Current projects

Fire Database

  • plants
  • weather
  • economy
  • land use
  • catastrophs
In the Institute of Silviculture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, the occurrence, spread, causes and characteristics of forest fires in Austria have been analysed as part of various research projects since 2008. The array stretches back over several decades and includes approximately 5,500 fires, more…
Language is one of the most important means of human communication, an essential part of our culture and it can also fulfill an identity-forming function. At the same time, it is constantly changing with the society that uses it. There are words that were used a century ago, but that…
From alpine crested newt to sand lizard - gardening enthusiasts report please Private gardens not only provide a place of peace and relaxation for humans but can also serve as important habitats and stepping stones for many animal and plant species. Especially the two endangered species groups of amphibians and…

Update Social

  • health
  • catastrophs
  • politics
  • media
  • economy
  • language
With your ideas towards a innovative social sector for all  Our society is facing numerous social challenges and the public administration, charities & social service providers, civil society and (social) enterprises are already working to solve them. In the face of increasingly complex challenges, there is a need for more…

Aquirufa

  • land use
  • water
Biodiversity and ecology of freshwater bacteria The bacterial genus Aquirufa, which was discovered and scientifically described in cooperation with pupils, is the eponym and focus of the research project. The aim is to research the ecology, biodiversity and distribution of Aquirufa in water bodies through the active and creative participation…

Hero

  • health
  • media
The cardiac rehab information tool What is this project about? Previous research has shown that after an acute cardiac event, such as a heart attack, patients feel uninformed about the further course of treatment. Thus, it is often unclear that the possibility of cardiological rehabilitation exists and how to make…

Salon of Open Secrets

  • waste
  • culture
  • media
It is an open secret that hardware operating on our smart devices contains not only plastic, but also conflict materials such as tungsten, tin, tantulum and gold. Technology is therefore not neutral. These resources are mined in conflict regions, assembled to electric circuits under harmful labour conditions and mostly ending up…

Roadkill

  • animals
  • land use
  • traffic
In this citizen science project of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, we would like to create an overview of where animals are roadkilled and what reasons there might be for this. In the Roadkill project, we would like to cooperate with you in many ways, because…

Nature conservation monitoring

  • plants
  • animals
  • land use
We take care of our meadows and alpine pastures! For more than a decade, hundreds of farmers have been saying "We look at our meadows and alpine pastures!". The regular observations of the more than 700 participants impressively show that on more than 80 % of the monitoring plots in…
Every observation counts! The City Nature Challenge (short: CNC) is an annual nature competition between regions that takes place in spring (usually at the end of April, beginning of May) and is held simultaneously in various cities and regions worldwide. On four consecutive days, people around the world document the…

Writing History: Letters 1914-1919

  • history
  • culture
  • language
What is the project about? The crowdsourcing project "Letters 1914-1919" is about the transcription of the unique letter collection of the Vienna City Library from this period. In contrast to historical printed works, which are now subjected to automatic full-text recognition as standard, this is still not so easy to…
Many weather phenomena as well as their impacts and damage on the ground are reported in real time or immediately after the event by means of weather reports. Within the framework of the Trusted Spotter Network Austria, all reporters can be trained to become particularly trustworthy observers. All weather and…

Zeit.shift

  • history
  • language
  • culture
  • media
What is the Zeit.shift project about?  Zeit.Shift is an Interreg project of the Provincial Library Dr. Friedrich Teßmann, the University and Provincial Library Tyrol and the research institute Eurac Research with the aim of computer-linguistically indexing historical newspapers from the Tyrolean region together with Citizen Scientists and publishing them online.…
Besides the climate crisis, the global biodiversity crisis is one of the biggest challenges for humanity. In order to protect our biodiversity and to detect changes at an early stage, a close-meshed monitoring of our environment is necessary. Modern molecular biological methods can play a key role in this. One…

The Psychological is Participatory

  • health
  • history
  • politics
  • culture
Counselling centres for women* are important institutions that have been founded since the 1980s by the second women's movement. In the project, researchers are conducting research together with counsellors and clients of Viennese women's* counselling centres. We are interested in the life stories of women* who seek help at counselling…

SoilPlastic

  • geology
  • land use
SoilPlastic is a citizen science project that collects data on plastic in soils. No prior knowledge is needed to participate and you can enter your observations in the SoilPlastic app in just a few minutes. What is it about? Plastic products and their remains are ubiquitous. However, we still know…

Phänoflex

  • plants
  • weather
Flexibilisation of WF-mowing dates according to the phenological model  The ÖPUL-measure Nature Conservation results in farmers usually having an agreement on a fixed mowing date. Due to the ongoing climate change, vegetation development fluctuates more and more especially during spring and early summer. Therefore, it was proposed to expand the…

Recycling Heroes

  • economy
  • waste
The sale of electrical and electronic equipment is constantly increasing and accordingly e-waste has already become the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Our society needs to face this challenge without delay, so the Recycling Heroes project aims to raise awareness about e-waste, especially among students but also in…
In Viel-Falter: Butterfly Monitoring volunteers, together with researchers from the Department of Ecology of the University of Innsbruck, observe, identify and count butterflies. The aim is to build up and establish an Austria-wide systematic butterfly monitoring. Butterflies are an excellent indicator group for the ecologically extremely important animal group of insects.…

ornitho.at

  • animals
Important groundwork for bird protection The association BirdLife Austria has been researching and protecting the native avifauna for over 50 years. Citizen science has always been an essential basis of this work, as BirdLife's expertise is based on decades of collecting bird records. In the past, observations were recorded on…
Have you ever seen a sparrow hawk in Vienna? Did a badger cross your path on your way home at night? Or do you have swallow nests at your housing complex? We are interested in your observations in Austrian cities! The project works specifically in urban areas. With the help…

Wild Neighbours

  • animals
  • land use
Are swallows nesting at your house or in your stable? Have you seen a badger in the middle of town? Or do you regularly observe a kestrel in your garden? We are interested in your observations in rural settlement areas!
Overview You can tell by its name: The forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula) is a characteristic species for deciduous and mixed forests. It belongs to the dormouse family and its survival is inextricably linked with forest habitats. The forest dormouse is protected throughout Europe, but data on its distribution is largely…
Schmetterlinge Österreichs: an app for scientifically recording Austria's butterflies On behalf of Blühendes Österreich, a charitable foundation of REWE International AG and the environmental NGO GLOBAL 2000, butterfly expert Peter Huemer published a report on the dramatic state of the butterfly fauna in May 2016. In Europe, their number had…

Fossilfinder

  • geology
Due to the enormous request and the multitude of consignments of fossil images encompassing almost the entire Earth history, the precise issues and the resulting project target were adapted in accordance to the requirements and wishes oft he citizen scientists. The geographical and chronological distribution of fossils in Austria is…

BeeRadar

  • animals
We are tracing the Sculptured Resin Bee! Home of the Sculptured Resin Bee (Megachile sculpturalis, Smith 1853) is far away in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan. In 2008, the Sculptured Resin Bee was discovered in southern France as the first introduced wild bee species in Europe. Since then, the bee…

naturbeobachtung.at

  • animals
  • plants
  • mushrooms
Since 2006, a wide variety of nature observations can be reported on naturbeobachtung.at. Specially designed reporting masks for various groups of animals, plants and fungi allow detailed entries. The reporters can, as far as possible, identify their observations taxonomically or report them as "undetermined species". The latter can then be…

CrowdWater

  • weather
  • land use
  • water
  • waste
CrowdWater is a hydrological citizen science project of the University of Zurich. CrowdWater uses an app to collect data about water. No prior knowledge is required to participate. What is the project about? CrowdWater stands for independent and reliable data collection by anyone with an interest in water. The observations collected…

Kremser scorpion

  • animals
  • history
Participatory exploration of the "Kremser scorpion” (Euscorpius tergestinus) with school students "Triestino scorpion" (Euscorpius tergestinus - still listed as E. carpathicus in the Red List of NÖ), which are threatened with extinction in Lower Austria, exists as an archaeozoon in Krems. This population is an isolated north-eastern outpost of the…
Archaeological finds of textile remains give an insight into ancient weaving techniques, including fabrics from the Hallstatt salt mine dating from between 1500 and 300 BC, or finds of gold threads such as those from Ebreichsdorf in Lower Austria, ca. 1100 BC. They are scientifically analysed and reworked in the…

United by Crisis?

  • history
  • catastrophs
  • land use
  • culture
Participate in archaeological field surveys and/or in cleaning, documenting & interpreting archaeological finds. A transdisciplinary look at the early Neolithic communities in the Schletz settlement cluster The project aims to explore the surroundings of the famous Neolithic settlement of Asparn/Schletz (Lower Austria). Numerous human remains suggest a violent attack on…

Everyday Morality

  • politics
  • media
  • culture
  • language
What is this project about? How can good people do bad things? How can people act contrary to their moral beliefs without having a bad conscience? White lies, rule bending, finding excuses for our own behaviour, which we would judge others for … To be honest, we have all done…

Plastic Pirates

  • water
  • waste
Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! A Citizen Science Initiative to investigate plastic pollution along rivers The pollution of beaches and riverbanks in Europe with plastic waste does not stop at borders. Preventing micro- and macroplastics in the environment, addressing this challenge scientifically and researching sustainable materials are therefore tasks we…
The Austria-wide winter bird count Every year, the BirdLife bird protection organisation invites all of Austria to take part in the nationwide winter bird count. All nature lovers are invited to count birds for an hour over four days until 6 January. At the same time, participants can actively contribute…

Mammoth wasp

  • animals
The mammoth wasp Megascolia maculate is the largest wasp species in Europe with a body length of up to 4.5 cm. In Austria, a few specimens of the mediterranean species were found in Vienna and Lower Austria at the end of the 19th century. Since then, there have been sporadic sightings in…

Memories and Imaginaries

  • history
  • culture
  • politics
  • language
Democratic Citizenship "Memories and Imaginaries" critically explores with students in Austria what it means to be a citizen. Who can or is allowed to actively participate in the political community? Who can or is not allowed to? We address these questions with the aim of finding collective strategies to confront…

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…
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…
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…
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…
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" 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.…
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…
The project Pilzdaten-Austria.eu aims at a comprehensive documentation of the occurrence and distribution of fungi in Austria, and to present and evaluate the available data. It is an Austria-wide cooperation of numerous mycologists, citizen scientists and institutions, which collect distribution data of fungi or hold collections of fungal specimens, coordinated…
Research with new plant aarivals from all over the world DURATION: 01.05.2020 - 30.04.2023 In a first-of-its-kind approach in Europe, pupils in the district of Liezen are researching and documenting the phenological development of invasive neophytes under the influence of climate change. With the help of experts, they develop and…

Tea Bag Index

  • land use
Can tea help us understand climate change? Yes, but we need your help! We would like you to become our research partner and take part in one of the largest experiments on soil decomposition processes at the moment!

Looking for Cowslips

  • plants
  • land use
In spring, scientists invite everybody around Europe to take part in the biggest cowslip observation campaign “Looking for Cowslips”. The aim of the project is to examine the patterns of flower morphological traits (i. e. heterostyly) in cowslip populations all across Europe using a citizen science approach. The citizen science…
Austria is rich in a wide range of mineral deposits. Precise documentation of both “old” deposits (e.g. mining heaps and tunnels, slag heaps) and “new” location spots (e.g. quarries, natural outcrops, road cuts, etc.) is one of the focuses of the Department of Mineralogy and Petrography at the Natural History…

GenTeam

  • history
  • culture
The European genealogy database "Connecting genealogists" GenTeam is a European platform of genealogical databases. Both scientists and amateur genealogists can make their data available here for free for other researchers. The cooperation of collaborators from many different countries has made it possible to compile databases that one researcher could not…

Topotheque

  • history
  • culture
The growing flood of images cannot be processed by institutions alone. Partnership with citizen scientists is vital. Topotheque is a digital archive and network in which this historical legacy can be gathered. For the locally resident Topotheque users, every new image and new piece of information means a valuable building…
A project of the Viennese environmental protection department No doubt: the first swallows and swifts have returned from Africa to breed in Vienna. Other species, like house sparrow and jackdaw, have spent the winter with us and have already occupied their breeding places. House Martin building a nest © Ferdinand…

Camaliot

  • weather
The CAMALIOT (Application of Machine Learning Technology for GNSS IoT Data Fusion) project The CAMALIOT project integrates data from the Internet of Things (IoT), including smartphones, and traditional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data sources to leverage Big Data, Data Fusion and Machine Learning technologies to to demonstrate how these data can be used in different scientific…
The Ideenbox (box of ideas) collects the problems of citizens and patients around the topic of health (such as physical and mental health issues, social consequences, care, health prevention...), for which solutions are to be developed with citizens, researchers and other stakeholders. Which health problem do you want research to solve?…

Picture Pile

  • Landnutzung
What is this project about? With Picture Pile you can contribute to solving global problems as climate chance and malnutrition by sorting piles of pictures together with other players. How can citizens participate in research? Sorting the pictures is very easy and works in a similar way to other Apps.…
Citizen Science with a long tradition The first water bird counts in Austria took place as early as the 1950s. In the following years, the number of counts was gradually increased, and from 1970 onwards Austria-wide surveys have been carried out. This makes the waterbird census one of the longest…

FotoQuest Go

  • land use
“Explore the European landscape and help science to protect the climate and the environment!” Do you like to be out in the fresh air? Would you like to make a concrete contribution to protect the environment and the climate and earn something in addition? With the FotoQuestGo app, you can…

GEO Wiki

  • land use
On Geo-Wiki.org you can participate in global environmental monitoring and help to observe and document the earth and what happens on it on a large scale. Whether it is deforestation, the varying size of fields in agriculture or the fast and precise evaluation of hurricane damage - your contribution is…
Since April 2021, the University of Vienna has been working on the project BaF - Biodiversity in Cemeteries in cooperation with Friedhöfe Wien (Vienna cemeteries). The aim is to document biodiversity (the occurrence of a wide variety of animal, plant and fungal species) and to investigate the active and passive…

ExploreAT!

  • language
  • history
ExploreAT! - exploring Austrias culture through the language glass The exploreAT! project aims to provide unique insights into the diversity of the German language (especially in Austria). With the help of innovative digital tools, a unique collection of Bavarian dialects in the region of the former Habsburg Monarchy (1911-1998) is…
Interested groups (mainly school classes) can participate in this scientific project about the whereabouts of the greylag geese in the Cumberland game park in Grünau im Almtal (Upper Austria). The social behaviour of the flock of greylag geese of the Konrad Lorenz Research Center (a core facility of the University…
The kestrel is the most common raptor in the city of Vienna. Since 2010, the "Vienna Kestrel Project" has been investigating how these falcons have adapted to city life. A key component of our research is knowledge about nest locations which allow us to access broods for further investigation. The…

Herpetofauna

  • animals
Amphibians and reptiles under observation in Austria Importance and evaluability of databases increase with the extent, the precision and the currency of the data stored. The Natural History Museum Vienna, one of the largest non-university research institutions in Austria, houses more than 30 million objects from the fields of biology,…

GeoMaus

  • animals
The project “GeoMaus” collects information about the distribution of small mammals in Austria, Germany and in Switzerland. Nature enthusiasts are invited to report their observations to learn more about the occurrence of small mammals. Two identification keys (text key and decision tree), information on trace images and on the appearance,…

Citree

  • plants
  • land use
With the Citizen Science Project "CITREE" a crowdsourcing instrument for monitoring the growth of urban trees, will be developed and used. It builds on the "Sparkling Science" project "Woody Woodpecker", which deals with the growth, structure and function of wood. Urban trees fulfill a variety of functions, such as improving…
The “Blick ins Dickicht” project is dedicated to the search for the smallest native dormouse – the hazel dormouse. Until now, only very little has been known about this rare small animal. In order to learn more about its way of life and also how best protect it in working…

Categories to come

  • media
  • culture
  • language
What is the project specifically about? So much hangs on just one thing - and yet words sometimes fail us. How do we talk about our bodies and the things that we need, want, and do when it comes to sex and sexual pleasure? And who do we talk to…