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.
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.
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.