With around 500 international participants and a varied programme, BOKU was well attended despite the Easter holidays. The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences organised the conference together with the Natural History Museum Vienna and the European Citizen Science Association.
The ECSA opened with a panel discussion with representatives from the European Commission, the BMBWF and the European and African Citizen Science umbrella organisations. The opening including the panel discussion is available as a recording on YouTube.
The OeAD was already involved in two formats on the first day, both of which focused on the implementation of citizen science projects in schools. In the workshop "Citizen science with schools - Developing best practices for diverse educational contexts", the approximately 70 participants were able to discuss the topics of the existing guidelines for the school context and categorise them in their experience.
In the workshop "Empowerment in schools: reflecting the roles of students, teachers & scientists in citizen science projects", the 40 participants worked intensively on an understanding of the roles of researchers, teachers and pupils in Citizen Science projects and highlighted potential conflicts and learning opportunities.
On 4 April, expert Shannon Dosemagen gave a keynote speech on the question of what the citizen science community can contribute in the face of rapid changes and global trends. The lecture "The challenge of continuous adaptation: citizen science for a changing world" is available on YouTube.
On the same day, a fishbowl organised by the OeAD also took place with the title "Change in schools: Strengthening the understanding of democracy and science through participatory approaches". The experts from the fields of Citizen Science, Service Learning and Holocaust Education exchanged views and worked out how many overlaps these participatory formats actually have.
The conference programme concluded on 5 April with a presentation by Austrian science and technology researcher Katja Mayer. Her keynote speech "Participatory Turns: The bumpy roads to recognition of participatory approaches in the social sciences, and lessons for citizen science" is also available to listen to.
On Saturday, the Natural History Museum Vienna opened its doors for the Citizen Science Day. The OeAD was represented with a stand for this year's Citizen Science Award. The two projects "ABC of Dialects" and "Let's talk with a scientist" invited guests to join in the research.
Impressions of the whole conference can be found on Flickr. The next ECSA conference will take place in Oulu, Finland, in 2026.
