Sparkling Science 2.0

The ‘Sparkling Science 2.0’ research funding programme supports citizen science projects in which scientific institutions work together with educational institutions and, where possible, partners from business and society in order to jointly generate new research results.

As part of the 34 funded citizen science projects in the first call for proposals, more than 120 schools are working together with almost 70 research partners and around 40 partners from business and society in Austria and abroad.
The 27 newly funded projects in the 2nd call for proposals started in autumn 2024.

A total of EUR 21 million has been available to fund “Sparkling Science” projects since 2021. In total, the research funding programme is expected to reach almost 120,000 people (including more than 80,000 school pupils and around 38,000 other citizen scientists), enabling them to actively participate in science and research.

Zwei Schülerinnen und ein Schüler sitzen und betrachten eine Flüssigkeit

“Sparkling Science 2.0” is a research programme to promote cooperation between schools, research institutions and society and pursues various objectives.

Funded projects

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Participating institutions

Symbolfoto mit bunten Mensch-Ärgere-Dich-Nicht-Figuren

Contact

Veranstaltungen

Retrospect

Sparkling Science 2.0 in numbers

funded Citizen Science projects since 2021

mio. euro in funding

>400

collaborations between Science, School, Business partners and Society

>110.000

students and Citizen Scientists likely to be reached

News from the projects

Students explore hybrid learning formats

In the ‘Hybrid Learning Spaces @School’ project, scientists and students are working together to develop hybrid teaching and learning scenarios for the classroom.

Sparkling Science-project on television!

The Sparkling Science project ‘Biodiversity of phoxinus minnows’ is researching the small fish species known as minnows and was recently featured in a science programme on Austrian television.

Illustration von einer Gruppe von Menschen, die zusammen stehen

Citizen Science for Schools: A Guide for Teachers

The new booklet ‘Citizen Science for Schools!’ shows how school students can actively participate in research projects and experience scientific work first-hand.

‘u3Green’ provided exciting insights into research

The project was a big hit at the city festival and university action day in Salzburg.

Focus on participatory research: Minister Holzleitner visits FHWN

During the visit to the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, the Sparkling Science project ‘The Generational-Friendly City’ was also discussed.

Schulen beschäftigen sich mit der durch den Klimawandel zunehmenden Hitze

How schools are becoming climate-friendly

The ‘Climate-Resilient Schools’ project aims to identify “hotspots” in schools and develop ways to increase ‘climate resilience’.

PLASTIC.ALPS: Filming on the glacier

School students got a taste of filmmaking during the shooting of the international documentary ‘Ages of Ice’!

Spotlight am 15. Dezember 2025: Inklusion und Teilhabe

Forschende und Lehrpersonen aus drei Sparkling-Science-Projekten teilen in der einstündigen Veranstaltung ihre Erfahrungen und berichten über ihren Versuch, bestehende Barrieren mit Citizen Science zu überwinden. Jetzt anmelden!