Funding criteria

• that fulfil recognised scientific standards and also provide new findings in the respective fields of research
• in which the content and methods are designed in such a way that pupils and, if applicable, other citizen scientists can make a significant and comprehensible contribution to achieving the research objectives
• introduce joint activities to accompany the project, which can be continued by the participating research and educational institutions for at least two years beyond the project duration and without further financial support. For example, topics can be made available for school theses or dissertations or the partner schools can be invited to lectures, workshops or a laboratory visit to the research institution
• digitally archive and publish all teaching and learning materials developed in the project, including in the Eduthek, to ensure long-term usability

The following institutions and organisations based in Austria are eligible to submit applications: 

• Universities, private universities and non-university research institutions,
• Universities of Applied Sciences,
• teacher training colleges,
• non-profit associations, limited liability companies (GmbH) or non-profit organisations (NGO) that pursue a scientific purpose and cooperate with universities, universities of applied sciences or non-university research institutions within the scope of the funded projects.

• Open topics: 
  Projects can be submitted from all scientific disciplines and specialisms.
• Project duration: 
  The project duration is limited to a maximum of 3 years.
• Funding: The maximum funding amount is 350,000 euros per project. 
  When applying for additional funding for the following two subject areas, the maximum funding amount can be exceeded by up to 10% in each case.

1. "Development of citizen science expertise through international networking": Projects that network with international, thematically relevant citizen science projects or international research partners in order to build up expertise in the field of citizen science.
2. "Science in schools": Projects that work together with schools from peripheral regions or those that have not yet been reached with citizen science activities, or have hardly been reached at all. Or for projects that cooperate with teacher training colleges in order to promote autonomous school specialisation in the field of science in schools.