For the sixth time, the OeAD and its Center for Citizen Science are inviting interested individuals of all ages - especially schoolchildren - to take part in the Citizen Science Award on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. From April 1st to July 9th, the dedicated citizen scientists can research eight selected projects from the fields of natural sciences, humanities and social sciences and win cash (for school classes) or non-cash prizes (for adults). All projects are designed so that they can be carried out even in the event of Covid-19-related exit restrictions and school closures.

Projects can be easily integrated into lessons

All eight projects can be easily integrated into school lessons or youth work. Seven of the projects are also aimed at individuals. The possibilities for participating in research are very different, both digital and analogue.

A particular focus in terms of research methods this year is the monitoring of various natural phenomena. Interested citizens are called upon, among other things, to observe the weather, report fossils from the Mesozoic era as well as native or high alpine plants and animals, or research forage plants suitable for wild bees. In other projects, the social connectedness of school classes can be researched, online dictionary entries on youth languages ​​and dialects in Austria can be created, and digital teaching and learning materials on the topic of “bionics” can be co-developed.

The HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein is participating for the first time this year with the PolliDiversity project! You can take part using the following link: Project PolliDiversity

This year, school classes again have the opportunity to document their participation in one of the projects using video and submit it for the special prize. This is endowed with €2,000 and goes to the most creative video that was created as part of research on one of the eight projects.

Ceremonial award ceremony in autumn 2021

All prizes will once again be presented this year at a celebratory event that will take place in autumn 2021. In advance, it will once again be possible to delve deeper into the respective research projects at the Citizen Science Award Day. On this day, the researchers offer a variety of workshops or lectures and sometimes also invite you to special tours of the respective facilities. Of course, they are also available to answer personal questions about their careers or their respective research areas. All information about this will follow in the summer on the Young Science website.

More information

You can find out more about the Citizen Science Award and the projects on citizenscience .

Important! Even though the Citizen Science Award is a research competition, we ask all participants to comply with the Austrian government's Corona measures and not to take any risks. Health has priority!

Photo credits: HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein