Project archive
“Healthy Soil" research platform for Viennese community gardensAs a follow-up project to "Heavy Metal City-Zen", we are once again inviting Viennese community gardens, garden projects or similar garden initiatives to take part in this project and conduct research together with us. The aim of this project is to scientifically assess the potential risk of heavy metal contamination of crops in Viennese city gardens and to investigate the extent of soil contamination with microplastics.We...
Wanted - Garden dormouse in VorarlbergThe garden dormouse, which is active at dusk and at night, has probably the most contrasting coat colouration among the small mammals in our latitudes. It prefers coniferous and mixed forests with rocky ground as its habitat. Little is known about its occurrence in Vorarlberg.In a citizen science research project, the inatura - Erlebnis Naturschau Dornbirn was therefore searching for the garden dormouse in Vorarlberg in cooperation with the apodemus...
Music therapy from our perspectives“My Tune“ was a participatory research project in the field of music therapy (MT), which was carried out at the WZMF* and funded by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft GmbH in the frame of the “Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement in Research 2021” call.From March 2022 to April 2023, the “My Tune” research team developed a MT assistive reflection tool for young adult service users, namely the “My Tune” tool. The team consisted of:WZMF researchers...
The shrinking town of Eisenerz lies at the foot of the Erzberg mountain, Austria’s largest and best-known site of extraction of iron ore. The post-industrial town is experiencing a rural exodus, which concerns women in particular. The spatial practices of mining areas have been under-researched using inclusive methods. Mining is predominantly narrated in male, heroic narratives, while counter-narratives of repair, care, reproduction and maintenance are mostly overlooked. Within this complex...
Youth and single parents doing urban research About the projectThe climate crisis repeatedly exposes existing weaknesses in democratic practice. On the one hand, groups that are most affected by the consequences of climate change are often underrepresented in the prevailing political and planning practice (participation crisis). On the other hand, social inequality and the exclusion of people from political decision-making processes increases the loss of trust in political decision-makers and...
What are Urban Heat Stories?It will get hotter and hotter in the city over the next few years. The impact of heat can vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood. It depends not only on the building density or the degree of sealing in the city, but also on the age and state of health of the people and their immediate living environment.The Urban Heat Stories research project therefore collects individual heat experiences of vulnerable groups in Vienna. The aim is to make the diverse...
DESIGNING AN INFORMATION TOOL FOR CARDIAC REHABILITATIONBackgroundPrevious research has shown that after an acute cardiac event, such as a heart attack, patients can feel uninformed about the follow-up care and cardiac rehabilitation. Digital technologies have the potential to make health-related information available at any time and in a layman-friendly manner.The aim of the project was to develop a digital prototype that provides patients with information regarding cardiac rehabilitation...
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 stuff like that. Nobody is always 100 % moral - misconduct spans from little untruths to refined fraud, from omission of some facts to crimes. All these things have one thing in common: When performing these actions, the...
Research with new plant aarivals from all over the worldDURATION: 01.05.2020 - 30.04.2023In 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 test modern, multilingual field research instruments and educational tools, thus laying the foundation for a long-term, nationwide Citizen Science network. The...
The CAMALIOT (Application of Machine Learning Technology for GNSS IoT Data Fusion) projectThe 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 applications. Taking advantage of dual frequency chipsets now available in some Android mobile phones...
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 the state of exclusion and marginalization.The aim of the research is for researchers to explore the importance of remembering, retelling and re-imagining the past and the future...
Offers active beyond the duration of Zeit.shiftThe Zeit.shift project ended in June 2023. The central web offerings continue to be active beyond the project duration. Specifically, the results can be followed via the website. The newly generated web portal is accessible worldwide and the text material provided (several million newspaper pages) is searchable and downloadable. Geodata and content tags can be assigned via an external platform and the online game Ötzit! is freely available...
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 eastern Austria in recent years. Due to the current climatic warming it can be assumed that the species will spread further in Austria in the next years. In order to observe and document this, we need your...
The research project Werkstatt Neu Leopoldau is focused on the settlement process as a workshop situation for social innovations in housing and urban development, with the aim of fostering sustainable development and creating good neighbourhoods.As an applied research project, "Werkstatt Neu Leopoldau" (Co-creation Neu Leopoldau) accompanies the settlement process of the IBA quarter in Vienna's 21st district. The phase of residents' and users' arrival in the neighbourhood is explored, which...
OverviewYou 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 still missing. So where in Austria can it be found?Have you ever seen a forest dormouse? With its black eye mask, it reminds us of a superhero in action, but in fact it...
The Austrian start-up Livin Farms develops innovative technologies for the sustainable breeding of insects. Food and other organic residues can be recycled with the help of insects and converted back into valuable proteins. In this way, cycles can be closed and food systems can be made more sustainable.Explorer ChallengeEducation is another central aspect at Livin Farms. As part of the Explorer Challenge school project Livin Farms brings sustainability, circular economy and insects to...
1. DescriptionTake part in a Citizen Science Project, in which your cat will play the main role! According to current knowledge, any kind of damage or addiction to catnip can be ruled out – the administration of catnip to the cat is completely harmless. The experiment requires about 20 minutes a day for three days in a row (preparation time is included). At the end of the experiment, a total of 15 minutes of recordings should result.2. GeneralDear Citizen Scientists!First of all, thanks...
ExploreAT! - exploring Austrias culture through the language glassThe 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 being explored. The extensive corpus contains 200,000 main lemmas in about 4 million entries. The collection includes a 5 volume dictionary with about 50,000 main...
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 project “Looking for Cowslips” was carried out already in 2019 and 2020 in Estonia and Latvia. Within the frames of this campaign, we obtained heterostyly data from...
Compared to PolliDiversity, PolliDiversity 2.0. is still about creating habitats for insects, but the tasks of the citizen scientists have changed somewhat due to usability. The project was offered for the first time at the Citizen Science Award in 2021. In 2022, the second round took place in a modified form. Due to career changes of the project participants, the project will not be offered in 2023, but further project runs are planned for the future.The aim of PolliDiversity 2.0. is to...
Reporting and collecting dead songbirdsYou find a dead songbird in your garden? Your cat brings home a dead bird? If you are in this situation, you can support a current research project of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Avian malariaWithin the framework of the Citizen-Science project "Avian malaria", dead songbirds and woodpeckers from Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland are collected by the Institute of Pathology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. The birds...
We invite urban community gardens, garden projects or similar garden initiatives to take part in this project and research alongside us. The goal of this project is to scientifically assess the potential risk of heavy metal contamination in crop plants in Vienna’s city gardens.BackgroundUrban gardening has become increasingly popular over the last two decades. However, gardeners are often concerned about their crops being contaminated by heavy metals.Plant access to heavy metals is...
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 bees from five of their colonies and send them to AGES, Department of Apiculture and Bee Protection. In addition, they report the winter losses of their colonies. The samples are analysed...
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 about these things? Categories to Come invites everybody to put their sexuality into words, and to discuss new words or new uses of words with other people. Goal of the project is to create a platform and gather resources, that open up so far unnamed...
In this project, citizen scientists studied the breeding behaviour of greylag geese and northern bald ibises. The project was run by scientists of the Konrad Lorenz Research Center (Grünau im Almtal, Upper Austria).Since its foundation in 1973, the Konrad Lorenz Research Center (KLF, a core facility of the University of Vienna) has been engaged in research on avian social systems. Three bird species in particular are used as models: greylag goose, raven and northern bald ibis.What was it...
Project descriptionWhen it comes to language, everyone can have a say!"IamDiÖ – German in Austria" invites you to explore the diversity, change and use of all possible forms of German in Austria, from dialect and standard language to youth language and jargon.By including the knowledge, opinions, experiences and concerns of the citizens in the research process, socially relevant topics are addressed and discussed publicly. The aim of the Citizen Science project "IamDiÖ – German in...
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...
An Intergenerational Ethnography on Rural Images of LongingTaking the unique photography collection of the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art as its starting point, the research project “Stadt-Land-Kind” (City-Country-Child) investigated the myth of a “better life in the countryside” from an intergenerational perspective. In dialogue with social scientists, and in exchange with older generations of parents and grandparents, pupils conducted research into prevailing urban/rural...
This project ran from 01.07.2017 to 31.12.2019. You can download a thematic booklet created in the process at the bottom of this page. In addition, print copies can now be made available to school classes free of charge (while stocks last). Please contact the project leaders if you would like to use them for teaching.Faces of migration. Youth from Tyrol collaborated to research their family histories of migrationStudies in social history have documented time and again that migration has...
“Homegrown - There is nothing like a homegarden”Project descriptionWith their variety of plant species and the experience of the gardeners, rural home gardens constitute an integral component of the cultivated landscape in the Lienz district, East Tyrol. Together with pupils of the BG/BRG Lienz school (and biology, math/physics and English teachers), scientists are investigating rural home gardens, including stocks of plant species and the use of plants. These results will be compared with...
Visitors of the Cumberland game park in Grünau im Amtal (Upper Austria) were invited to use an app to enter sightings and behavioural observations of greylag geese, common ravens and northern bald ibises and thus support research projects and the long-term monitoring of the Konrad Lorenz Research Center (KLF).Since its foundation in 1973, the KLF (nowadays a core facility of the University of Vienna) has been dedicated to research on the social systems of free-flying birds. Especially three...
The Austrian Breeding Bird Atlas 2013-2018, published in 2024, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive source of information on the occurrence of breeding birds in Austria and changes in their distribution over the last few decades.What is the Breeding bird atlas?The breeding bird atlas presents the distribution of all 235 bird species that bred in Austria in the period 2013-2018 on 680 pages and compares these results with the first Austrian breeding bird atlas (1981-1985). During the six...
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. A question is asked about a displayed image, for example: “Is farmland visible in the image?”. Now the player can slide the picture to the right or to the left to answer the question with “yes”...
This project of the Austrian Alpine Association - a biodiversity monitoring above the timberline - increases our knowledge about alpine animal and plant species, their habitats and about the interrelationships of our actions and the effects on this sensitive living environment. The collected data on the 20 animal and plant species contribute to scientific questions on biodiversity in the Alps.MessageWhich animals live and which plants grow in our mountains? Within the framework of "Vielfalt...
This project has already been completed. You can download the final report at the bottom of this page.In “Tell us!”, we are looking for research questions on accidental injuries.Medical advances need innovative ideas: your knowledge is valuable! Who knows best how occupational, traffic-related or sports injuries should be investigated and treated? With “Tell us!”, the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft has started to bring questions of accidental injuries into research.Almost everyone...
“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 use your free time to help science improve important data sets for research into landscape changes in Europe. The app works very simply: with the help of your smartphone's GPS, it navigates you to the place...
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 important to evaluate satellite images or to check the automatic evaluation of satellite images and existing maps of land use. In this way, you help scientists to create reliable information...