Current projects

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…

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…

What is the Zeit.shift project about?  The aim of the Zeit.shift project is to establish a long-term, cross-border cooperation for the preservation, provision and mediation of the cultural text heritage of Tyrol and South Tyrol from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Taking historical newspapers as a prototypical example,…

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?…

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…

The project „Innovationswerkstatt Neu Leopoldau“ (short: Werkstatt Neu Leopoldau) accompanies the settlement of the urban neighborhood in Vienna’s 21st district as applied research. The phase of arrival of residents and users in the district is to be investigated and co-designed as a potential for social sustainability in Viennese housing. In addition…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

In Viel-Falter: Butterfly Monitoring volunteers, together with researchers from the Department of Ecology of the University of Innsbruck, observe, identify and count butterflies. Given the diverse habitats in Austria, around 210 different species of butterfly live here, considerably more than in the whole of Germany. At the same time, many…

“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…

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…

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…

"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…

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…

We take care of our meadows and our alpine pastures! Since 2007, farmers from all over Austria have been observing the development of plants and animals on their meadows. The project motto "We take care of our meadows!" stands for the annual counting and documentation of indicator species as well…

Visitors of the Cumberland game park in Grünau im Amtal (Upper Austria) are warmly invited to use an app to enter sightings and behavioural observations of greylag geese, common ravens and northern bald ibises and thus support current research projects and the long-term monitoring of the Konrad Lorenz Research Center…

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…

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…

CrowdWater is a hydrological citizen science project. Everybody with an interest in water can contribute and collect hydrological data in a simple way. The collected data is used to model floods and droughts as well as to supplement existing measurements. It is a main goal of CrowdWater to be applied…

Project description The Pollen Diary (www.pollentagebuch.at; www.pollendiary.com; Patient's Hayfever 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…

"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…

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!

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…

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,…

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…

Which are the most common bee viruses in Austria and are these viruses related to winter losses of local bee colonies? To answer these questions, 200 beekeepers from all over Austria are working as Citizen Scientists in the "virus monitoring" for three years (2018-2020). Each year in September they collect…

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…