Erwachsener und Kind stehen bei einem Strauch und machen ein Foto

Citizen Science Award

The Citizen Science Award has been bringing researchers and committed citizen scientists together for the past ten years: Every year from April 1 to July 31, school classes, youth groups, families and individuals are invited to take part in current citizen science projects. Attractive cash and non-cash prizes await the most committed participants. Interested projects can apply each fall for participation in the following year.

Citizen Science: Research for all

Involving citizens of all ages and population groups in research has added value for everyone involved: research not only receives a wealth of data, but also new ideas and suggestions for scientific questions “from outside”. By actively participating, citizen scientists can experience research processes and contribute to research into socially relevant topics. This makes science transparent, tangible and understandable. This in turn leads to greater acceptance of scientific findings in society and strengthens trust in science.

In Austria, the Citizen Science Award research competition has been offering interested parties the opportunity to participate in research projects since 2015 and has been extremely successful: more than 25,400 children, young people and adults from all over Austria have taken part in 66 research projects to date. Thanks to this commitment, research received more than 46,000 contributions from citizen scientists in the Citizen Science Award 2024 alone.

The projects participating in the Citizen Science Award 2025 can be found HERE.

The call for research projects for the Citizen Science Award 2026 runs from September 15 to November 5, 2025. More information will follow over the summer.

What benefits does the Citizen Science Award offer to research projects?

The OeAD Center for Citizen Science organises the entire Citizen Science Award on behalf of the BMBWF (see "Citizen Science Award process"). How do researchers benefit?

Capacity building through workshops as well as networking and exchange of experience with other citizen science projects
Extensive promotion of the award and the participating projects and thus reaching more citizen scientists
Personal contact with interested teachers at a teacher training in cooperation with the PH Vienna
Generation of new data and research contributions
Organisation of a festive event for the presentation of the awards
Financial support for cash and non-cash prizes

Ein Forscher und zwei Mädchen hocken an einem Gewässer und beobachten Wassertiere in einem Glas.

Warum Forschende am Citizen Science Award teilnehmen

Citizen Science Award process

School classes, individuals and families can participate in the Citizen Science Award every year from April 1 to July 31. But there is also a lot going on before and after the co-research period! Therefore, the entire competition is divided into several phases.

Call for Citizen Science projects

To become part of the “Citizen Science Award” research competition, citizen science projects can apply every fall using a simple online form. The OeAD and the BMFWF jointly select the six to eight most suitable projects from all those submitted. These are notified by e-mail at the beginning of December.

Interested researchers can find the conditions of participation for the Citizen Science Award 2025 here. The documents for the Citizen Science Award 2026 will be published in the course of summer 2025. The next call will run from September 15 to November 5, 2025.

Eine Person dreht an den Zeigern einer Uhr. Links von der Uhr liegt ein Stapel Bühcher, rechts davon eine Pinnwand mit Post-its.

Start workshop

To ensure that the participating projects are well prepared for the research competition, the OeAD is organizing a kick-off workshop in mid-December. The Citizen Science Award projects will present themselves and get to know each other. The OeAD will also present the most important details and deadlines for the co-research period.

Mehrere Personen sitzen vor einem Laptop bei einem Webinar

Online training workshops

Before the start of the Mitforsch period, there will be an online PH training course for teachers and an online training workshop for youth group leaders. The aim is to motivate them to take part in the competition. All projects present how school classes and youth groups can take part, provide detailed training in the Mitforsch methods and are available to answer questions.

Grafik mit einem Megafon in der Mitte und rundherum Symbole für E-Mail, Internet, Lupe, Gespäch etc.

Application & public relations

As part of the application phase of the Citizen Science Award, all schools in Austria will receive a digital brochure presenting the current projects. Postcards are also available in printed form for display and distribution. The OeAD advertises the Citizen Science Award extensively via various channels and cooperations and the projects also motivate their communities.

Eine Gruppe von Kindern und Erwachsenen steht bei Büschen und erforscht diese.

Let's go: Everyone joins in the research!

From April 1, the projects invite all school classes, youth groups, individuals and families in Austria to join in the research until July 31. The most committed school classes and youth groups will win cash prizes, while individuals and families will be awarded non-cash prizes.

During the Mitforsch period, the projects will report to the OeAD on their activities on an ongoing basis. At the same time, the OeAD will continue to advertise the Citizen Science Award extensively via its channels.

Who won?

While the OeAD prepares the award ceremony, the projects evaluate the entries received from school classes, youth groups, individuals and families in order to determine the winners. These are then notified by the OeAD at the beginning of the school year and invited to the award ceremony at the Young Science Congress.

Die Gewinner/innen des Citzizen Science Awards 2024 stehen in einem Hof und präsentieren ihre Schecks.

Award ceremony

The most committed participants are awarded prizes by the projects, the OeAD and the BMFWF at a ceremony held each fall as part of the Young Science Congress. The Young Science Congress takes place every year in cooperation with a research institution. In 2022 this was the Vienna University of Teacher Education, in 2023 the Institute of Science and Technology (ISTA) in Klosterneuburg and in 2024 the University College of Teacher Education Vienna/NÖ, Strebersdorf site (Vienna).

The 4th Young Science Congress, at which the prizes of the Citizen Science Award 2025 will be presented, will take place on October 23, 2025 in cooperation with the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the Ars Electronica Center.