The Sparkling Science Spotlight on December 15th focused on inclusion and participation. Three projects from different scientific disciplines showed how citizen science can help break down barriers and research new forms of participation in schools, healthcare and public spaces. In addition to researchers, participating teachers also reported on their experiences from the transdisciplinary collaborations and the opportunities offered by participatory research.
Verena Tatzer-Hanten (University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt) and Irene Mayerhofer (Caritas School Wiener Neustadt) presented the project ‘The Generation-Friendly City.’ In this project, pupils, students and older adults work together to explore how public spaces need to be designed to enable participation for different generations. The speakers provided insights into how the citizen science approach and methods such as storytelling cafés, photovoice and interviews are used to involve young people and older adults in all steps of the research process. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of intergenerational needs and to develop practical ideas for more inclusive urban design, using Wiener Neustadt as an example.
Arnold Baca, Charlotte Gatti, Andreas Petter (University of Vienna) and Stefan Schraml (HTL Leonding) presented the “Meaningfully Active” project. This project is dedicated to the development of assistance systems designed to help older people with visual impairments or blindness to remain physically active or become active again. Starting with an awareness-raising phase, schoolchildren engage intensively with the realities of life for the target group and work with those affected to develop ideas for technical solutions. This is followed by the creation of prototypes of assistance systems designed to facilitate and motivate physical activity.
Verena Kumpusch (University of Klagenfurt) and Barbara Knabl (Lavantinum) reported on the “Transform2gether” project. This builds on the results of the previous “Transform4School” project and aims to strengthen school democracy and global learning through participatory processes. Teachers and school administrators at eight schools in Vienna, Carinthia and Tyrol are addressing democratic school culture and sustainable development goals in specially developed courses. The insights gained from these courses are tested, documented and reflected upon together with students in research workshops. In the long term, this will result in a sustainable network of expertise and a digital competence platform.
Recordings of the lectures are available on YouTube (in German).
The Sparkling Science Spotlights series will continue in March 2026.
