Focus of the year 2021: "Hard-to-reach groups"
For years, the issue of reaching "hard-to-reach groups" has been a concern for actors in science and culture education. Against the backdrop of the latest results from the Eurobarometer 2021 survey, the topic has now become even more important. As the surveys in the EU countries once again showed, Austrians are considered to be particularly sceptical about science. For this reason, it was and still is a major concern of the OeAD to focus its work on target groups that have had little or no contact with science and research.
In 2021, the OeAD took up the topic with its Center for Citizen Science as part of a thematic focus. Under the title "Hard-to-reach-groups", experts exchanged definitions and terminology in the course of four events and discussed which language and approaches of science communication, cultural education and citizen science can be used to address "hard-to-reach-groups".
In the "Documentation on the focus 'Hard-to-reach-groups'. Contents from four events on the topic in 2021" summarises the most important discussion points and empirical values. The document is intended to give a brief overview of the topic and provide food for thought for work with previously unreached population groups. On 13 pages, interested parties will find information on questions such as "Who or what are 'hard-to-reach groups'?", "Does online lead to success?" or "Language - Where are its possibilities and limitations?". The documentation is available in German for download (see Downloads).
2022: Campaign #YoungScienceRocks for the reduction of science scepticism
This year, the thematic focus is on scientific scepticism in Austria. Under the motto "Living Science - Shaping the Future", the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research and the OeAD are launching numerous initiatives on scientific scepticism and what can be done to counter it. Further information can be found HERE.
