During the meeting, the representatives from the different EU countries received an overview of the initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) in the field of Citizen Science. In an international comparison, Austria's pioneering role in the field of top-down funding for science education and Citizen Science was particularly evident.
Since the 1st call for proposals of the Sparkling Science funding program, the field has grown continuously. From 2007 to 2019, a total of 299 research projects with schools from different scientific fields have been funded. Europe-wide, the funding program is considered unique because research-education collaborations were supported at a very early stage and the application process was open to all scientific disciplines and topics. In addition to the financial support, the initiation of the Young Science Initiatives at the OeAD added further initiatives for science education.
With the establishment of the OeAD Center for Citizen Science, the initiation of the Top Citizen Science funding initiative, the first edition of the Citizen Science Award and the founding of the Alliance for Responsible Science in 2015, Citizen Science was made even better known in the scientific community and the public. The relaunch of Sparkling Science through the successor program Sparkling Science 2.0 will enable a continuation of the positive effects and a further deepening of the dialogue between science and society.