The training series started with a lecture on science communication and citizen science as a participatory approach to science communication. Julia Metag, professor of communication science at the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster, focused on formats, trends and problem areas. The theoretical input was followed by selected examples of science communication formats.
In a second lecture, Marika Cieslinski and Walburg Steurer, staff members at the OeAD Center for Citizen Science, presented points of contact to Austria. In a historical outline, they showed that science communication has a long tradition in this country. Already at the turn of the century, Vienna was a leading international center for science communication - for example, the first adult education center in the world was founded here and the Natural History Museum was opened. From the 1930s to 1970, however, little happened, and science communication did not become a research policy issue again until the 1970s. Networks emerged, such as the Club of Educational and Scientific Journalists, and press offices at universities.
The beginnings of Citizen Science also go back to the 19th century. In 1851, for example, there was already a first phenological observation network at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics. The research approach and method experienced its greatest upswing around the turn of the millennium with the spread of mobile devices and apps for data collection. In addition to insights into the history, the staff of the OeAD Center for Citizen Science presented networks and actors, tracing on the one hand the top-down promotion of Citizen Science by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, and on the other hand the bottom-up movement at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences with the platform "Österreich forscht".
The importance of science communication was highlighted especially against the background of the results of the Eurobarometer survey 2021, the Science Barometer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the study of the Institute for Advanced Studies on the ambivalences and causes of science and democracy skepticism in Austria.
Further modules of the training series will take place on June 14 and November 8, 2023, both from 14:00 - 16:00. More information and the links to register can be found HERE.
The training series is aimed at Young Science and Citizen Science contact persons at Austrian research institutions. There is no Young Science and/or Citizen Science contact person at your research institution yet? If you would like to appoint one, simply write to us at citizenscience@oead.at