National projects
The Vienna Business Agency provides the Understanding Science funding to assist in communication activities that aim to present research and scientific results in an understandable and easily accessible manner. Interested parties can apply for Understanding Science Funding to cover payroll costs, costs for services, including fees for speakers or knowledge procurement, travel expenses for speakers, moderators, or lecturers, for the purchase of machines or licenses, and for the acquisition of intellectual property rights.
As part of the Salzburg University Week 2025 on the topic WHAT LIVES US ... AND WHAT (MIGHT) POISON US, the SHW Board of Directors is awarding the Audience Prize for Science Communication for the 20th time. Graduate scientists from all disciplines and subject areas born in 1990 or later are cordially invited to apply. The Board is looking for texts in the scope of a 25-minute presentation that deal with the general theme of this year's Salzburg University Week.
Deadline 1 May, 2025
“Top Citizen Science” is a funding program of the FWF. The aim is to support research activities that enable the participation of citizens, who contribute their skills, expertise and curiosity, thereby expanding research results and knowledge and contributing to a substantial, additional gain in scientific knowledge. This supports citizen science activities in ongoing FWF-funded research projects. “Top Citizen Science” projects can be funded for a maximum of 24 months with a maximum of 100,000 euros.
Deadline: April 8, 2025
European projects
Horizon Europe is the new EU research and innovation program of the European Commission (EC) with €95.5 billion in funding for the seven-year period. A good opportunity to familiarise yourself with the EC's funding criteria is to work as a scientific evaluator. You will find all the relevant information on the Portal Funding & Tender Opportunities.
The European Union Prize for Citizen Science 2025 recognizes outstanding projects that promote scientific progress and social development through active citizen participation. A total prize money of 100,000 euros is awarded to initiatives that promote research, innovation and creativity in the service of society. The submission phase began on January 10, 2025 and ends on March 11, 2025. The award ceremony will take place in September 2025 as part of the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz.
One project will be awarded in each of the following categories
- Grand Prize (60,000 euros)
- Diversity & Collaboration Award (20,000 euros)
- Digital Communities Award (20,000 euros)
The prize is awarded by the European Commission as part of the IMPETUS project and organized by Ars Electronica. The aim is to highlight the importance of citizen science for an open and inclusive civil society and to promote excellent initiatives.
Further information on the submission process and the conditions of participation can be found on the Ars Electronica website: ars.electronica.art/citizenscience/de/
The IMPETUS project offers an accelerator program that supports selected citizen science initiatives with training, mentoring and financial support. The program aims to maximize the impact of the projects and support them in a seven-month program. The Accelerator includes a one-week boot camp, online mentoring by citizen science experts, specific training courses and peer learning and networking opportunities. New projects will be supported financially with 20,000 euros and ongoing projects with 10,000 euros. The deadline for submissions is March 13, 2025. Further information is available on the IMPETUS project website: impetus4cs.eu/opencall/
International projects
The funding programme of the Dutch NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) aims to strengthen Citizen Science within Dutch research organizations by establishing Citizen Science Hubs. The hubs are intended to help build capacity and expertise at universities and colleges. Organizations can apply for funding for personnel and material costs.
Deadline: March 14, 2025
Journals
The journal Citizen Science: Theory and Practice invites the submission of abstracts for a special issue. The thematic focus is on the contributions of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) to participatory science. The editors are looking for articles that highlight innovative approaches, challenges and potential.
Deadline: February 28, 2025
The Sustainability Nexus Forum is a succeeding Sustainability Management Forum as an inter- and transdisciplinary journal which prioritises Nexus perspectives in the realm of Sustainability Transformation. The journal currently seeks contributions that highlight the transformative potential of participatory practices in addressing sustainability challenges within the sustainability nexus framework, which explores connections, synergies and trade-offs across various domains.
Submission deadline: ongoing
Research articles dealing with different aspects of citizen science in public health can currently be submitted for a Research Topic in the journal “Frontiers in Public Health”. The focus should be on increased participation and innovative formats and results, which can be dealt with in case studies, method descriptions or theory discussions. However, other formats are also possible, e.g. curriculum documents, policy briefs or commentaries.
Deadline: March 23, 2025
Conferences
The annual conference of the Health Communication and Science Communication sections of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies will take place in Munich from September 10 to 12, 2025 on the topic of “Communicating Planetary Health”.
Contributions can be submitted anonymously until March 15, 2025 in the form of extended abstracts via ConfTool.
Deadline: March 15, 2025
OTTERS Conference
The OTTERS project aims to promote societal change in the field of marine and freshwater management through the expansion of citizen science. OTTERS supports the coordination of EU Citizen Science initiatives with a focus on marine and freshwater.
Under the motto “Waves of Change - Changing Hearts and Minds through Citizen Science”, the OTTERS conference will take place in Oeiras, Portugal, from May 23 to 24, 2025. The aim of the conference is to highlight current citizen science research and initiatives and the OTTERS project's contribution to this field over the last three years. “Waves of Change” aims to build bridges between citizen science, education and civic engagement and bring together relevant actors in all these fields.
Deadline for submissions: March 21, 2025
The next ScienceComm will take place on September 3 and 4, 2025 at SQUARE at the University of St.Gallen.
The conference theme is “Attention! Engage!”. In an age of information and opinion overload, attracting and retaining attention is a challenge - not only for marketing, politics and the media, but also for science communication. Currently, formats on three main topics can be submitted:
- Science Communication between modesty and marketing - Conceptual questions
- How to tackle polarization and how to reach distant audiences? - The challenges
- Turning knowledge into stories - techniques for creative storytelling
Contributions can be given in German, English or French.
Deadline: March 31, 2025
More Calls
The Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism honors journalists for their outstanding work in the categories Text, Electronic Media, Short Form and Young Talent. The work submitted should be generally understandable and contribute to the popularization of scientific facts. The decisive factor is the original journalistic treatment of current scientific topics. All journalists publishing in German-language media are eligible to participate.
Deadline: March 30, 2025
Fast Forward Science is looking for scientific audio and video contributions. Entries can be submitted in three categories: The Young Scientist Award (Short & Long) honors the best video contributions, while the Audio Award recognizes outstanding audio formats. Prizes will also be awarded for the best debut works. Group submissions of up to six people are also possible.
The Fast Forward Science online competition, which is endowed with a total of €9,000, is a joint project of Wissenschaft im Dialog and the Stifterverband.
Deadline: April 30, 2025
