudonyms for citizen science projects are still used, among others, Bürgerwissenschaften (literally “citizen science”), Freiwilligenforschung (“volunteer research”), Volkszählungen (“population census”) or Laienwissenschaften (“laypersons’ science”).

Since 2013, the goal of the working group for citizen science at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, has been to find citizen science actors in Austria, connect them and to facilitate the dialogue between science and society. The platform Österreich forscht (www.citizen-science.at) has been online since 2014. On this website, numerous different institutions appear and work intensively together to connect citizen science actors in Austria and internationally, to further promote the quality of citizen science and to further develop the method.

In summer 2017 the Citizen Science Network Austria (CSNA) was created, which now acts as the supporting body of the Österreich forscht platform and whose Memorandum of Understanding has already been signed by numerous institutions..

On Österreich forscht you will find all citizen science projects in Austria that meet the quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht. You will also find the latest information on the annual Austrian Citizen Science Conference organised by the platform. In the Österreich forscht blog, you will be kept up to date by the Austrian citizen science community on current developments on the topic of citizen science in Austria and the world. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

In addition to the Citizen Science Network Austria, Austria also has the Center for Citizen Science, which was established in 2015 by the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research with the Österreichischen Austauschdienst and serves as an information and service point for researchers, citizens and experts from various fields. Furthermore, the Centre acts as a programme management agency, e.g. for the funding initiative Sparkling Science or the Citizen Science Award. You can find more information about the centre on their website.

Furthermore, some universities have citizen science coordination or contact points: University of Innsbruck, University of Salzburg, University of Vienna, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

Citizen Science international

On an international scale, citizen science is very popular and has a long tradition in English-speaking areas. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is commonly mentioned as the oldest citizen science project.

• Germany: A comprehensive information site on citizen science, with projects and events in Germany can be found at Bürger schaffen Wissen. In addition, there is a citizen science coordination office at the University of Münster, which is intensively involved in Citizen Science.
• Switzerland: Switzerland also has its own platform for citizen science projects: Schweiz forscht. This platform, operated by the foundation Science et cité, presents projects from a wide range of fields and provides information on citizen science in Switzerland. In addition, there is also the Citizen Science Center Zurich of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, which takes care of citizen science issues of these two universities.
• Benelux: Iedereen Wetenschapper is a citizen science platform from Belgium that mainly maps and networks Flemish projects and is also active in the Netherlands. Its sister platform Scivil also covers the Flemish citizen science community.
• Denmark: Citizen Science Netværket is a Danish network that also maps Danish projects and links actors on its website.
• Sweden: Vetenskap & Allmänhet is an independent Swedish non-profit organisation working to promote dialogue and openness between scientists and the public.
• Italy: In Italy, Citizen Science Italia was founded in 2023. Citizen Science Italia is based at the Museo di Storia Naturale della Maremma.
• Czech Republic: In the Czech Republic, the national Citizen Science platform is anchored at the University of Brno.
• Slovenia: Slovenia also has a Citizen Science Platform, which provides general information on Citizen Science and many projects to participate in.
• USA: If you are looking for projects in the USA, you can use scistarter. On this platform you will not only find an extensive selection of projects, but also a blog from the U.S.A. on news about citizen science. citsci.org offers tools to develop a project yourself and also lists many citizen science projects to participate in.

In addition to these initiatives, there are still many more that currently exist. If you would like to know more, you can find more information on the website for the Citizen Science Networks working group of the European Citizen Science Association, in which many of these networks are represented. 

However, it is not only projects that are organised on an international scale, but associations and networks are also formed with a goal to professionalising citizen science and strengthening national cooperation. In Europe, this is the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), in the US it is the Citizen Science Association (CSA) and Australia has the Citizen Science Network Australia (CSNA).

A worldwide initiative is also currently in development. The Citizen Science Global Partnership is trying to connect all major actors in citizen science worldwide.

What is Österreich forscht (www.citizen-science.at)?

The Citizen Science Network Austria (founded in 2017) with the associated online platform Österreich forscht (launched in 2014) is a network of institutions from the fields of science, research, education and practice. Taking into consideration the respective institutional scope, the network is pursuing the following goals:

• To further establish citizen science in Austria
• To promote the quality of citizen science in Austria
• To strengthen the profile of citizen science in Austria

The partner institutions declare that, in order to achieve these goals, they intend to fulfill the following tasks in particular:

• Participate in the annual Österreich forscht-platform meeting, which is part of the Austrian Citizen Science Conference.
• Use of the online platform Österreich forscht (www.citizen-science.at) to make Citizen Science and Citizen Science projects visible to the public .
• Establishment of and active cooperation in working groups on specific topics by representatives of the partner institutions 

The Citizen Science Network Austria is coordinated by BOKU University in Vienna. 

Österreich forscht also presents citizen science projects from all over Austria, in which interested people can participate. In addition to the project presentation, general information on citizen science, references to literature on citizen science and event announcements on Österreich forscht can be found. The platform itself was already launched in 2014 as an information portal, and after the founding of the CSNA it was upgraded with additional features to meet the needs of a growing network. Since then, the network's working groups and open calls for grants, jobs or conferences can be found there.

Our vision

Through citizen science, Österreich forscht creates a new culture of collaboration in research in Austria. By jointly working together with a wide variety of people and institutions and due to mutual appreciation and openness, Österreich forscht transforms the way research is thought and lived in Austria. Research should be understood as a tool by everyone and should be applied for peaceful purposes to meet the challenges of the present and the future ACTIVELY, TOGETHER. Österreich forscht enables all people to have access to research: because EVERYONE can be part of a successful research project.

Who works behind the scenes of Österreich forscht?

Both Österreich forscht and the Citizen Science Network Austria were founded and coordinated by Florian Heigl and Daniel Dörler, who began connecting actors in citizen science across all of Austria back in 2014 during their studies, thus laying the foundation for all future activities. At the beginning, most of the work was carried out on a purely voluntary basis by both founders, with occasional help with certain tasks from many others. As of 1 January 2019, the platform and network are now permanently funded by BOKU University which has now created a long-term future for citizen science in Austria.

Florian Heigl

Florian Heigl is a research assistant at BOKU University. In his bachelor and master studies, he has focused on the effects of different farming practices on earthworms in the soil. In his doctorate he discovered citizen science for himself and started the project Roadkill. Since then, he is enthusiastic about citizen science and strives to bring this enthusiasm into society without losing sight of the scientific quality.

Daniel Dörler

Daniel Dörler graduated from the University of Vienna with a diploma in zoology, followed by a doctorate in invasion biology at BOKU University. The topic of his doctoral thesis was the distribution of the invasive Spanish slug in Austria. What fascinates him about citizen science is the possibility to carry out completely new research projects together with interested and enthusiastic people.

In addition to the two founders, there are also the many organisers of past Austrian Citizen Science Conferences who, in doing so, helped to further develop the platform and network.

Objectives of Österreich forscht

The objectives of Österreich forscht are the networking of citizen science actors in Austria and beyond, the presentation of citizen science projects to an interested public, the further development of citizen science as a research method, the quality assurance of citizen science (both in terms of research and the collaboration of various people in the projects) and the dissemination of information on citizen science in Austria.

We are very pleased if you contact us:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csaustria

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSAustria

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8fnoC8Y3xTiktZetU4aBfw

Logo

Only members of the Citizen Science Network Austria are permitted to use the logo as part of their citizen science activities. Use by or forwarding to third parties is forbidden without the permission of CSNA coordinators. This permission can be obtained from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at request.

Mission and goals of the working group

The aim of the WG is to intensify cooperation in German-speaking countries, to use synergies, to exchange best practices and to establish short paths of (informal) exchange. The goals are:

• The expansion of personal contacts and the establishment of closer cooperation.
• Identifying and setting common priorities
• To enable trilateral project consortia and to initiate concrete projects.
• The further development of CS in terms of content and quality in the German-speaking region
• A stronger and more uniform presence of CS in the international arena
  
  

Further topics for 2023

The D-A-CH working group is planning the following joint activities for 2023:

• Citizen science conferences: There is potential for synergies in the national conferences held in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which can be exploited even more. In 2023, members of the D-A-CH working group are represented in the respective other conference committees.
• At the Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2023, the D-A-CH working group was actively involved with a joint workshop on the topic of "Mentoring under one roof (DACH)". In this way, the D-A-CH working group is following up on the jointly explored topic of a "mentoring programme" and is examining the potential and feasibility of a cross-border offer for the CS community.
• Training offers: In the area of "Training", the D-A-CH working group 2023 deals with the topics "Open Data in Citizen Science" and "Digital Ethics". Corresponding digital events will be planned and carried out together. In addition, the D-A-CH working group plans to process the findings in the form of a guide.

Members

The members of the D-A-CH working group work at universities and research institutions or are otherwise active as actors in the context of citizen science. They come from the following institutions, among others:

• Österreich forscht / BOKU University
• OeAD – Zentrum für Citizen Science
• Schweiz forscht / Science et Cité
• Partizipative Wissenschaftsakademie (Universität Zürich/ ETH Zürich)
• mit:forschen! Gemeinsam Wissen schaffen (Wissenschaft im Dialog & Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)
• WWU Münster
• Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena
• Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache (Mannheim)
• open science for open societies - os4os gUG

Contact/contact persons

Austria:
Daniel Dörler: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Florian Heigl: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Switzerland:
Tiina Stämpfli: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Olivia Höhener: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Germany:
Wiebke Brink: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Working group for citizen science in/with schools

Head:
Marika Cieslinski & Petra Siegele (Center for Citizen Science, OEAD)

The working group for citizen science in/with schools was established during the platform meeting on 26 June 2019 in Obergurgl to bring together the numerous experiences from the cooperation between science and schools. The members of the WG come from research institutions and schools.

Especially over the last ten years, Austria has built up a range of skills and expertise through research-education cooperation, with notable examples being the Sparkling Science research funding programme by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research and the Citizen Science Award, organised by the Center for Citizen Science since 2015, in which every year in spring schools are invited to participate in various projects.

After two years, a brochure has now been published in September 2021 that contains recommendations and practical tips for planning and implementing Citizen Science projects with schools. A compact checklist provides a quick overview of the most important factors that should be considered in such cooperations. The brochure can be used by researchers and teachers alike. It is also very suitable as a guide for "Sparkling Science 2.0" projects.

For more information on the web and print version, please visit the website of the OeAD Centre for Citizen Science.

If you have any questions about the AG, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Austrian Citizen Science Conference takes place annually and is organised by the partners of the Citizen Science Network Austria.

Head: Daniel Dörler, Florian Heigl

The Working Group "Conference" organizes the annual Austrian Citizen Science Conference. It is composed of the local organization team, which changes every year depending on the conference location, and a team of dedicated individuals, which on the one hand takes care of the scientific support of the conference (i.e. mainly evaluating the incoming contributions for the respective conference), and on the other hand also prepares general documents, which enable a flow of information between the different local organization teams from one year to the next. Thus, the conference working group is a core element in the organization of Austria's largest Citizen Science event.

• Report on the 2023 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2022 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2020 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2019 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2018 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2017 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2016 Austrian Citizen Science Conference
• Report on the 2015 Austrian Citizen Science Conference

If you are also interested in the conference working group, please get in touch with Daniel Dörler (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Florian Heigl (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Orchestration:
Eveline Wandl-Vogt (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Austrian Academy of Sciences
Thomas Jekel (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), c/o University of Vienna, Institute for Geography and Regional Research
Christoph Kremer (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Ars Electronica Center – Museum of the Future

Partners:

• Ars Electronica, Ars Electronica Research Institute Knowledge for humanity
• Knowledge for Development
• Community Creates Mobility
• School of Knowledge Science with Museum of Knowledge Sciences
• SciTechArt - Verein für Wissenschaftliche und Technologische Kunst
• Spotteron

The number of citizen science and crowd projects is increasing steadily in Austria and worldwide. The actors in the projects are becoming more diverse, the structures of action more complex. This also increases the importance of social networks and the developed technical applications in everyday research, for example to save resources, to increase the number of users of existing tools or to develop an innovative problem-solving project with the
right partners.

Therefore, the exchange between projects and the exploration of possible synergies should be in the foreground within the working group for synergies and innovation. Although Citizen Science occurs in very different disciplines, workflows are quite similar
and multidisciplinary learning can take place in all areas, and the adaptation of tools also seems possible and useful. Most innovation takes place by imitating and transferring proven methods to new areas of application. This stimulates cooperation across
disciplines and existing social groups, which is also intended to strengthen the interdisciplinary character of Citizen Science.

The working group aims at the systematic development of knowledge partnerships. Existing networks should be made more visible and existing tools more available. In addition, we want to discuss where there is a need for new developments or the further development
of existing tools and which partnerships and processes are necessary in order to be able to work together in a goal-oriented and result-oriented manner. The working group addresses educational needs and further training needs for Citizen Science.

Against this background, joint actions are to be taken, especially in the areas of inclusion, sustainability and social innovation, which contribute to a teaching-learning Innovation Environment.

It is therefore the goals of the working group:

• Developing a teaching-learning ecosystem for Sustainability Transition with a special focus on mobility, technology, culture and art as a demonstrator in the Open Innovation Research Infrastructure docking to
  the ÖAW's exploration space and the Ars Electronica Research Institute knowledge for humanity
• Providing a series of interventions and experimentation opportunities with suitable partner institutions and projects
• Determination of synergies and opportunities for cooperation between people / projects / institutions
• Identifying challenges and innovation potential
• Design and documentation of best practices for knowledge partnerships
• Further development of data-driven citizen science and experimentation with problem-based citizen innovation
• Formation of knowledge partnerships; Creating a framework in which to work together
• Proactive linkinkg of all actors in society
• Close cooperation with other working groups, especially Citizen Science at / with schools, working group DACH
• Linking the current projects to European / global infrastructure initiatives to utilize existing potential

Head: Tobias Reckling, University of Vienna

In the course of creating quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht, it soon became apparent that for certain areas recommendations for existing and new citizen science projects were needed, which could be used as a guideline for the project leaders. A very important area is legal issues, which often come up to project leaders for the first time in the context of citizen science projects::

• What is personal data and what is sensitive data?
• How must data be secured?
• May I use the data of my participants for my research?
• May I use images that my participants upload and/or send in the context of the project to promote the project?

These and many more questions are frequently asked by prospective project leaders. And often a project idea is not pursued further due to insufficient knowledge, half-truths or false information and the resulting fears of legal uncertainty.

For this reason, the working group for legal aspects in citizen science is developing a catalog of recommendations for general legal questions in the context of citizen science projects. It is based on the questions of ongoing projects in Austria and the input of lawyers who have specifically dealt with this topic. These recommendations also take into account the new Data Protection Regulations, which will come into force in May 2018, and are intended to provide guidance for starting or revising citizen science projects. However, the recommendations are no substitute for an intensive examination of the topic and, above all, for legal advice, as they can only be elaborated at a very general level.

The results of this working group will now be made freely available to all after completion here on Österreich forscht. If you have any questions about the working group, please feel free to contact us at any time at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Event: "Citizen Science & Law, part 1"

On June 27, 2018, an event on the topic of citizen science and law was held in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the University of Vienna and the Center for citizen science. The main focus of the event was on the effects of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which had come into force one month earlier, on citizen science projects. You will find the presentation of the speaker Dipl. Ing. Annemarie Hofer at the bottom of the page under the point "Download Attachments". The presentation is based on a master thesis.

A catalogue of recommendations for citizen science projects for implementing GDPR can be found on the Website "Zenodo".

The working group was coordinated in cooperation with Wissenstransferzentrum Ost (WTZ Ost).

Event: "Citizen Science & Law, part 2"

Citizen science thrives on the cooperation between a large number of participants, who bring with them a wealth of experience and a wide range of know-how. By including the potentials and knowledge of the participants, projects are made possible that would otherwise not be conceivable. The cooperation of different people in a research project is accompanied by a great responsibility in terms of data protection and compliance with legal regulations. In addition to the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), other regulations, such as copyrights (e.g. when creating texts or images) or licensing rights (e.g. when using texts or images) must be observed.

In a joint event on 28 May 2019, the Center for Citizen Science, the Citizen Science Network Austria and the Open Science Network Austria (OANA), as well as the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research invited project managers to learn more about “rights to images”, copyright law and licensing law in citizen science projects, among other subjects, and to discuss these with experts.

A report on the event can be downloaded on the website of the OeAD Centre for Citizen Science.

The working group for quality criteria was established to create criteria for the platform that are as objective, traceable and, above all, publicly visible as possible.

Head: Florian Heigl and Daniel Dörler, BOKU University

At the annual platform meeting of Österreich forscht on 1 March 2017, the partners decided to set up a working group on quality criteria for citizen science projects. This became necessary because, due to new funding programmes and the level of awareness of citizen science that has been achieved in the meantime, more and more projects consider themselves as citizen science, which also requested to be included in Österreich forscht. Up to this point, projects were examined by the platform coordinators for consistency with the different definitions of citizen science before they were accepted. In order to create objective, comprehensible and, above all, transparent criteria for the future, the working group for quality criteria was founded. The working group consists of project leaders and partners of Österreich forscht and is headed by Florian Heigl and Daniel Dörler.

Goals

1. Development of binding quality criteria for citizen science projects on Österreich forscht - successfully completed
   At the Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2018, the finalised quality criteria were presented. From March 2017 to February 2018, a total of 20 criteria were created to which all projects on Österreich forscht had to adapt. You can read about how this process was designed and what impact it had on Österreich forscht in an article in Citizen Science:Theory and Practice.
2. Continuous assessment of incoming project listings on Österreich forscht - ongoing
   After the criteria were finalised, the listing process was described transparently on Österreich forscht. The working group has set itself the goal of continuously reviewing the incoming applications for listing and providing assistance in fulfilling the criteria. The aim is to conduct a dialogue with the project leaders, which will lead to a positive result.
3. Creation of assistance and development of a mentoring network on Österreich forscht - ongoing
   In order to prevent misunderstandings in the interpretation of the criteria and to make the listing process as simple as possible, assistance (e.g. FAQs) should be developed. In addition, a mentoring network is to be created in Austria, in which experienced project leaders as well as AG members will support new projects in fulfilling the criteria.

Mentoring programme

In order to facilitate the implementation of the quality criteria in one's own project, a mentoring programme has been launched. The people listed in the mentoring programme are happy to provide support with questions about the quality criteria and citizen science in general. They have experience in the implementation of the criteria and were partly involved in the formulation of the criteria themselves. If you would like to list a project on Österreich forscht and receive support, please write to a mentor who best fits your questions.

Publications of the working group for quality criteria

• You can download the quality criteria in German and English, as well as the corresponding questionnaire in German and English.
• You can find a blogpost on the quality criteria in the Nature scientific journal from 8 November 2017.
• You can find a blogpost on our article on the quality criteria in the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) scientific journal from 23 April 2019. This also includes a Letter to the Editor by Auerbach et al., as well as our reply by Heigl et al.
• You can find our article on the development process of the criteria in Citizen Science:Theory and Practice.

More links

Quality criteria for citizen science projects at the University of Münster

Criteria for Citizen Science Projects at the Citizen Science Center of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich

If you have any questions about the quality criteria, please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Head: Florian Heigl, BOKU University

During the annual platform meeting of the Citizen Science Network Austria on 31.01.2018, the participating partners decided to establish a working group on open biodiversity databases.
The following points have encouraged us to deal with this topic:

1. An ethical dilemma arises when data that has been collected together with the population is stored in a locked database.
2. In the future, certain funding programs will often require that the data collected in the course of the project be made available as open data.
3. The EU GDPR requires us to reconsider and update our handling of personal data in the near future.
4. Consideration of the topic on the part of the project operators shows the progressive thinking in the field of citizen science.
5. If we identify the challenges/problems together, it is easier to find arguments for/against opening the databases in citizen science projects.
6. Technical developments in the field of infrastructure offer new opportunities to publish research data (e.g. https://www.gbif.org/).

Just to emphasize: the WG should not be a missionary for the opening of biodiversity databases. We want to show objectively which problems/challenges will arise if the databases are opened and which ways there might be to protect vested interests or sensitive data on protected goods and still openly provide data.

The following goals are to be achieved in the working group:

1. Development of a questionnaire to help assess the feasibility/sensitivity of opening specific citizen science biodiversity databases (tested in existing and theoretical projects).
2. An implementation report or case study from an Austrian citizen science project that opened its biodiversity database.

If you are interested in this topic and would like to join the working group, then please contact Florian Heigl at any time (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Catalogue of questions for project managers:

The catalogue of questions for project managers version 1.0 can be downloaded for free in German and English.

Report on implementation and experience

In the Roadkill project of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, 912 Citizen Scientists reported 17,163 roadkills from 2014-2020. This Austrian citizen science project was selected to try to open up its biodiversity database and to document the hurdles that had to be overcome.

The first step was to identify which repository, i.e. public database, would be most suitable for the collected roadkill data. We decided to publish the highest quality data on GBIF. GBIF - the Global Biodiversity Information Facility - is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world's governments that aims to provide open access to data on all species of life on Earth to anyone, anywhere. We wanted to publish the quality level 2 data on Zenodo. Zenodo is an open-discipline repository, based at CERN and funded by the European Commission. 

In contrast to GBIF, Zenodo does not have any specifications regarding the properties or formats of the data. Publishing data via Zenodo is therefore very simple and straightforward. GBIF currently only allows organisations to publish data, and only data that meets the strict biodiversity data standards accepted by GBIF. 

The first hurdle was to find an organisation that was willing to publish the data from the Roadkill project. We finally found this in the Biology Centre of the Upper Austrian State Museum, which runs the database ZOBODAT, whose data are also feed into GBIF. Besides the Biology Centre, there are many other organisations in Austria that publish data in GBIF. Another way would be to register your own organisation on GBIF and host the data yourself.

The second hurdle was to bring the collected data into a data standard requested by GBIF. This required a lot of time resources and could be avoided by introducing the appropriate standard for data collection at the start of the project.

Another important step was to describe exactly how the published data was collected and checked for accuracy, so that researchers and other interested parties could understand how the published data was collected and then use it for their own research or conservation actions. We have published this description of the data in the form of a data paper in the international scientific journal Scientific Data. Such a publication is optional and does not have to be done via a peer-reviewed journal. One can also add such a description in an abbreviated form directly in GBIF.

The experiences described above show that the publishing of biodiversity data from citizen science projects can be challenging if the data were not collected according to the specifications of the respective repository. If possible, the repository in which the data is to be published should be determined at the start of the project in order to simplify the publication process. It remains to be seen which advantages will result from publication. However, we are convinced that the publication will contribute to the fact that the time invested by citizen scientists in data collection will be even more appreciated, as the data can now be used not only for the Roadkill project but also for other research projects, thus creating added value.